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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 22:42:26
It feels like things are brewing for war...
I am concerned that Confusius Institutes are being closed / boycotted on the grounds that it is a 'soft power' for China.
Are Roman Catholic Churches being closed / boycotted on the grounds that they are a 'soft power' for Italy?
Presberertian Churches on the grounds that it is a soft power (in Dunedin) for inter-generational poverty?
I don't think that the free world should be closing Churches in the name of 'freedom'.
I don't know what the Confusius Institute teaches. Likely they teach about all the atrocities and war crimes and war criminals that Trump knows about -- but doesn't do anything about. Just like how the free world teaches about all the atrocities and human rights abuses etc that the Chinese Government knows about...
I mean to say that it is important to give BOTH SIDES a fair hearing. That's the whole thing about allowing diversity. Allowing differences of opinion. Allowing free association so people can go to whatever church they want.
There was something about a Philosophy student in Queensland who is being prosecuted by the... Well it can't be the Univesrity... Something something about kicking him out for speaking out against the Confusious Institute.
But I think he was putting up Covid posters... In a form of protest. Apparently he was 'being metaphoric'.
But that's like yelling 'bomb' on a plane or in a movie theatre after the bombing of the twin towers. That is to say that freedom is not unlimited in the free world -- to protect others freedoms, too. Putting up Covid posters (scaring people away from the premises / site) is on a par with that. He should know better, as a philsopohy student seeking truth (rather than being controversial for the sake of it or for the publicity).
Apparently US, UK, Australia, Canada did sign something to say they stood with 'one country two systems' which means 'two systems' which means China's attempt to undermine the second system is inappropriate.
NZ is trying to follow along...
What rule of law means.
We don't quite have it, yet.
The people.
The legislature.
The judiciary.Too many chiefs.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:03:46
In reply to cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 22:42:26
It is like: Apparently there is this terrible terrible thing where the Univesrity of Maryland etc etc is taking Chinese Students who are funded by the Chinese Government, even, and they are going to America and learning skills and technolgies..
Maybe even getting start-up companies going...
Then returning to China and China is profiting from the situation.
Well... Uh...
Are the Americans sending studnets to China to learn from China? I thought that sending people to learn was, uh, the whole point of international community and Tertiary Education etc etc etc.
I mean...
From this country...
People go. People learn.
People come back??
To be bullied to death?
Yeah, right.
That's a huge part of the problem, here. People go overseas and learn. They come back to teh country. THey then aren't allowed to contribute anything at all that they have learned.
The country, instead, decides to deny that they even have the most basic of skills that they left with.
I mean... Not only denying that they learned anything in their time abroad. But denying that they learned anything at all before they left.
It's just f*ck*ng impossible to do anything in this country.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:11:21
In reply to Re: cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:03:46
I mean it isn't like the USA was offering those students citizenship -- right?
They always were expected to go back to China, after a time. Presumably to help China. To use their skills in China to help China. Right? That was the entire point of the exercise.
And I went to Australia and then the USA and learned philosophy. That's what NZ trained me to do. That's what I got funding to do overseas. But that was only supposed to be for a time. I was supposed to come back to NZ and... Get a job as a philosopher, I suppose.
Well where are the jobs for philosophers, then? Arts departments aren't valued. We try and herd thousands upon thousands to do the same subjects in science. We don't want to fund people to have small group discussions with someone paid to teach them. There aren't really any jobs for philosophers. Apparently there are hundreds of applicants for every job advertised in philosophy. Apparently they pick the best person for the job. YOu are supposed to do that. I see teh people tehy hired. The best people from all the applicants, apparently.
The best fit.
Because philosophy is for people who lack reading comprehension. Time management. The basic stuff like that. It's for arguentative people who like to argue for arguments sake. It's for people who don't speak English very well who think that their lack of understanding is because of that rather than because the 'critical reasoning' stuff they are being taught is only likely to screw them up forever when it comes to how they do on any standard or normal or usual test of reading comprehension or of verbal reasoning...
sort of 'if not a then anything i like' inferences that are supposed to *show the limits of logic*. For people who *don't have the intuition that there is anything wrong or our of the ordinary with that statement'
it's rule of law!
the law says 'anything i like!'
yeah right.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:16:36
In reply to Re: cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:11:21
because, sure, i can use the funds i get from the skilled labor i do to pursue other education opportunities -- right?
hahahahhahahahhahahha
i don't get offered any tutoring work.
why hire someone skilled when you want to train people to sign up for philosophy and hand over money hand over money hand over money... and never get the degree! they will do tutoring work adn grading for minimum wage. actually no that's not it. they will do tutoring work adn grading for *less than minimum wage* otherwise they will take a paultry sum of money for not doing the job for which they are paid.
because the amount of time it takes to grade the work properly. fairly. honestly. is considerably more than the time you are paid for. so you choose to do it for free. or to screw over the students (the equivalent of throwing them up the staircase). mostly people are going with the latter.
they just gutted it. entirely.
the thing about forcing everyone to do the same science courses is that they have already picked out which students do what degrees -- and also the grades they are going to be given.
it's an inter-generational thing.
which is how come we end up with so much incompetence.
too much heavy handed-ness from people with too much power. basically.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:19:14
In reply to Re: cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:16:36
i'm sorry
-- they don't publically advertise tutoring / teaching. even lecturing work.they *offer it to people*. they pick who they are going to offer the work to.
