December 29, 2009, - 3:10 pm

Dumbest College Degree Yet; Plus Berkeley Dumps Science (Science is “Only For Whites”)

By Debbie Schlussel

As if there weren’t enough stupid, useless college degrees on which to waste tens of thousands of dollars and which will be of absolute no use in getting a job, colleges and universities now have a new one :  “Green Studies.”

greenlove.jpgguiltofscience

Colleges & Berkeley High: Green Love, But No “Racist” Science Allowed

Nope, it’s not a study of Islam, or HAMAS, or fake Iranian “democracy for extremists” protestors, it’s yet another trendy entree into the faddish fakery that is “climate change” and “global warming.”

We already have real science.  And if “being green” was actually of any scientific and engineering value, they wouldn’t need a special “green studies” degree or courses.  But don’t let that little detail or the vagaries of the accuracy of “green theory” fool colleges.  Junk science and pop culture is the “higher learning” of the day.

And junk science rules in the Berkeley school district, which is eliminating science altogether from its high school.  These are the same people who mock creationist theory, and yet, now they don’t want to teach even the basics of scientific inquiry, preferring to focus on quackery.

First there are the colleges:

Colleges are rapidly adding new majors and minors in green studies, and students are filling them fast.

Nationwide, more than 100 majors, minors or certificates were created this year in energy and sustainability-focused programs at colleges big and small, says the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. That’s up from just three programs added in 2005.

Two factors are driving the surge: Students want the courses, and employers want the trained students, says Paul Rowland, the association’s executive director.

Uh, good luck with finding employers who want students with degrees in fake, quack “science.”

Schools like even the venerable MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have now started minors in “energy studies.” Uh, isn’t real “energy studies” called “science” or “engineering” or “biochemistry”? “Energy studies” sounds like an aerobics class with Denise Austin.

Oh, and the usual, predictable left-wingers are behind this, not just in the ivory towers but on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Obama administration has estimated that jobs in energy and environmental-related occupations will grow 52% from 2000 through 2016, vs. 14% for other occupations.

Hmmm . . . . maybe that’s because the Obama administration is driving jobs in every other occupation–like medicine and healthcare–away.

It’s all about money and letting students turn silly pop culture into college majors. Forget the classics and real, critical inquiry involved in the study of real science.

That’s partly why budget-strapped schools are adding energy and sustainability programs even while cutting other majors, Rowland says.

Welcome to Higher Education in America, as determined by the audience of “The Hills,” “Jersey Shore,” and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Oh, and speaking of that, there’s the Berkeley School District’s latest example of granola and soy-addled “education.” Berkeley High School is eliminating science because it’s–ya know–only for “White people,” and Blacks and Hispanics don’t do well in science, according to the liberal sprouts-heads who run the school.

I hear from plenty of recruiters who tell me how hard it is to meet absurd affirmative action hiring requirements in the sciences at colleges and universities, as well as corporations. They can’t find Blacks and Hispanics with science degrees. And the Berkeley crowd wants to help that along with the perception that the sciences are not for minorities:

Berkeley High School is considering a controversial proposal to eliminate science labs and the five science teachers who teach them to free up more resources to help struggling students.

The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High’s School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley’s dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.

Paul Gibson, an alternate parent representative on the School Governance Council, said that information presented at council meetings suggests that the science labs were largely classes for white students. He said the decision to consider cutting the labs in order to redirect resources to underperforming students was virtually unanimous.

Next time you hear a liberal mock conservatives who believe in creationism, ask him or her about the racist liberals at Berkeley who don’t even believe in science.

The dumbing down of America continues its fast downward spiral.

(Thanks to Covert Radio Show’s Brett Winterble for the tip on “racist science” being dumped at Berkeley High.)




Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


31 Responses

I have to go take an aspirin. My jaw hurts from hitting the floor so hard.

cirrus1701 on December 29, 2009 at 3:27 pm

Liberals don’t believe minorities are adept in scientific and technical fields so they make life easier for them by making sure they don’t have to excel to succeed.

The Dumbing Down Of America continues.

NormanF on December 29, 2009 at 3:57 pm

This must be from the school governance council that thought the movie “Dumb and Dumber” was a documentary showing the great results of “Art Therapy” for Everybody.

That did not make any sense, did it? Well, neither does this idiocy at berkeley high. Did the governance council even begin to consider how it is they are now handicapping graduating students for college? But then that is a foolish thought as well because virtually anyone can now get a college degree in the “Green Sciences” which does not require a student to even be able to spell “science”. Isn’t that just grand?

