Patterico's Pontifications

6/7/2018

My Daughter Lauren Graduates High School Today

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:41 am



She voted for the first time on Tuesday, and today she graduates. Soon she will be out of the house.

She has been a guest poster here (at age six) and her thoughts have appeared here by proxy concerning various political matters such as the price of John Edwards’s haircut. A conversation I had with her about the upcoming election of Barack Obama or John McCain led to years of distortions of my views on the Internet, but I would say the same things to her again.

Moving past politics, she and her brother Matthew have good taste in movies and a form of perfect musical pitch. I memorialized her first visit from the tooth fairy and some of the darndest things she has said. As a five-year-old she thought stupid was a bad word and she still curses rarely, at least around me, and any curses are very mild. I’ve written about her interactions with my dad and a goodbye to the home where she took her first steps.

An incident with Lauren led to one of the greatest insights I have ever had about the human mind and the gratitude we should feel for this life.

I know she is about to move on to “the life that’s waiting out there” — and I am grateful for every day I still have with her. And I am very proud of her, and I know I always will be.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

82 Responses to “My Daughter Lauren Graduates High School Today”

  1. Congratulations, daughter.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. Congratulations lauren.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  3. Congratulations! Και σε ανωτερα.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. Congratulations, Lauren, and to your folks!

    Patricia (3363ec)

  5. A big congrats. Hopefully, she won’t move 1,300 miles away for college like my two did.

    Paul Montagu (e6130e)

  6. Congratulations Lauren and Dad. My daughters still think stupid is a bad word. Your post reminds me how quickly time passes.

    random viking (6a54c2)

  7. Congratulations. Work hard and succeed.

    NJRob (b00189)

  8. Congratulations, Patterico. I can see you are very proud. Any thought about her going to college and picking a major? Many fields of study are available that were unknown in my day. For example, my alma mater has a line of study entitled Critical Theory and Social Justice. And if you are so motivated, you can also minor in Gender, Women and Sexuality.

    AZ Bob (9a6ada)

  9. A great day! Warm congratulations to Patrick and Lauren and the entire Frey family.

    Tim McGarry (be9b88)

  10. My oldest son is in the same boat, Patterico. I wish Lauren the very, very best.

    Simon Jester (9becef)

  11. God’s got her, Pat. He always did. He always will.

    As I reflected upon your post, I was overwhelmed with feelings of love and admiration for who you are and for who she may become, as well as gratitude that we humans are allowed to know such awe as that engendered by the bond you and she created.

    Ed from SFV (76ec9e)

  12. To those asking: she got into the honors program at UC Santa Barbara, which has me thrilled. She will still be relatively close to home and her college education will not break the bank. She is interested in psychology. The honors program gives her first crack at classes, which makes it virtually guaranteed that she can graduate in four years, which is tough to do in the UC system. I am very proud.

    Patterico (885b2a)

  13. I’m not the best alumni advertisement for the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign’s Campus Honors Program, but that is great news and those benefits cant be overlooked. Congratulations to your daughter and her parents on this special day.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  14. Congrats plus bonus points for choosing a college with a beach. I could not have done without it.

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  15. Congrats, Lauren!

    James (7241c0)

  16. Congrats!

    Skorcher (5b282a)

  17. Congratulations Lauren! I wish you well at UC Santa Barbara.

    noel (b4d580)

  18. Congrats to Lauren and to all the Freys.

    Everything at #12 is good news too.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  19. Excellent Excellent Excellent.

    Mine are 16, 11, 9, and 5 year old twins.

    So I’m getting close to No. 1 going.

    They could be college friends. UCSB is one of the schools recruiting my oldest to play soccer.

    And it’s my wife’ alma mater.

    Congrats.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  20. Carol and I send our love, and fond wishes for success at college. She’s always been a trooper and will no doubt continue that trend.

    Brotherico (34cde7)

  21. Memorial Day Weekend was the 30th anniversary of my high school graduation, so I’m feeling a bit nostalgic about graduation this year. I wonder what sort of world we are bequeathing to this generation, but I suppose our elders were wondering the same when we were graduating. Best of luck to Lauren; she’ll have a marvelous time at UCSB while still managing to get a great education. The best of both worlds.

