Jeb Bush has made some comments mocking people with liberal arts degrees. He has a liberal arts degree in Latin American Studies.
In this column, Valerie Strauss posts some of the wonderful tweets from people with degrees in psychology, one of the fields that Bush belittled.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Jeb is a total idiot or a total fraud or maybe both. I’m actually laughing at his ignorance but of course he’s politician playing to voters who are also fools like him. To think that he could be the next president of the United States is frightening. The only Bush who is more stupid then him was GW.
WHAT KINDS OF JOBS DO LIBERAL ARTS MAJORS GET?
Because the liberal arts cover such a broad spectrum of subjects, there’s no one set career path. Liberal arts majors find themselves in a variety of fields, including management, marketing and communications, public service, medicine and law.
If you’re worried about competing against those with more “practical” or narrowly defined degrees, such as business or engineering, don’t be. “Because of the well-rounded and interdisciplinary nature of a liberal arts education, many employers prefer to hire people with strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” says Foust. “It is a given that the employers know new employees will need to learn the specifics of their particular business; what distinguishes the liberal arts graduates is that they have learned how to think critically and will know how to apply these skills in providing solutions to their employer.”
HOW CAN A LIBERAL ARTS DEGREE HELP YOU COMPETE?
As a liberal arts major, you’ll most likely have at least one year of practical experience under your belt—something graduates from other programs are much less likely to be able to claim. That’s because, more so than other programs, a liberal arts major leads students to pursue opportunities outside the classroom.
http://mycollegeguide.org/articles/11/186/-
About 90% or recent graduates in the liberal arts are employed and starting out at $35,000 annually compared to a Chick-fil-A team member who typically starts out earning just above minimum wage. The average pay for a Chick-fil-A team member ranges from $8.00 to $9.00 an hour—that’s about half what a liberal arts major starts out at after they graduated.
Click to access Unemployment.Final_.update1.pdf
Jeb! actually believes he earned his wealth and position. Let’s be real, if not for daddy’s money and influence, this guy would be a cubical rat like most of America.
and he’s supposed to be the smartest of the Bush boys…just ask his mother….
Nah. Jeb’s campaign and his insistence that his brother “kept us safe” illustrate that W was probably the “smart” one.
Sad.
Poor Jeb! As Ann Richards, one of my favorite Texans (no offense, Diane), said of Jeb!’s brother, “He can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”
Actually, just to keep the historic record accurate, the wonderful Ann Richards was speaking about Jeb’s daddy, George Herbert Walker Bush, whose own challenges with both clear thinking and the English language have been forgotten due to his far more obtuse and idiotic oldest son, George Walker Bush.
Ann made those comments about “Poppy” Bush—who, I understand was called that long before he became an actual father—during her amazing keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention.
But, clearly the phrase could apply to any of the Bush Boys. (Although, given some of the stories many of us have heard about the Jeb’s big brother, it might be more accurate to say, “Poor George, he was born with a small, silver spoon up his nose…” 😉
How I wish Molly Ivins were still alive and writing. Im sure she would have alation wonderfully appellation for Shrub’s bro….
What IS the next step down in the taxonomy of shrubbery? Ground cover?
AARRGGHH….bad,sticky keyboard…””a wonderfully pithy appellation”……
The absolute idiocy of people like Jeb Bush—he’s not alone in his smug ridiculing of liberal arts graduates—becomes apparent to anyone who thinks things out to their obvious conclusion.
IF every child did what people like Jeb Bush were telling them to do; study hard, get high grades and standardized test scores, get into a good college and confine your post-secondary studies to either business administration or one of the so-called STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) under the misguided and obtuse assumption that only these particular degrees will guarantee a lucrative job and secure high paying employment for life.
However, the ONLY reason jobs linked to these areas pay more than others is strictly a current market condition. IF every entering college student studied nothing but one of these fields, or something closely related, the monetary compensation for these type of jobs would drop dramatically, as there would be a glut of people in these areas.
There’s nothing inherently more valuable about accounting or software engineering as opposed to another college major; it’s all based on current market supply and demand.
We’re encouraging students to ONLY look at those fields, and, as Jeb Bush’s repulsive example demonstrates, anyone who majors in something else is often ridiculed and berated.
But, anyone who follows this issue closely knows that already a good percentage of young college grads with business or STEM related degrees cannot get a job in their chosen field. And, if present trends continue, with more and more business and STEM graduates every year, those jobs will pay less and less over time. And if enough people declare those majors, over time those “high paying technical/business jobs” might pay little more than minimum wage, as the techies and business grads become a “dime a dozen.”