They are coming out of the woodwork again (the woodwork only found in the cardboard doll houses from the local toy stores).

My heart goes out to you cirrus1701. I know that had to really, really hurt!

Jim on December 29, 2009 at 4:19 pm

“Paul Gibson, an alternate parent representative on the School Governance Council, said that information presented at council meetings suggests that the science labs were largely classes for white students.”

If that is the case, why do Asians do so well in science?Liberals always ignore Asian students because they don’t fit into their narrative. They don’t even consider them “minorities” anymore. For example, the demographic data for Thomas Jefferson High School, a magnet school in Virginia which was ranked the best high school in the nation, states that there is 4.9 percent “minority” enrollment, ignoring the fact 40.2% of the school is Asian: http://www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/virginia/thomas_jefferson_high_school_for_science_and_technology

It is almost as if liberals resent Asians for their success and that they don’t need their help.

JM on December 29, 2009 at 4:37 pm

right wingers defending science…lol…it is like michael vick standing up for animal rights…funny stuff…

John on December 29, 2009 at 4:48 pm

    my first inclination would be to say something like “Bite me, Johm” in response to this. I’v ebeen here for a while, so a number of the people here know me, but for your benefit, I am a conservative (of the Reagan not RINO variety) and I’m also (GASP) a scientist. (DocSci from MIT in physics). And you know, as much as all the dolts on the left like to claim some hold on adherence to science, they are mostly full of crap- Al Gore being the penultimate example of this (I say penultimate because I’m sure there’s got to be a bigger, more uneducated liberal pundit out there waiting the wings). I say to any anti-creationist or Global Warming nut who claims they know it all, to do something simple- just the physics you learn in becoming a mechanical engineer- explain to me the laws of thermodynamics- especially in the context of the second law of TD, just how in hell life came to be, then take that same second law and apply it to heat flow in Global Warming. I seriously doubt any of them, even with the ultimate help from google could do it without finding themselves backing themselves into a corner.

    Only liberal hypocrisy can on one hand eliminate science courses because of racial political correctness, while clinging to science fraud as the means to defend their kool-aid induced doctinal delusions.

    First and foremost, conservative views applied to science brought us to our zenith in technology in the 20th century. The liberal trashing of science will take us back to the stone (and stoned) age in the 21st.

    Mistress_Dee on December 29, 2009 at 6:25 pm

      ooooo!! A scientist!!

      You are obviously not a Jesus freak conservative…those who believe that stem cell research is evil and evolution is a myth…and the bible is the ultimate source of knowledge…

      Global warming is not and open and shut case I might add. There are strong SCIENTIFIC arguments from both sides.

      And LOL to your argument about creationism….

      John on December 30, 2009 at 3:18 am

        Scientific arguments for global warming?
        Really?
        “Scientific” arguments for global warming”…
        Like?……..

        theShadow on December 30, 2009 at 6:52 am

Eliminating science classes and labs should be one of the last things to do. We are lagging behind the rest of the world in producing scientists and engineers. I am an electronics engineer and there are far too many Indians, Asians and middle eastern people working in the U.S. on working visas because we don’t produce enough engineers in the U.S. And after a few years of working here, a lot of the Chi-coms go back to China to build up their technology base.

When will the green weenies ever wake up and inject capitalism into their way of thinking? Our economic system has produced innovation and greener technologies without much government intervention. And all the hybrid and electric cars out there may have the potential to harm the environment more than our traditional petroleum powered vehicles. The batteries used to propel hybrid / electric cars contain a lot of chemicals that are very bad for the environment. These car batteries contain some of the same chemicals that your mobile device uses, and you replace your mobile batteries every couple of years when they start to wear down. What will be done with all of these environmentally dangerous batteries?

One other thing that almost none of these climate morons ever bring up is where does the electricity come from to power these unsafe electric cars? You need to plug them in somewhere, and the largest percentage of our electricity comes from evil, bad COAL.

Back to capitalism. The U.S. has produced better technologies when it becomes cost effective. Why ruin our economy by Cap and Trade? We should continue on a path that ramps up investment into research and not stupid carbon credits and other BS. We will get greener technologies, just not at the pace that these liberal, braindead Gore-bots want it to happen.

Jarhead on December 29, 2009 at 4:54 pm

HA HA!

I’m a LEED Accredited Professional; certified as an “expert” by the United States Green Building Council in “sustainable design”. You may kiss my ring now!