    JVW (42615e)

  22. Congratulations, Lauren. But also, congratulations Patrick. 🙂

    aphrael (3f0569)

  23. What a great post! Best wishes, Lauren!

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  24. Congrats Frey family.
    Well done.

    mg (9e54f8)

  25. Congratulations to Lauren, and the family…

    Pro tip,

    No unannounced visits on campus

    You can buy Starbucks gift cards from sams

    Care pkgs from home

    EPWJ (31dcde)

  26. Congratulations to Lauren, your wife, and you. It has never been easy to raise a child. It is especially difficult here and now.

    Stu707 (6c15cc)

  27. Why would it be difficult to graduate in 4 years? Do they deliberately schedule required coursework at the same time so you cannot take the necessary classes?

    On another note, DeBolshevik in NYC is destroying what’s left of the once elite high schools in NYC by mandating quotas because too many Asians and Jewish people attend relative to their populations versus not enough “disadvantaged minorities.” I wonder if my high school is going to be required to comply since it is under CUNY jurisdiction and not the city department of education.

    NJRob (b00189)

  28. Congratulations to Lauren. And to her parents for raising a sane young woman to the threshold of adulthood.

    kishnevi (aaa345)

  29. Outstanding!

    Be proud, P; it’s not just her graduation day- together, you and the missus worked for this day, too.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  30. Why would it be difficult to graduate in 4 years? Do they deliberately schedule required coursework at the same time so you cannot take the necessary classes?

    There are a host of reasons for this, but the upshot is that the average is now over four years though the numbers have actually improved slightly over the past decade. Roughly twenty years ago, the average UCLA student was taking five years to complete an undergraduate degree. One issue with the UC systems is that most campuses are organized by academic quarter rather than academic semester, so instead of taking two semesters each year a student needs to average three quarters per year in order to graduate on time. But quarter schools have the perhaps unintended consequence of making a student think it is OK to take off a quarter, since it is only 12 weeks of school that they miss, and that sets them back when it turns out that it is hard to make up for the loss.

    If you are a conservative, you think that students are taking more than four years to graduate because they are lallygagging, enjoying the parties, spending too much time on activism instead of studying, and various other issues. If you are a progressive, you think that students are taking more than four years to graduate because they have to work part-time jobs in order to afford college, because alleged cutbacks in funding mean that classes aren’t available, or because they are dealing with the stress and emotional trauma of college life. There’s probably a little bit of truth from both sides, but one important point is that the colleges don’t really have any incentive to keep them on a four-year track; in fact, they probably have incentive to have them stretch out their undergraduate life for an extended period.

    JVW (42615e)

  31. Congratulations to Lauren and the family!

    Stephen J. (873269)

  32. Congratulations. It’s a great school for Lauren and convenient for family to visit.

    DRJ (d18ca6)

  33. Thank you for the explanation, JVW. I went to a quarters university. I attended the summer quarters too. Entered January 1976, graduated June 1979, with a double major; and the last quarter was purely an internship, I never set foot in a classroom. And I did have a part-time job for most of the time. It depends on how you play it.

    nk (dbc370)

  34. Why would it be difficult to graduate in 4 years? Do they deliberately schedule required coursework at the same time so you cannot take the necessary classes?

    Part of the reason is that the schools impose certain requirements (either as general requirements for a degree or as specific requirements for a major) and then the classes fill up. The UC system does not have the same commitment that private schools have to making sure there is enough space in required classes so that all required classes can be taken in four years. But kids in the honors program get first crack at the classes so this is not a problem for them.

    Patterico (885b2a)

  35. 27. NJRob (b00189) — 6/7/2018 @ 10:13 am

    On another note, DeBolshevik in NYC is destroying what’s left of the once elite high schools in NYC by mandating quotas because too many Asians and Jewish people attend relative to their populations versus not enough “disadvantaged minorities.” I wonder if my high school is going to be required to comply since it is under CUNY jurisdiction and not the city department of education.

