Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:08     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you look at the states that WV borders, UVA, UMD, Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, even Kentucky are all growing and healthy. Meanwhile WVU is shrinking


Population, in millions;

WV: 1.8
VA: 8.6
MD: 6
PA: 13
OH: 12
KY: 4.5

Ignoring the broken US system for Senate and Electoral College, WV should probably merge with MD.


Funny you should say that! I was thinking the same thing, except the Maryland part. Virginia should take back its old territory. That way, one quarter of the state wouldn’t feel as disenfranchised as rest. The civil war ended two centuries ago, time to bring WVA back home.


Umm...no thanks! We don't want them/it. Obviously the PP is not a Virginian.


Why would WV want to rejoin with the rabid racists who clung to the Confederacy for dear life?
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:07     Subject: Re:WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You don't pay shit ton of money and major in a language at a college.



You do if you want to be competitive for a job in a global economy where Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin etc are differentiators for prospective employers.


Nobody who is hiring for a job that requires foreign languages is going to hire a WVU grad. Unless that WVU grad is a native speaker who by chance went to WVU.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:07     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you look at the states that WV borders, UVA, UMD, Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, even Kentucky are all growing and healthy. Meanwhile WVU is shrinking


Population, in millions;

WV: 1.8
VA: 8.6
MD: 6
PA: 13
OH: 12
KY: 4.5

Ignoring the broken US system for Senate and Electoral College, WV should probably merge with MD.


Funny you should say that! I was thinking the same thing, except the Maryland part. Virginia should take back its old territory. That way, one quarter of the state wouldn’t feel as disenfranchised as rest. The civil war ended two centuries ago, time to bring WVA back home.


Umm...no thanks! We don't want them/it. Obviously the PP is not a Virginian.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:05     Subject: Re:WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:You don't pay shit ton of money and major in a language at a college.



Disagree completely. A foreign language (+ culture) is one of the most useful!
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:03     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They don’t need $90k/yr PhDs teaching language courses. They could get the job done with adjuncts with master’s degrees.

Agree that they could have trimmed waste by canning lots of the associate deans of student engagement and such. Also cut a few dozen surly middle-aged receptionists with pictures of their grandchildren on their desks.


Who is going to move to WV to be an adjunct making no money?


Massive PhD overproduction means someone certainly will.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:01     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The demographic cliff is coming, and some institutions will not survive. Some will be skeletal versions of themselves.

A real university should have courses in the Humanities, of course. I say this as a research scientist! It looks like a lot a lesser-known, regional institutions will just become professional conduits for entry-level STEM careers.



College is no longer about learning, is about UMC kids positioning themselves optimally for economic opportunities. Sadly!


Historically, that's exactly the service colleges provided.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 15:00     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:Funny you all calling it a flagship. That’s not a thing in most states. Really.


You are a moron

UNC - CH - flagship
UT - Austin - flagship
UCLA - flagship

I could go on
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:59     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
The demographic cliff is coming, and some institutions will not survive. Some will be skeletal versions of themselves.

A real university should have courses in the Humanities, of course. I say this as a research scientist! It looks like a lot a lesser-known, regional institutions will just become professional conduits for entry-level STEM careers.



College is no longer about learning, is about UMC kids positioning themselves optimally for economic opportunities. Sadly!
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:58     Subject: Re:WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You don't pay shit ton of money and major in a language at a college.



Nobody pays a shit ton to attend WVU. Hopefully they'll still offer the classes outside of a major because a flagship not even offering languages would make them a joke.


"The university offered a lengthier explanation for why it is nixing its seven language programs, in areas like Chinese, French and German. It said student interest in the programs “is very low and declining. The institution is also considering eliminating language requirements for all majors.”


As an academic, I can tell you that it sounds like a lot of bureaucrats who don't really know much about education made these rules. (My understanding is that outside consultants who also apparently don't really value education were brought in as well.)

Of particular concern is the statement that "students will have access to a language learning app if they still want to learn the foreign language." I guess I'm old-fashioned and idealistic enough to still believe that learning a language isn't just about repeating some phrases to an AI and having it correct your pronunciation. I was fortunate enough to read poetry and newspapers in a foreign language while in high school and college, and to develop an understanding of how language and literature from a particular culture is both reflective of that culture's mindset and how it helps to shape that mindset. I actually cared about things like what sorts of metaphors people used, what kinds of jokes they told. I went on to serve in the foreign service where I performed tasks like talking to editors and newspaper reporters, reading editorials in the native language. I don't think that someone trained on an app could have done this as well. I currently work with military students and there's a lot of emphasis on perhaps undrestanding the mindset of the Chinese if we are to someday go to war with China. Again, I'm not sure you can get all that from Rosetta Stone.


+2

My grandfather was a linguist and an academic: he taught English, French, and Italian at the university level. There is no comparison between in-person instruction of foreign language and…an app.

I took Latin in high school and had a wonderful teacher. There is so much more to learning a language than rote memorization.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:54     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:Really sad to see a state flagship in this much trouble.


I am local to WVU (live in Morgantown). My professor friends tell me this is a result of post-Covid budgetary shortfalls AND a glut of overpaid administrators.

It’s a good university but Gordon Gee is a joke. He needs to go.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:52     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Gee has got to be pretty desiccated at this point. Why bring in someone that old in the first place and form his POV, why not retire long ago. Sheesh.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:41     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you look at the states that WV borders, UVA, UMD, Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, even Kentucky are all growing and healthy. Meanwhile WVU is shrinking


Population, in millions;

WV: 1.8
VA: 8.6
MD: 6
PA: 13
OH: 12
KY: 4.5

Ignoring the broken US system for Senate and Electoral College, WV should probably merge with MD.


or maybe take its electoral votes and reconnect with Virginia. The only reason places like WVA and the Dakotas exist was to give more power to rural voters.

Either that or to separate from a slave state during the Civil War.


Ha ha exactly. What a clueless response.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:40     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
A UWV Linguistics posted that his program has operated $800K in the black for the past three years, that this is about ideology not substance.

https://community.wvu.edu/~jokatz/Closure/?fbclid=IwAR32zm04Dq6NDCxma6ADNTDqVOofderTEuw8o7dGNPVWUoTKsUSc78uWdj8
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:40     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you look at the states that WV borders, UVA, UMD, Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, even Kentucky are all growing and healthy. Meanwhile WVU is shrinking


Population, in millions;

WV: 1.8
VA: 8.6
MD: 6
PA: 13
OH: 12
KY: 4.5

Ignoring the broken US system for Senate and Electoral College, WV should probably merge with MD.


or maybe take its electoral votes and reconnect with Virginia. The only reason places like WVA and the Dakotas exist was to give more power to rural voters.

Either that or to separate from a slave state during the Civil War.
Anonymous
Post 08/15/2023 14:38     Subject: WVU cutting 32 majors, all foreign languages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you look at the states that WV borders, UVA, UMD, Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, even Kentucky are all growing and healthy. Meanwhile WVU is shrinking


Population, in millions;

WV: 1.8
VA: 8.6
MD: 6
PA: 13
OH: 12
KY: 4.5

Ignoring the broken US system for Senate and Electoral College, WV should probably merge with MD.


Vermont has 650k and UVM is healthy. Same with Rhode Island and Delaware and 1M.


blue areas tend to value education and invest accordingly for their people.

UVM cut a bunch of programs last year to try and meet a budget deficit.