LEED certified buildings and remodeling jobs typically cost 10-20% more to build thus increasing my fees. Rarely do they provide an acceptable payback for the increased investment. But hey! Who cares! I go laughing all the way to the bank while the owners “feel good about themselves”.

I am also grateful that fewer and fewer people are getting legitimate Engineering degrees; studying these trendy “Green Studies” instead. It’s called JOB SECURITY! Moreover, all the young Engineers are all Indian and Chinese, so I’m in double demand being a “regular white guy”.

Hey Deb! I don’t make the rules. I just exploit them!

BWAAA HAAA HAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Regards,

There is NO Santa Claus

P.S. On a more serious note, I have some good news for you:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2919114520091229

I might blog on this story later.

There is NO Santa Claus on December 29, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    Interesting article you submitted on the new coal power plant.
    If you read it and do the maths, the cost works out to $952,000 per MW. For the green wind plant, the cost works out to $2,670,000 per MW, nearly three times the price of coal. So the obvious answer is go green and you will save loads of electricity because you will not be able to afford it.

    ciccio on December 30, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Naturally, you’re all familiar with the movie “Idiocracy.”

The Terrorist's Advocate on December 29, 2009 at 7:09 pm

The only way to improve the academic scores of blacks and Hispanics, as a group, is to dumb down the curriculum. If this is at the expense of East Asians and whites, well that’s just the way it’s got to be for the liberal mind. There’s a cultural war being waged against whites and, in education, East Asians. Whites tend to think that blacks and Hispanics are just like them, only darker. They learn this from all the black doctors, black scientists, and successful black business men they see on television every day. But reality is far different. Until we face the truth about group intelligence, nothing will ever improve, but more insanity will manifest in academia, that much is certain.

Michael on December 29, 2009 at 7:50 pm

as always it is about the money. Look how much al gore has made off this green lie.

ender on December 29, 2009 at 7:58 pm

Good Lord.

Debbie, I love and appreciate what you do, but you’re becoming to Americans what Caroline Glick has become to Israelis — too depressing to read anymore!

I need a sand pile quick, to stick my head in. I promise to come back when I’m rested up!

batyah on December 29, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    Speaking of Caroline Glick, she wrote an EXCELLENT column on global warming a couple of weeks during the big conference in Denmark. It was a long column, but an absolute keeper.

    There is NO Santa Claus on December 29, 2009 at 9:12 pm

Well, green studies is following the tradition of women’s studies, black studies, queer studies, anti-imperialist studies, and all the other ridiculous pseudo-academic trash. When I was a kid I wondered how a quack like Lysenko could achieve the hold he had in Stalinist Russia. Now I understand. There’s a psychological aspect too. People studying this tripe feel good about themselves. They’re better people because they’re learning how to improve society, one feeling at a time. Of course the mind doesn’t really enter into it because all of this is mindless.

The one bright spot, re Batyah’s comment, is that Debbie and Caroline Glick are getting wider readership. Maybe that will translate at some point into positive political developments.

Little Al on December 29, 2009 at 8:56 pm

Ah the ranters of the blog nation.

I hope the folks who think global warming and green science are the ones left out in the cold when the **it hits the fan if we don’t do something to prevent it.

tony on December 29, 2009 at 11:39 pm

Here in NYC i have seen a whole bunch of people who spend thousands of dollars getting bull$hit degrees (Art History, Drama Studies, Music History etc) and wander around the world trying to find meaning in their lives. In the end they realize their bull$hit degree aint gonna get them secure jobs. Guess what they do? Almost all of them went to Law School. Strangely, Law Schools will take in anyone who has a college degree and get through LSAT. May be they should let non college degree holders as long as he/she does well in LSAT.

Rex on December 30, 2009 at 12:49 am

It looks like the schools want to idoctrinate rather than teach. Much easier than trying to produce an honest to goodness knowledgeable productive human being.
A friend of mine spent well over 4 years in college at his poor mother’s expense. His main courses were Liberal Arts. Last I heard from him, he was working at a gas station for minimum wage. Definitely worth the time and money, don’t you think?

theShadow on December 30, 2009 at 2:26 am

    OOOps ,I think that’s “iNdoctrinate” but who the hell cares. I’d rather misspell a few words here and there than spend four years in college to learn liberal arts. And what the hell qualifies as liberal arts anyways? Probably anything that won’t get you a job in the real world.
    And BTW, whatever happened to Vocational schools?

    theShadow on December 30, 2009 at 2:40 am

John – People like the ones here will continue to fight for science so long as it promotes the global-warming-does-not-exist-and-even-if-it-did-it-would-violate-the-laws-of-creationism agenda.