    He wants to, butn he may not get his way. Satte law actually requires a test be used for the oldest three.

    It’s mostly Asians, not so many Jews now.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  36. Part of the reason is that the schools impose certain requirements (either as general requirements for a degree or as specific requirements for a major) and then the classes fill up. The UC system does not have the same commitment that private schools have to making sure there is enough space in required classes so that all required classes can be taken in four years. But kids in the honors program get first crack at the classes so this is not a problem for them.

    Patterico (885b2a) — 6/7/2018 @ 12:15 pm

    That is what I thought might be the case. What JVW mentioned seems foreign to me as I went to a traditional semester based school as well as took winter and summer classes. Graduated with over 150 credits over 4 years.

    But there was still a concern of getting into key classes that had limited room and were only taught once a year. Instead, there were plenty of options for those who wanted to load up on classes that were not pertinent to their major.

    I’m glad your daughter has the inside track on graduating in a timely fashion. I wish her well.

    NJRob (c88532)

  37. This is a milestone worth noting and celebrating. Congrats to Lauren and the whole family!

    Beldar (fa637a)

  38. Congrats. NOMB, but was UCSB her top choice (perhaps only if she got into the Honors Program)? I’m always curious as to which colleges admit/ reject my friends’ kids, what the kids’ top choices are, etc.

    Mitch (341ca0)

  39. Congratulations, I graduated from UCSB and was in the Honors Program back in the ’70s. Without reservation, it was an especially wonderful time in my life. And yes, UCSB is one of the all-time best ‘party schools’ in the nation. Del Playa on a Friday or Saturday night can be a magical experience – if you go easy on the Sangria.

    However, the flip side to party schools is that so many students are overly interested in extracurricular activities that academics get short shrift. Consequently the professors aren’t busy, in fact they’re not only hungry for serious students, they also have the time to guide them toward advanced understanding.

    My advice to Lauren is to go easy her first few quarters, they’re damn quick compared to semesters, and if one falls behind on the required reading, they’ll never find the time for the recommended reading.

    I suggest she take no more than 3 academic courses and maybe, maybe, 1 gym class her first qtr. Most new students botch their first qtr grades by taking a much too heavy initial load and never recover sufficiently to earn the superior GPAs required for top graduate schools, or for an invitation to PBK.

    Tell her to keep a eagle eye on the no penalty drop dates and the date to switch from a grade to a pass/no pass option. The Honors Program can be exceedingly useful in these instances. Timely use of such tools can be the difference between simple graduation, and graduation with Honors, High Honors, and Highest Honors.

    Prescription for success: Go to every class, sit close to the front, take notes longhand or on a laptop, ask relevent questions, type or organize your notes every day, do the reading and take notes as you go, start preperation for the mid-term at least 10 days early, read your notes two or three times the evening before the final, eat a light supper, go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep, eat a good breakfast, read your notes again. Now, relax, you’ll do just fine.

    Good Luck & Best Regards

    PS: Remember that Apollo and Dionysus are brothers and each expects appropriate homage.

    ropelight (e7a618)

  40. there’s nothing wrong with simple graduation let’s be clear about that

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  41. Likely, one of the reasons it takes more than four years to graduate from UCSB is that undergraduates are required to take 9 qtr courses more than required for graduation at UC Berkeley, the UC system’s flagship campus (or were required when I last researched the issue in the latter ’70s).

    My battery is low, I’ll write more tomorrow if anyone’s interested.

    ropelight (e7a618)

  42. Lauren- congratulations on getting into UCSB on the honors program, congratulations further on how proud you’ve made your parents. They would and will always love you beyond measure, but you’ve somehow managed to double that infinite measure.

    Good luck with it all at UCSB, its a beautiful setting and has great academics.

    For those days when you want to sort things out take a walk North or South at low tide.
    Take a bike or a drive up old refugio Road past the Reagan ranch and across the top of the world there and see how the coast looked through the eyes of the Chumash painting their stories from inside the wind caves

    steveg (a9dcab)

  43. Congratulations to your daughter!

    Dejectedhead (81690d)

  44. The UC system does not have the same commitment that private schools have to making sure there is enough space in required classes so that all required classes can be taken in four years.