At that point, all of that hard work and study—and the exclusive focus on majors supposedly guaranteeing a high paying job—will be of little long term value. With so many of these young people holding these degrees, major employers can pay them less and less.
The ONLY clear beneficiaries of this “ONLY Major in Business or STEM” trend are major corporations who are always working maniacally to cut their costs, particularly the cost of labor. When there is a surfeit of business and technical graduates, they’ll be able to pay them less than ever.
Surely, the smart people running the biggest companies in the world are well aware of this and certainly wouldn’t object to the idea of bringing on such skilled individuals at a significantly lower price.
Which is maybe WHY we’re hearing this constant drumbeat for “Business and STEM Majors Only”; it wouldn’t be the first time that the ruling corporate elite started a public campaign to convince people to follow their dictates and ultimately deliver what they want: in this case, future employees at bargain basement prices.
This is all consistent with the David Coleman utilitarian philosophy where, if the degree / the course / the assignment doesn’t have direct practical application, or make a direct contribution to the marketplace, it’s a self-indulgent waste.
Novels? Ehh… waste o time.
Poems? Ehh… waste o time.
Plays? Ehh… waste o time.
Short stories? Ehh… waste o time.
Music appreciation? Ehh… waste o time.
Playing a musical instrument? Ehh… waste o time.
Anything imaginative or related to fiction? Ehh… waste o time.
Personal narratives? Ehh… waste o time.
As for that last one, there’s this infamous video:
Of course, this utilitarian philosophy only applies to the masses.
The hypocritical 1% get all of this above elements in a rich curriculum, as they are not frills, to quote Chicago parent activist Matt Farmer:
==================
Here’s some neoliberalism at work in the Chicago schools, and one public parent giving a speech calling out those behind it.
The Matt Farmer YouTube video is a great video that shows the double standard they have — what kind of education that the wealthy elite think their own kids deserve—everything and then some,— compared what they think the children of the middle and working classes deserve—just enough education to function as a working drone.
MATT FARMER quoting DAVID MAGILL:
“Measuring outcomes through standardized testing, and referring to those results as the evidence of learning and the bottom line is, in my opinion, misguided and unfortunately continues to be advocated under a new name, and supported by the current (Obama / Duncan) administration.
“Physical education, world languages, libraries, and the the arts are not ‘frills.’ They are and essential piece of a well-rounded education.
“I shudder to think of who would be attracted to teach in our public schools without unions.”
— Dr. David McGill
Director of the University of
Chicago Lab School since 2002
(where Barak Obama, Arne Duncan,
and Mayor Rahm Emanuel sent/send their
children)
Quoted by Chicago public school parent /activist
Matt Farmer in a speech he gave back in 2012,
captured in the following video (the McGill
quotes start at around 4:35)
First of all, Chicago doesn’t have an
elected school board. What they DO
have is akin to a rubber-stamp
phony parliament or legislature in a
Third World dictatorship—one
appointed by the Mayor without
any input from citizens.
It’s made up of business leaders with ZERO
background in education as teachers
or administrators, or anything. They
actually funnel ed money out of
education into TIF funds, which are
then used to subsidize the building of
high-rise hotels constructed by some
companies owned by someone on
the board—i.e. former Chicago
Schools Board Member and Hyatt
Hotels executive Penny Pritzker.
It’s so corrupt it staggers the imagination.
Check out parent activist Matt Farmer
calling out then Board Member Penny
Pritzker for her hypocrisy in gutting the arts,
phys. ed., libraries, etc. from the
traditional public schools, while
simultaneously raising millions for a
new library and other facilities
at the Chicago Lab School where
her own children attend.
He begins by quoting from an
interview where Pritzker states that
that the traditional public schools—
where her kids do not attend, but
the children of middle and working
class kids do—are only responsible
for providing the bare minimum
required to perform at low level
jobs in the workforce… and no critical
thinking education, God forbid!…
and that’s all that Pritzker believes
that the children of the middle and
working classes “are entitled to.”
Matt then brings the facts, and
brings the fire. Since Matt is
a lawyer (and journalist), he
“cross-examines” Pritzker in
abstentia. In the process, he
delivers one of the greatest
speeches against so-called
“corporate reform” and
privatization ever given.
When it comes to the hypocritical 1%, you can’t leave out Campbell Brown, who’s a major proponent of David Coleman’s philosophy, and PF Coleman’s Common Core curriculum and testing for the children of the middle and working classes.
However, when it comes to her own kids education, she spends tens of thousands of dollars annually so that her own kids can attend the private school Heschel, and get a full and rich curriculum that is diametrically opposed to Common Core and what David Coleman prescribes for the education of the masses in ever way.