I can’t find any other source regarding this situation with Berkeley High other than East Bay Express (a periodical tabloid that I’ve never heard of before and can’t find anyone reliable who uses it as a source, leaving me to go in citation circles that inevitably lead back to EBX).

However, you say that Berkeley district is cutting science from their high schools. This is something that would have Snopes poking fun at for a week. The suggestion (not decision) was to cut science labs from the school. This means that they may potentially remove things like chemistry practical but continue to teach chemistry theory (and for all you non-science idiots out there, “theory” and “proven” are not mutually exclusive, it actually denotes that it is the part of the science that is expressed in ideas rather than laboratory demonstration).

Obviously Debbie is among the flock of non-believers who still think that global warming is caused by propaganda and lies. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to change your mind about that except to direct you the Google search “is global warming real” and let you frolic. Hopefully she is not as blind as Christopher Monckton and Michael Weiner, who recently spouted that carbon dioxide is a perfectly healthy gas for the environment because plants need it to give off oxygen (which makes no sense in the reverse, because an over-oxygenated environment causes oxygen-breathing animals to go unconscious and aerobic bacteria to die). I’m not going to go into specifics of why global warming is real (maybe not to the Al Gore extent but is true nonetheless) because it has been covered and evidenced by enough agencies around the world (including the EPA’s recent report that the buildup of greenhouse gases is damaging human health).

However, before you mock these new fields of study you should probably understand what they actually are. Perhaps if you spent less time blogging about it and more time actually reading about it, this explanation wouldn’t be necessary. Energy studies is not “science” or “engineering” or “biochemistry.” It would help if people could get a B.S. in “Science” (as opposed to say, chemistry or physics) or if biochemistry had anything to do with energy production — this doesn’t include the recent advancement of “retraining” cyanobacteria to produce liquid fuel.

Energy studies is not some crack pot pseudoscience. It’s not like energy studies students are running around disproving creationism and making global warming documentaries. Energy studies and sustainability degrees are used in jobs like clean energy including solar and wind power. Sustainability can also be used in conservation, where people used to have biology degrees can now have a sustainability degree. Science is very complicated, and there is no one degree that you can get that qualifies you to just pick a field and hop right in, like lawyers have with the gift of the JD.

On a side note with this “ew, the health care reform bill has cooties!” nonsense. I have worked in a pharmacy and have had colleagues in hospitals and private practice. Health care reform is the best thing that could happen for privately owned pharmacies and private practices to stay open, because just as much as health insurance companies are screwing the common man, they’re screwing practitioners even harder. And recently I’ve heard complaints that the public option shouldn’t be passed because Medicare/Medicaid aren’t good health care because they “don’t cover enough.” Well, they’re sure as hell better than the option that a lot of people have. Because no matter how much public/subsidized health care doesn’t cover, having no insurance covers even less.

Ghost on December 30, 2009 at 3:09 am

Wow…Liberals actually believe and articulate that Blacks and Hispanics are too stupid for even the most elimentary of sciences; high school science. AND THEY CALL US RACISTS!

Bob on December 30, 2009 at 3:15 am

The best part about ghosts is you can see right through them. Wonder if that’s why he chose the name.
Currently 17 degrees here in NYC. That’s what the the weather men call below “normal” (what they mean by normal is actually the average). I could use some global warming tonight. Ever notice that most people who believe in “Climate Change” are fairly young?

Bob on December 30, 2009 at 3:22 am

    “Ever notice that most people who believe in “Climate Change” are fairly young?” – Bob

    Yes, fairly young and extremely stupid. Did any of these people ever hear the term “Ice Age”? It happens between the “Global Warming” periods. Warming, cooling, global tempatures go up, than down, than up again…pretty simple really, unless you try to explain it to someone from our modern indoctrination, er, I mean schooling system, than, good luck.

    theShadow on December 30, 2009 at 6:44 am

Wow, you seem rather bitter…or resentful. Where do these feelings come from? It seems like you do not fully understand the concepts that are driving this green movement. Green Studies is not science. If schools are actually replacing their science courses for Green Studies, then yes, that does sound a little strange. I see nothing wrong with Green Studies supplementing a university’s course load. Just as the quote said, students WANT to learn it and employers WANT their employees trained. Don’t you know that green jobs are booming? As another commenter said, Green Studies provides job security. I became interested in sustainability and green building and was offered a full-time job before my senior year in college even began. It baffles me that you are so against Green Studies. I want to applaud you for being a think-for-yourselfer, but I don’t think you’ve truly thought about it and researched it. You’ve made some pretty crazy claims. I can see why Green Studies appears to be such a liberal thing. I can definitely see that. But the truth is, that it’s actually worth it. I know you’re making the point that Green Studies is replacing the “classic” majors, but it’s not. It’s just becoming a very important topic that people should study up on. It won’t ever replace the classic math and English majors, but it’s an important supplement. I’ll be interested in checking back and reading related posts.