    There’s that, and private school is so damned expensive that it makes financial sense to get it done sooner the better. Also, my daughter just graduated at USD and the counselors in the Athletic Department (she was on the rowing team) really urged that the girls finish in four years, take summer classes if necessary (yes, I’m a proud dad, too), in part because they discourage redshirting unless there are medical reasons. After seeing it done this way, I’ve really come around to the 4-year idea.

    Paul Montagu (e6130e)

  45. swc-

    Not sure if your 16 yr old is male or female, but the mens team plays a good schedule at a very high level with a very physical and fast game. Good mix of talent, usually a couple kids from Ghana, SoCal Latinos and Anglos from all over the State. The coach protests every call against him like as if someone just shot his dog, very passionate guy.

    Women are good too and play (or have played) a very good style against the best of the Big West and Pac12 with good result

    The games of both Men and Women vs. Cal Poly SLO have brought bring out record crowds for collegiate soccer matches

    steveg (a9dcab)

  46. The problem with students not getting into classes that they need to graduate is real, but like a lot of other things there is blame to go around on both sides. If you are in a popular major at a large university, then you have to be very careful about which classes you schedule which term. If in your junior year you are taking a spring-only class that you absolutely need to graduate, you need to think twice about dropping it and assuming that you can take it again next spring. It may be that the class is oversubscribed next spring, and having previously dropped the course you might be a lower priority for enrollment. On the flip side of that coin, universities need to be much better about communicating this sort of thing to the students. I have known quite a few students over the years who have learned too late that they need a course and then were unable to enroll in it.

    It seems to me as well that if you are on an academic quarter system you would want to take classes in the fall, winter, and spring quarters, and you should even consider enrolling in one or two over the summer if it fits in with whatever summer employment plans you have. But I have been amazed at the number of kids I have met who tell me all about taking off winter quarter to go ski in Aspen or skipping spring quarter to work full-time in a bar, or spending fall quarter devoting themselves to a political candidate or cause, or whatever other dumb idea a 20-year-old mind comes up with. I think that if I were approving a student loan, especially a large one, I would tell the young borrower that the money was only good for four years, then after that he/she is on his/her own.

    JVW (42615e)

  47. Prescription for success: Go to every class, sit close to the front, take notes longhand or on a laptop, ask relevent questions, type or organize your notes every day, do the reading and take notes as you go, start preperation for the mid-term at least 10 days early, read your notes two or three times the evening before the final, eat a light supper, go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep, eat a good breakfast, read your notes again. Now, relax, you’ll do just fine.

    Very wise suggestions from ropelight. Let me add one more: Go and visit your professor during office hours if only to introduce yourself. Do it early in the term. You can come up with an innocuous question to ask, but do it just so that the professor associates a name with your face. This way, if you have trouble later in the quarter, the professor will remember you and will be more willing to help. By the same token, visit your TA during their office hours if you have questions. The less you are an anonymous name in a grade book and the more you are a real person to them, the better chance you will have of getting a break. I would imagine that part of the honors program is that you get opportunities to socialize with faculty, so take advantage of that.

    JVW (42615e)

  48. I remember reading your post about leaving the concert. Congratulations to your daughter, and “well done” to you and Mrs. P.

    Nine-headed Caesar (6228e1)

  49. 45 — steveg, he’s a boy, very accomplished player in his age group. The Region IV Championships are in 2 weeks, and his team has drawn the cal North state cup winner, an Arizona team that lost the finals last year, and a team from alaska.

    The 01 age group he’s in has 6 teams ranked in the top 20, incuding Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, and 12.

    Being in Hawaii, his club doesn’t get to play in as many “Ranked” matches so they are not able to climb the rankings the way teams in Calif can, but they have a very strong record in their last 15 ranked matches going back 2 years.

    They went 3-1 at Surf last summer, and 3-0-1 at the Players Showcase in Vegas in March, so they should hang in there. But its a step up in competition for them.