Here’s more of what you can get at Heschel—a comprehensive Arts Curriculum—one that is impossible at public schools thanks to so much its funding going to Pearson and the other Common Core-related vendors:
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=1130
Alll of this is David Coleman’s worst nightmare of education… for the middle and working classes, that is. For the 1%, it’s just fine,
EXAMPLES:
” … the school’s vision that the discovery of personal meaning and the growth of individual identity can emerge from the rigors of study, of student centered inquiry and the development of a sensitive eye, a discerning mind and skillful hand … ”
“Music as non-verbal expression continues to say something universal, essential, and native to even the humblest of involved seekers. Music education, therefore, must stand alone as an important and necessary part of the total learning and growing process.”
“As you walk through the Lower School, you will see children happily engaged.
“The classrooms and hallways are alive with students learning, studying, singing, praying, and playing with joy.
Here’s all of that in context:
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=1130
————————
“The Arts at Heschel
“As students are exposed to a multitude of media in their daily lives, art courses can help them navigate the unfolding context of contemporary culture and technology in order to understand and find meaning in the possibilities through creating and analyzing.
“The Visual Arts department is rooted in the school’s vision that the discovery of personal meaning and the growth of individual identity can emerge from the rigors of study, of student centered inquiry and the development of a sensitive eye, a discerning mind and skillful hand.
“Music as non-verbal expression continues to say something universal, essential, and native to even the humblest of involved seekers. Music education, therefore, must stand alone as an important and necessary part of the total learning and growing process.”
=======================================
And here’s what happens at Heschel in Grades 1-5 (i.e. “Lower School”) :
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=16
————————————-
“It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Heschel Lower School. We hope you will learn about our philosophy and curriculum. If you have additional questions after you have read through the website, please contact us.
“The Lower School comprises grades 1-5 and offers a rich and rigorous curriculum in both general and Judaic studies. Every part of the school day is planned to offer each student a challenging, well-supported, and nurturing environment. Our highly qualified and enthusiastic faculty brings the curriculum to life through analysis of text, thoughtful discussion, projects, and field trips.
“In all areas, the emphasis is on thinking and questioning. Jewish traditions form the basis for teaching ethical values and the imperative to treat others as we would like to be treated. ”
“As you walk through the Lower School, you will see children happily engaged.
“The classrooms and hallways are alive with students learning, studying, singing, praying, and playing with joy. You will learn a great deal about us from our website, and we hope you will schedule a visit to experience the spirit of our faculty and students.
“Dina Bray
“Lower School Head”
————————————————
=======================================
Here are the top comments of the Coleman “no one gives a sh#%” video:
Brooke Conley 1 month ago
“Well one of the things a corporate dictatorship such as ours must do immediately is teach kids that their opinions don’t matter. Makes me sad. Last year my then third grader told me how writing was so boring now because they never let them do free writing. He likes to write stories. Wish I could afford to send him to a private school like Arne Duncan.”
·
Webgurl 7 months ago
“Parents will reject this new world order education… sorry Coleman, there IS a force stronger…and we will overcome you.”
Barry Lane 4 months ago
“and yet we are supposed to give a sh#& about what you think?”
·
Lucianna Sanson 8 months ago
“Ass-hat.”
Someone needs to tell the 15 million followers of the FB page Humans of New York that no one cares what people feel or think.
In my child’s public school they do write about themselves.
Jeb! has a degree in Latin American Studies?? That’s quite possibly the most surprising thing you’ve ever published on this blog.
On another note, people like Jeb with a wealthy, politically connected family probably has career options not based on what he studied in college.
John Kasich sounding like Arne Duncan again:
“Then Kasich changed the subject again, and talked about how as president he’d try to send federal money for education, welfare, roads and job training to states, which could make better spending decisions than Washington does. That would help solve income inequality, he said, “because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don’t get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country.”
Someone should tell them “Income inequality is driven by a lack of skills” does not explain flat or falling wages for every single group of workers, including skilled workers and it does not explain the skyrocketing incomes of the top 1%. Why would “a lack of skills” explain how the tippy-top tier take a larger and ;larger share of the pie? If it were a “lack of skills” wouldn’t wages for skilled people be rising- supply and demand?
They are really going to have to do better than repeating this over and over. It isn’t responsive to the problem. I know it’s fashionable (and also easy) to pin income inequality on schools and working people, but it doesn’t actually address what’s going on.
The philosophy is along the lines of people should learn in demand skills because the market thrives on supply and demand, so if wages aren’t going up, then too many people must not be studying in demand skills (which assumes primarily people are studying in order to make money, and, that all who strive to attain such skills can, and the market will reward meeting the shortage.
