Of course you would not spare a penny, and would rather condemn me to the unemployment lines, right?
Because you--well, not personally you, but as a stand-in for an American--would rather be entertained. I don't entertain. Not even close.
So, you want to be entertained. And that is how you would spend your money. There are millions of Americans expressing such choices.
So, guess what?
Shit like this happens: Jim Harbaugh is done with the San Francisco 49ers. The team that he coached was not entertaining enough this year. Off with his head then!
But, oh, this is Jim Harbaugh. So, guess what? Shit like this happens:
Harbaugh is expected to become college football's highest-paid coach, earning more than the $8 million per-year salary that was originally reported, sources told Rapoport. Nick Saban is the highest-paid college coach at $7.2 million per year. Harbaugh's number could reach as high as $9 million per year, according to NFL Media's Albert Breer.Are you now happy that nine fucking million dollars a year is what a public university will spend on a football coach in order to entertain the masses? Are you not entertained?
As you the consumer make these choices, there are fewer dollars to spend on other things. Like, you know, education. Who cares for those youth who come from low- and middle-income families with no trust funds for their education, right? It is their mistake not to have been born into rich families.
It is only a matter of time before the university where I teach gets into a budget squeeze that has already affected other institutions. You as the taxpayer will then point to classes like mine with three and five students and remark, "what a waste of money with only three students in a class!" because you are not being entertained with your tax dollars. You would rather have that tax money back in your wallet in order to spend it on football coaches who will entertain you.
A liberal democracy means that you have the right to make these choices. More power to you. May you have enough and more entertainment in the new year and beyond.
 |
| Can you locate Michigan on this map and determine whether its needs to be updated? ;) Source |
6 comments:
Stop writing your blog exclusively for Americans. You have a global audience, you know. What is the redhead in South Ossetia going to say ?:)
Yeah, your college sports is a complete mystery to any sane human being outside of the US. As usual, you are alone in the world and I am now starting to believe that a separate sub species called homo sapiens amercansis must now be designated.
Full Disclosure : Despite being a total sports nut, I follow the professional leagues and not the sham amateur college stuff.
By the way, why don't you move to Alaska ??
To add insult to injury...the University of Michigan pays its post-docs around $50,000/year for two year contracts.
What's $9m/$50k? Well that's only 180 new hires.
The Harbaugh deal is for 6 years so assuming 180 new hires every two years. Over the course of the Harbaugh contract UM could have employed and cycled 540 post-docs.
I'm sure that wouldn't impact their school as much as having a few more football wins.
Guess what Ramesh? College football is giving the pros a run for the money, which is in the billions, reports the NY Times (http://nyti.ms/1Hg71S0) The report begins with this, which is so telling:
"After taking a sociology exam, Cardale Jones, a quarterback at Ohio State, posted a message on Twitter that echoed across college sports: “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.”
Two years after publishing that provocative statement, Jones will be the starting quarterback on Thursday against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, the second semifinal game of college football’s new playoff system"
Yep, classe are pointless at a university! The utter tragedy is that everybody knows this and except a few of us nutcases, everybody is ok with it too!!! We are not a subspecies, but are from another planet :(
Anon: yes, we can put up a whole lot of stats like what you have done via postdocs. But, nope, nobody cares. I can't believe how this can go on like it has, but it seems like it can never be stopped either ...
Strangely enough, my coworker and I were just talking about a similar idea. Instead of the most exciting ventures into space, new understandings of the human body, or even the fact that new evidence was just recently released showing that yes (despite what Jurassic World is going to tell us), dinosaurs did has what they call protofeathers, which is so amazing to read in the most recent Science journal, we focus our "news" on well, shit.
Although I cannot speak for any state outside the US, it is atrocious how focused we are on some random people who happen to sing or be in movies for a living. Why are they the "stars" instead of the scientists who actually study the actual stars?!
Wouldn't it be amazing to turn on the news and see talk of the newest understandings of deep space, continued development of our understanding of actual stars, the newest concepts surrounding our genetics, or that we now have clear evidence of dinosaurs having feathers?! And how great would it be if teachers, astrophysicists, and biologists were the rich and famous?!
So from football coaches to news, it seems at least the American side of what is important is completely ridiculous. I still try and stay optimistic, but every time I hear something about stuff like this, I get rather disheartened. But I still tell myself maybe being a teacher in the future will make me rich!! Haha!
Of course, yes, being a school teacher will make you super-rich and influential, and kids all over the country will recognize and idolize you as much as violent professional football players who get paid minimum wages are adored and idolized! ;)
Post a Comment