    As for college, he got noticed last summer when, as an 01 player, he went with his club’s 99 team to Far West Regional’s in Seattle (basically a high school freshman playing with teams full of the best juniors and seniors in the western US), and started every game, scoring 3 goals – he’s a forward. He’s now starting to do more lifting and filling out. He’s going to be 6’2 or 6’3, and likely 180+ pounds. And he can run a bit — not blazing fast, but fast enough to be dangerous.

    He spent his first 8 years playing attacking MF, so he’s got some decent technical and passing skills for a forward. He’s only played forward for 2 years, and I think the plan is for him to settle into the role of a “false 9”. Its going to be a big summer for him. Fortunately, he just got a cast taken off his hand for a broken thumb he suffered in early May.

    He’s broken each thumb, 4 fingers, and his femur when he was 12 – all soccer related.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  50. “read your notes two or three times the evening before the final,”

    Back from my days as a tutor in math, science and history, I would tell C and D-level students that I had an easy method for raising their grade at least one level, just by doing their homework twice.

    Do the homework
    Take a break or do other homework/reading.
    Do the homework again.

    It worked I think every time.

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  51. I add my own congratulations.

    Good suggestions from ropelight and jvw.

    pouncer (915d55)

  52. Congratulations! Heed the pro tips, especially the “no unannounced visits!”

    felipe (023cc9)

  53. Since everybody else is giving advice, I’ll chip in. Don’t hesitate to hire a tutor if your student is finding a subject difficult, because once that C, that could have been a B or an A with a little help, is in the transcript, it will be there forever.

    nk (dbc370)

  54. we were never in any danger of electing a good man in 2008

    bullet, dodged

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  55. 54. Nor were we in 2016.

    Gryph (5efbad)

  56. Congratulations Lauren! (and Mr & Mrs. Patterico too)

    Dave (445e97)

  57. As the eaglet leaves her nest, I’d like also to remind that at age 80, talking to her parents, they’d fire up the motorized wheelchairs and charge the gates of hell for her… its what parents do. They will always always always have your back

    steveg (a9dcab)

  58. I think about that often, nk: the permanence of that record, and how much it can determine.

    Leviticus (e5b104)

  59. #47, JVW, excellent additions, get to know your instructors, find out what other courses they teach – what their academic intrest is, the books and articles they’ve published. Check the library for current information.

    Initally, sharply focus on Required General Education Courses, get as many of them out of the way as early as possible, it’ll pay off with greater flexibility and more options in the upper division.

    Additionally, keep track of the courses available at Santa Barbara City College that are directly transferable for credit at UCSB. SBCC is an excellent school, conveniently located overlooking the harbor, and provides yet another option to complete lower division required courses.

    Don’t let UCSB’s academic departments or administrators push you into declaring a major too soon. They’ll try, take your time, completing the required General Ed courses will provide a pretty good overview of many academic disciplines. Choose too soon and you risk getting too far down a narrowing road before you find you’ve changed your mind. It happens, so don’t get caught up in easily avoidable constraints.

    Print an accurate copy of the graduation requirements, post it in a place where you can’t overlook it, make sure the overwhelming number of courses you take satisfy one or more requirements. Adhere strongly to the General Ed requirements, avoid temptation for at least the first year, you’ll be glad you did.

    ropelight (2fac7d)

  60. Part of the reason is that the schools impose certain requirements (either as general requirements for a degree or as specific requirements for a major) and then the classes fill up. The UC system does not have the same commitment that private schools have to making sure there is enough space in required classes so that all required classes can be taken in four years. But kids in the honors program get first crack at the classes so this is not a problem for them.

    If I may offer some insight – at least on my UC campus, it is up to each department to anticipate the size of classroom that will be needed, and these decisions are made in an environment where there is intense competition for the largest lecture halls, and where class room assignments must be made 8 months ahead of time with imperfect information about admissions and enrollment. If a class’s enrollment fluctuated down last year, it may not be able to reserve a room big enough to accommodate this year’s larger enrollment. Because of this constant “churn”, the system does not settle into any kind of long-term steady state; no such equilibrium is possible due to changes in admissions numbers, changes in course offerings and requirements, etc.