Unfortunately, it assumes a logical but false causal effect – because you can introduce so much competition in any given field from globalization and automation, that smart productive people’s wages are driven down by cheaper labor that can attain the same education from a country where everything is cheaper.
Their retort would be taxes and such are what make it so our laborers can’t compete with cheaper labor, but, it simply isn’t true, inflation is generally considered a good thing in economic circles (it means there is growth) – so the cost of living in the US being higher is ostensibly a good thing on the whole, but, it means that cheaper labor can suppress wages.
Not everyone can invent the next facebook – different people have different skills, and no country relies on everyone “innovating” to employ everyone. Yet, that seems to be precisely the inference that is made – otherwise take your low paycheck and shut up – the market tells you what you are worth.
We also see the disproportionate rewarding of CEOs and the like which seems to directly draw wages that would probably be better with workers – many CEOs (many who fail) make more in a day than many of us make in a year – that speaks more to connections, access to financing, and window dressing ability than value (when the CEO leaves with millions of dollars with an overleveraged company).
Overall, Kasich and his ilk paint the economic picture very simply – and say if you deserve it the market will reward you. It is almost impossible for individuals to control the market or even respond to it when the skills “in demand” take years to cultivate (by which time the market may have moved). And blames schools because if people aren’t succeeding, it obviously has little to do with the overall circumstances of our society, and because people are driven to succeed in THE MARKET then obviously our teachers must be the ones failing to provide society with the basis to meet THE MARKET’S needs.
Frankly, the idea of being beholden to the market, the idea that everyone in society is out for themselves, social darwinism, that those who become sick or needy are deserving of their plight, that money matters more than people, are sick ideas that dehumanizes us all and can only serve to make us victims as we become older and sicker – all in pursuit of lower prices and efficiency that never seem to find their ways to those making the wheels turn.
I think it’s just a dodge. Blaming the workforce and public schools for “income inequality” let’s political leaders and the private sector completely off the hook.
Our political and business leaders don’t have to change or do anything- the only people who have to change are working people.
That’s really convenient, I must say. John Kasich didn’t have any particular “skills” when he was hired by an investment firm after he left Congress. They hired him because he had connections in DC and they paid him millions of dollars based on the fact that he was once in the House. He’s the last person who should be lecturing young people on how they have to “skill up” and the second to last person is Arne Duncan, who was a political appointee and friend of the President.
I find his reference to potential employment at a Chick-fil-A for liberal arts grads intriguing.
In that Jeb! is incessantly blathering about faith and religion and moral superiority stuff, it seems puzzling that he would put down a corporate comrade-in-arms. We all know how just important to both the Bush family and the Cathy family, their God (aka Mammon) is.
Concerned mom, Yes, a quick read on Wikipedia shows that shortly after earning liberal arts degree, Jeb had a position with a bank founded by James Baker.
Maybe kids should pick Republican parents to be “career ready”?
Do you think his first job there was that of the ¡Hablamos español! teller?
Most probably not…
Booklady, the lesson of Jeb is “be sure to be born into the right family” and you will have many advantages
Indeed, we’re always being told about the lack of personal responsibility on the part of the poor, and their continual making of bad choices, and it starts with their bad choice of parents.
Jeb is spouting the Republican line about all of higher education needing to be focused on jobs, in perfect harmony with Marc Tucker and Carl Rove, John Kaisich etc. They want all post secondary education to be vocational education. Never mind that a typical worker has 11 jobs before the age of 44.
“Jeb’s ‘Liberal arts’ degree”
The art of libation
The ‘Liberal Arts’
Comprised Jeb’s duration
In college — with darts.
You are wrong about this one, Diane. I outright defend Jeb Bush.
Liberal arts degrees are for very rich people, and the rest of us capable and desirous of attaining one are just middle class and working class microbes who must find the kind of education that will get us a job so that we can make the ownership class own and acquire more.
Is there anything reasly so wrong with that?
Yes, there is most definitely something wrong with that. It obtusely assumes that only business and STEM majors can be gainfully employed; and that’s nonsense. However, that narrative serves the interests of a small but intensely focused subset of the wealthiest 1%, and thus we’ll continue to hear about this hoary canard to some time to come, despite the facts to the contrary.
I was being sarcastic.
I can’t wait to see that 91% college students or American population with Liberal Arts major will exercise their “”voting rights”” to PICK the “”correct”” Presidential Candidate in 2016.
Seriously, is it time to boycott all business major in all government Public Service Positions, especially in BANKING SECTOR? Why? Corrupted, coward, manipulated, narrow-minded and selfish. Back2basic