Lesley LEED AP on December 30, 2009 at 9:15 am

Lots of opinions. As I see it, everyone including me has one. The problem seems to be either a predisposed position for both sides of the Cap ‘n Trade – Global Warming, i.e. UN, Al Gore, et al, that refuses to debate and analyze empirical evidence with the other side, i.e. Lord Monckton, Singer, et al. The danger much more terrible than the actual physical realities is that of global governance by bureaucrats so far removed from the ordinary person that any thought of making “your voice heard” is laughable.

In reference to education, my perspective is as follows: 1. Get the Federal Government out of the process. 2. States and local governments can move out of the way as well by issuing vouchers that follow the student. 3. Private schools, i.e. religious, non-religious, technical, trade, Liberal Arts, Science, Engineering, etc., could accept the vouchers and adjust pricing as needed. Parents and students – regardless of race, ethnicity, handicap, religion, etc. – would choose the type of education desired. The Market would decide the hierarchy of value to society and the world in general. 4. The government behemoth of bureaucrats could be eliminated and teacher unions would have competition as well as “accountability” for the product produced.

Please understand that the Internet can teach one nearly any subject and most States still maintain a Byzantine Department of Education structure that is bloated, cost ineffective, and loathe to change.

The word to remember for the 21st Century is: TANSTAAFL.

THERE AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.

All you whiners about not fair, can’t learn, out perform, too competitive — Kiss Off! Get moving on your education before the ROBOT AGE makes you irrelevant.

Dennis / Former Detroiter

Dennis on December 30, 2009 at 11:00 am

It’s 17 degrees there in NYC. It was 11 last night in Boston. Unfortunately, idiots like you don’t understand the difference between weather and climate.

The weather can be as hot or as cold as it wants. In fact, where I lived this December has been consistently 5-6 degrees higher than average. But that’s still just weather, not climate.

Climate is the “usual” weather for an area, or even the whole world. We’re talking about climate change, not weather change, when we talk about global warming. Global warming so far has only been a degree or two of climate temperature increase, but that has been enough that Australia is now warning its ships to stay away from ice shelves that broke off from Antarctica and are heading toward the Australian coast. It’s been enough that the crops in many places are not growing as well as they used to. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get cold in December, it means that the average temperature of the world is higher than it previously was. Imagine having a fever. It’s only a few degrees, but enzymes in your body don’t catalyze as well, your bodily functions stop functioning properly, and routine behaviors start to break down and become impossible. Can you prove it’s any different for a planet?

And people like theShadow and Bob who mock people who believe in it because they’re “young” … just how old are you? And how many of the scientists who have done research that supports global warming are older than you? People like you deny global warming because of a qualitative argument. The real problem with global warming is very much quantitative. Do your research. Google Scholar is your friend.

Ghost on December 30, 2009 at 2:40 pm

@Ghost- an 8yr old child knows the difference between climate and weather. Some simple facts: The earth goes through an ice age every 100,000 years. Last one was 11,000 yrs ago. What does that tell you? It tells me we’re coming out of an ice age and the earth is warming, naturally. Earth’s normal average temperature is five degrees higher than it is now. Warmer average tempatures don’t keep crops from growing, that’s just plain silly. The levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is at an all time low. Carbon dioxide is not a poison, plants need it to survive. Carbon is what all life forms on earth are made of. And if the earth warms up, what will heapen? Very little, I’m sure. It’s cold weather that is detrimental to survival. Take your own advice and do some research. Here, I’ll give you a head start.

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html

theShadow on December 30, 2009 at 8:27 pm

Oh, so green studies don’t include sciences. Gotcha. And business majors, oh boy, do they ever contribute to society. That sucking sound you hear: that’s the sound of CON business majors let loose on the economy and on the citizens of the United States.

Nathan Bell on February 10, 2010 at 6:49 pm

290160 177498Hi this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 176777

DRKKgfuv on July 22, 2013 at 7:32 pm

Leave a Reply

* denotes required field