    So I wouldn’t describe it as a lack of “commitment”. It is the result of a decentralized process involving scheduling of around (IIRC) ten thousand classroom meeting slots every quarter. There is no top-down authority calling the shots – each department is implicitly responsible for making sure their majors can take the classes they need. And sometimes we are told we have to make due with a larger room than we asked for.

    When there are bottlenecks, summer courses seem to be one effective way of working around them. Also, in my experience, it is rare for a course to remain full, even if it starts out full during Week 1.

    Dave (445e97)

  61. make due with a *smaller rooom

    Dave (445e97)

  62. Go and visit your professor during office hours if only to introduce yourself. Do it early in the term. You can come up with an innocuous question to ask, but do it just so that the professor associates a name with your face. This way, if you have trouble later in the quarter, the professor will remember you and will be more willing to help.

    If a professor bases their willingness to help on the friendliness of their relations with the student, they are a discredit to the rest of us. You should not feel obligated to suck up to a professor to get help from them. It is an insulting suggestion, frankly.

    Dave (445e97)

  63. Congratulations on graduation! Pick whichever major you want, as long as it isn’t journalism:

    https://twitter.com/ChuckRossDC/status/1004965655366520832

    Tellurian (312848)

  64. Congratulations to both Pat and Lauren! Lots of hard work, and a great adventure ahead.

    Annie (3088ef)

  65. As a university professor myself, I *do* think visiting professors with questions is important. It’s vital to get your face noticed, especially at UCs with big classes (I say that as a UCLA alum). As for being pleasant, it’s not “sucking up.” Trust me: every professor knows full well when a student is doing that. We have excellent BS detectors, which we earned during our first few years teaching and doing research.

    Anyway, Patterico, I am so proud of you and your family! If I can help in any way, you only need to ask. I’m not going to push books or websites or anything. Most students hear that as remedial. Fact is, the transition to college is tough, no matter who we are discussing. I say that not just as a parent of a son heading off to college in the Fall, but as someone who has advised 20 – 30 freshmen a year for over twenty years.

    Give Lauren my best wishes.

    Simon Jester (9becef)

  66. As a university professor myself, I *do* think visiting professors with questions is important.

    If you have questions, of course it is.

    It’s vital to get your face noticed, especially at UCs with big classes

    This I don’t understand.

    I don’t grade students on their faces, nor on my familiarity with their faces. I grade them on their work, following the policies spelled out in my syllabus to the letter. There are no “secret rules”, nor should there be. Show up at my office hours every week, or never – that in itself won’t make a jot of difference in your grade (of course, if coming to office hours helps you understand the material better, that should improve your grade by improving your performance…).

    Dave (445e97)

  67. Nor were we in 2016.

    We blew our chance in 2012. I hope that 2016 represents the nadir of presidential elections and enver again will we have to choose between the unready and the all-too-ready.

    On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 represents a contest between The West Wing‘s Jeb Bartlet vs Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, the last election was about a “2”.

    Now, I’m glad our turd won instead of their turd — there would be no 2nd Amendment and possibly no 1st, 4th or 5th had Hillary won. And I support that turd as failure is not an option.

    But I pine for several alternative universes.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  68. That does not mean my support of Trump is lukewarm — I’m in favor of America succeeding and right now that means Trump. OTOH, I will be donating money to any palatable primary opponent and I will consider his opponent should that come to pass. Although I don’t see any Dem on the horizon worth a crap.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  69. there would be no 2nd Amendment and possibly no 1st, 4th or 5th had Hillary won

    LOL.

    Dave (445e97)

  70. #66, Dave, try to see it from the new student’s perspective. They’re away from home, subject to college level pressures for the first time, trying to navigate unfamiliar territory, and learning to swim by being tossed into a mysterious, deep and muddy, fast flowing river.

