The Ivy League

[Shuckins]

Has it become intellectually bankrupt?

The recent brouhaha stirred up by a professor's comments about the possible sources of the differences in the academic performances of men and women in the field of mathematics seems to suggest that such is the case.

It seems to me that true academicians would at least be open to the possibility that genetics, dna, or other forms of natural evolution might play a part in the intellectual makeup of men and women.

Methinks their politically correct sphincters have cut off the blood flow to their brains.

What are your thoughts on the following two points?

1.  The role of nature, i.e. dna or instinct, in the development of intellect in males and females.

2.  The intellectual bankruptcy of Ivy League Universities.

[lazs2]

men and women are different.

professional students are enormous tools.... parodies of themselves.

lazs

[Blooz]

Males are rational.

Females are emotional.

Example:
Both are looking at a freshly painted wall. The female says, "That's the most beautiful shade of pink I ever saw." The male says, "Yup, it's quality interior latex with a thirty year warranty to never chip, crack or fade and is washable."

Rational beats emotional every time. Unless you're on a date.


I wanted to go to Cornell after high school.

I sure am glad I didn't now. Whew, dodged another bullet and saved myself a whole lot of money too.

(actually, when I told my parents I wanted to go to Cornell, they laughed)

[indy007]

There's a website kinda, sorta about it

But it's more liberal vs conservative.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by Blooz
Males are rational.

Females are emotional.

Example:
Both are looking at a freshly painted wall. The female says, "That's the most beautiful shade of pink I ever saw." The male says, "Yup, it's quality interior latex with a thirty year warranty to never chip, crack or fade and is washable."

Actually, the male is more apt to say, "Pink? Why the f--- did you paint it pink?  What if our kid is a boy? You want to have him grow up be a flaming homo and live in San Francisco?"

Then he'll angrily leave the room and get into his very rationally purchased supercharged 4x4 F-350 with only 48,000 left on a 5 year loan, rev it to the redline and burn out all four corners, cut the corner on the driveway, destroying the wife's flower bed and running over the garbage cans, on his way to the bar.

There he'll get s--tfaced, drive home and be arrested for drunk driving, and spend the next 6 months in jail.

>edit: misspelled "angrily" -- pissed me off

[mosca]

Originally posted by Blooz
I wanted to go to Cornell after high school.... (actually, when I told my parents I wanted to go to Cornell, they laughed)

I dropped out of Cornell not once, but twice. Ivy league schools aren't intellectually bankrupt; rather, they are rich in intellectual currency that simply doesn't spend well off campus. Sort of like, rich in intellectual zlotzkys. We artsies used to laugh at the hotelies, but by god I sure wish I had a degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.

There's a great article in the latest Atlantic Monthly about getting through Princeton, an article that really rings true to my experience at Cornell. It wasn't important to think for yourself; what was important was to learn what your professors thought, and then learn how to artfully parrot it so that it didn't sound fawning.

The awareness came for me when I handed in a truly dreadful and unreadable English essay two days after the end of term; I'd been up all night writing and doing bong hits (this was maybe '74 or '75). Coincidentally it was the same day that the instructor reviews were due, and Dave (he wanted us to call him Dave) wasn't a very good instructor. I handed him my paper, two days late, and he handed me the review, looked me in the eye, and said something like, "I liked having you in my class. You know that your paper was due Monday. This is your review of me. I'm sure you will give it the same consideraton that I'm going to give your essay." I took the review, gave him aces, he took my paper and gave me aces.


As far as women and men, who the **** knows. I gave up trying. It's not worth caring about. Say they're the same, you're guilty of not recognizing their diversity. Say they're different, you're guilty of some sort of -ism. **** it, who cares.I got my own garden to tend to.  Call me when you figure it out, It'll make for interesting reading in the bathroom.


Tom

[midnight Target]

Men and women are different.

lazs and men are different.

[Mini D]

Good thing lazs flunked algebra.

[lasersailor184]

Actually, I believe that the Ivy League schools are just becoming names.  They have no real power behind their degrees.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
They have no real power behind their degrees.

Yeah, of the last 10 presidents, only 5 ever attended an Ivy league school.

[lasersailor184]

Are you more impressed with the name?  Or what the degree was actually in?  And there lies the problem.

[Holden McGroin]

The relative value of cars is what people percive it is.

Bentley is more valuable than VW. (same company)

The same goes for education.

A law degree from Harvard or Yale goes for more than one from Northeast  Poughkipsie Law School and Quickee Oil Change.

[Suave]

Havard has given us the Simpson's and Conan O'Brien, we owe them.

[Swoop]

1)  Of course it's DNA.  Everything is DNA.


I know a family.......their eldest daughter is a lawyer, their second child, a son, is something very technical in engineering.  Their third child (now 40ish) has never held a proper job and spent time in prison for silly things like stealing milk off peoples doorsteps.  

But then they adopted their third child while he was a baby, just a month or so old.  Same childhood, same schools, same advantages, only thing different is the DNA of the parents.

2)  Can't comment on the US ivy leaguers but the prestige of an Oxford or Cambridge degree is still as high as it always was, and you still need the best of the best grades to gain a place at Oxford.......however, personally I never met anyone with a degree from Oxford that had an ounce of common sense.  Degree holders from Cambridge tend to be better cos Cambridge concentrates more on the technical degrees than Oxford does.

[lasersailor184]

It's kind of like Dell Computers.  I remember a time when they didn't suck.  They had a good name because it was a good computer.

But now they are all awful computers, yet they still have the same name.