likely they will data collect their cv for themself, first.
then they will pick who they like to do it.
then they don't sign off the students. so they can keep the cheap labor.
we've managed to turn universities into that.
gutted.
and we don't have skilled people. science. computer science. damn it anything. social policy, even. we don't have skilled people. becuase we don't acknowledge skills. we don't allow people to speak abotu the things they are skilled in. we don't even know enough about the skills they have to allow the skilled people do to the freaking job that they have the expertise in.
just a few chiefs running the show... not even realising their stupidity and incompetence.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:28:04
In reply to Re: cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:19:14
and apparently there is a shortage of doctors...
but that just means that the few (and only) people who are picked to do it are rare and valuable.
that's all that means.
it doesn't mean we are interested in identifying more with the capacity to do it. it doesn't mean that we are interested in training people with the capacity to do it. it just means that the people we picked to do it are rare and valuable and highly paid. that's all that means.
but mostly our hospitals are not filled with doctors.
most paitents cannot tell the difference between a cleaner and a doctor.
that's intentional.
so they can conceal how few doctors there really are.
people don't have name badges with their name and registration number and photo and job title anyplace where patients can see.
people are not taught to introduce themselves properly with their name and their title (or who they are).
they are encouraged to pass themselves off as things they are not.
like the students who get to feel special for the first years thinking they are professors (when they are only 3rd year students, often).
2nd year students helping with 1st year students laboratories...
they will do it for free, you see.
they will likely pay the university for the opportunity to pass themselves off as...
yes.
that's it.
that's it exactly.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:33:19
In reply to Re: cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:28:04
and that is it, exactly.
they pick the ones they think they can bully into doing the work for free (or ideally while paying them) for as long as possible...
then they need to see about finding new slaves, you see.
it's worse than slavery -- because the students are paying the teachers to learn...
but people are paying the university to pass themselves off as skilled teachers.
but the univerities have been gutted.
no skilled people there.
that's why peter crampton the dean was like 'you didn't bring us any money' when jing bo made professor. usually the way it works is that people bribe the university (in the form of 'research monies they bring') for their title.
the job pays for itself.
that's the idea.
they take money from the students and have themselves a way of life.
the VC on more than half a million each year.
etc.
the bribes for the student places in medical school...
what we don't have is...
products. outputs.
books. articles. journals. inventions. products.
genuine contribution to development (rahher than explaining 1+1=2 to people who lack the capacity to understand it in their lifetime).
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:46:09
In reply to Re: cold war?, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:33:19
there's this thing about 'conversational implicature' and someone writes a letter of reccommendation or reference...
and instead of my supervisor at Waikato saying I should apply to the University he came through -- so he could write me a letter for there since he was alumni... He doesn't mention that. I don't know if he wanted to stabotage me... Seems unlikely. I was going overseas no matter what... Maybe it simply did not occur to him.
Anyway... There's this thing about conversational implicature. And maxims of quality, quantity, relevance, and manner.
Not 'rules' but expectations. That are startling if violated.
So if someone writes in a letter of reccommendation that so and so completes their work on time and doesn't say much in the way of anything else then that suggests there isn't much of anything else that one can say in reccommendation of the candidate. Because relevance would suggest they would say more if it was relevant. Quantity would suggest more information if it is relevant. Etc.
But from that my supervisor seemed to think that getting work done in a timely fashion was irrelevant.
But that doesn't follow!
It's more like 'necessary but not sufficient'.
Because most things in life have a time-deadline.
If you are working on a funded project there is an expectation that this government report will be done in 3 months. Deadline. Do the best you can in the time you have got. Etc.
And as an undergraduate you have deadlines on when your work is due in (Friday the 7th by 5pm or whatever). You have an examination on x day and you get 3 hours only. Maybe you can make alternative arrangements becuas eof whatever. But there are still deadlines on when and where and how much time you have.
And then you get to graduate study!
And now all of a sudden you must be too stupid to have basic reading comprehension even. And nobody has a deadline. You aren't done until they say you are done!!
And teh funding runs out... And now you are expected to work for free...
Because they never were going to pay you.
NOt unless you agree to throw them up the stairs. ONly advance those without time management and without reading comprehension. TO better smooth the next generation of graduate students who will work indefinately for no / low pay while passing themsleves off as professors to the kiddies... Again with signing them off for handing in late. SIgning them off for lackign basic reading comprehesion...
THe low road to growth.
_______________________
The time thing is about the ability to work to a deadline. Start -- work good as you can -- and pens down. Stop. You are done. And now it goes to external examiners who are not prejudiced either for or against to examine it on it's academic merits according to the standard set by international academic community.
____________________
it is not about age.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:50:36
In reply to Re:time, posted by alexandra_k on May 25, 2020, at 23:46:09
>
> The time thing is about the ability to work to a deadline. Start -- work good as you can -- and pens down. Stop. You are done. And now it goes to external examiners who are not prejudiced either for or against to examine it on it's academic merits according to the standard set by international academic community.
>
> ____________________
>
> it is not about age.And we WILL NOT WORK TO THIS.
And as a consequence we don't contribute to international academic community.
And as a consequence we don't produce anything. We don't produce skilled graduates who are capable of producing anything.
So we constantly cry for handouts on the world stage.
We are no better than the KIng of tonga or whoever proudly showing off the children in slums as hostages for lump sum payouts to help them or help make more of them or whatever.
This is the end of the thread.
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