    Especially early on, professors represent successful pilgrims who’ve traversed the same troubling waters and are now ready and able to point the way ahead, explain expectations, and offer safe guidance.

    They aren’t sucking up, they’re asking you to do your job.

    ropelight (468c1b)

  71. Hillary would be the most hemmed in president in history and would probably be looking at 300 plus Republican house members and 65 plus Republican senators come January of 2019.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  72. But Heller and Citizens United would be history, and “hate speech” would be banned.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  73. Conservative Dave will deny it, but Scalia was probably the most forceful supporter of the 4th Amendment the Court has seen in some time. He finally got them to accept that “expectation of privacy” was not the boundary as there were any number of non-private situations (e.g. driveways) that the 4th amendment covered.

    Compare William O Douglas on speech and assembly to the statist goons that RBG leads.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  74. 59. ropelight (2fac7d) — 6/7/2018 @ 8:30 pm

    Initally, sharply focus on Required General Education Courses, get as many of them out of the way as early as possible

    That could have been done inn high school with advanced Placement, and can also be done with CLEP tests.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  75. #74, Yes, Sammy that’s true, there are ‘work arounds’ available for General Ed requirements at some schools. However, they aren’t universally accepted at top tier colleges. The entering College Handbook is determinative and should be consulted early and often.

    The University experience is unique and shouldn’t be compared to the convenient offerings of diploma mills or jumped up employment prep schools.

    Additionally, the required General Ed courses at University of Califormia campuses are often taught by renouned scholars preeminent in their fields.

    These full professors choose to teach new and incoming students because they know how important it is to have a comprehensive grounding in fundamental knowledge upon which to build advanced understanding.

    It’s a real privilege to acquire such transformative experience up close and personal from an acknowledged expert, and it simply can’t be compared to an advanced high school class or acquired on the cheap with a CLEP test.

    ropelight (468c1b)

  76. Yes, NJRob, it’s the general ed requirements and major requirements. They often are in sequences, and if a prerequisite fills up you have to wait till the next semester or you can’t take the next class, which might also have been filled up or is only offered once years. So it turns into a cascade of delays.

    It’s nice to meet the professors, if you have a question, or if they invite it. Just don’t come in the week before finals (and I know that no Frey child would ever do this) and say, “I’m flunking. Is there anything I can do?” As a friend of mine replied to one such student, “Accept your F with dignity.”

    Patricia (3363ec)

  77. Congratulations to Lauren!! 🙂

    LJ (4032db)

  78. They grow up too soon. Seems like they will always be the ‘little girl’ until suddenly they are grown and spreading their wings. That’s when you really realize that time is passing all too quickly.

    Bill M (906260)

  79. Many congratulations to Lauren, and best of luck as a Banana Slug!

    bridget (7c9be4)

  80. Great comment at #59, ropelight. Co-enrollment at a junior college, for most students, is the best path.

    It has been a nightmare getting classes that fulfill graduation requirements at the Cal State my son is attending – he’ll be a junior in the fall, but only with the units for breadth requirements he will earn this summer from courses at two different junior colleges (similar courses were booked solid at his school by upper division students who couldn’t register for them when they were underclassmen). A high school friend and classmate of his has it even worse at Cal Poly SLO. More than half of the units she has completed while living in the Cal Poly dorms were earned at a Bay Area junior college taking course online. It is the only way she will ever get through in anything close to 4 years.

    Also, using “Rate My Professors” is an absolute must. The caliber of the teaching staff in the Cal State system – and, I presume, elsewhere as well – is horribly inconsistent. Yes, there are good teachers, but there seems to be an equivalent number of miserable ones as well.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  81. I’ll have my own anecdotes on the CA public university systems soon – one of my incoming summer interns for field data collection is from CalPoly-Pomona, with credits from South Coast College.

    urbanleftbehind (a564d3)

  82. Santa Barbara City College has quite a few UCSB students picking up pieces here and there.
    Another great setting.

    The only downside to UCSB is Isla Vista. Its an ant farm.

    Its not real dangerous for students, but learn how to throw an elbow.

    steveg (a9dcab)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1661 secs.