Take us out of our misery: hand the state over to Mexico.В At City Journal California (via Instapundit) Heather McDonald writes about PC narcissism destroying UC San Diego:
UC San Diego is adding diversity fat even as it snuffs out substantive academic programs.In March, the Academic Senate decided that the school would no longer offer a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering; it also eliminated a master’s program in comparative literature and courses in French, German, Spanish, and English literature.At the same time, the body mandated a new campus-wide diversity requirement for graduation.The cultivation of «a student’s understanding of her or his identity,» as the diversity requirement proposal put it, would focus on «African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, Chicanos, Latinos, Native Americans, or other groups» through the «framework» of «race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, language, ability/disability, cla*s or age.» Training computer scientists to compete with the growing technical prowess of China and India, apparently, can wait.More pressing is guaranteeing that students graduate from UCSD having fully explored their «identity.» Why study Cervantes, Voltaire, or Goethe when you can contemplate yourself?«Diversity,» it turns out, is simply a code word for narcissism.
UC San Diego just lost a trio of prestigious cancer researchers to Rice University.Rice had offered them 40 percent pay raises over their total compensation packages, which at UCSD ranged from $187,000 to $330,000 a year.They take with them many times that amount in government grants.
Don’t you worry, though.В We will not be turning out cancer researchers and electrical engineers because students entering the University are utterly unprepared for it.В Though California public schools are the worst in the union, they are perfecting the art of narcissism.В They now will be required to waste instruction time on «LGBT history»:
Public schools in California will be required to teach students about the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans starting Jan.1 after Gov.Jerry Brown on Thursday signed a controversial bill to add the topic to the social sciences curriculum.
Tchaikovsky.Portrait by Kuznetsov, 1983.
«What the bill calls for is for the contributions of LGBT people to be included,» [Sen.Mark] Leno [D-San Francisco] said, adding, «We wrote it broadly for a reason.We would be subject to more criticism than we’ve already been getting if we were more dictatorial.» [Sounds sketchy, -- ed.]
It sounds like Leno is alleging that important homosexuals were exuded from history books solely because of their sexual orientation, so I’d like to know who exactly he has in his mind.В If the problem here is that sexual orientation was omitted from textbooks, then hooray to the textbooks.
Leno said the mandates apply broadly, though, telling reporters it would affect kindergarten through high school curriculum, «and, of course, in an age-appropriate way.»
Uh, kindergarten!В In my hometown we already have mandatory «anti-bullying» cla*ses for elementary school kids.В There is no evidence that early sex ed makes for safer schools.В If anything, it might accomplish the opposite.В The extent of anti-gay bullying problem is another issue.В In our school district reported instances of bullying on the bases of alleged sexual orientation were few; most of the altercations were of the boys against girls kind.В So it appears that the problem at hand is not bullying, but parents, not state, teaching kids about sex.
But wait, I think we found a gay man not mentioned in texbooks:
shouldProponents have cited slain San Francisco SupervisorHarvey Milk as a person with historical significance, along with events such as the Stonewall Riots in New York City that helped launch the LGBT rights movement as examples of topics that could be taught.
«History should be honest,» Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement.
OK, lets be honest.В Harvey Milk was a small time politico and a buddy of ma*s murderer Jim Jones.В Milk is canonized because he himself happened to be murdered, not because of any great achievement of his.В Perhaps Jerry Brown doesn’t object to Milk being too chummy with Jim Jones; after all, the twice CA Governor made the same choice of friendship:
When Brown’s hands should be plenty busy reducing spending, he still finds time to wage his little culture wars.В But our sorry fiscal situation stands in the way of his social agenda:
Textbooks now must include information on the role of LGBT Americans, as well as Americans with disabilities, though California’s budget crisis has delayed the purchasing of new books until at least 2015.[Emphasis mine, -- ed.]
Chinese Student: «I know Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics»California Student: «I know Harvey Milk»Chinese Student: «That’s great, now can I get some fries and extra mustard with that order?»
While this is a very positive step forward, I have to wonder, when are we going to stop putting labels on people and recognize the person and the merit of their contribution.What a person achieves is not based on their gender, religious belief or sexual identify but on them as a human being and their character.
There is gonna be blowback from this in the future, and it is gonna be some ugly blowback.There are a lot of people who really really really don’t want nor need their kids to learn this narrow and limitedly relevant subject above other things they think are far more important and practical for children to learn.This is just a political gift to the LGBT voting block, a gift of the minds of other people’s children.This will play into every half-baked «gay indoctrination» conspiracy theory that every came out of the woodwork.Good job CA.Way to live up to the worst and most paranoid illusions about your state.
Creed - One Last Breath
