tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854619655125512358.post3015778045413437094..comments2023-05-05T03:34:08.054-07:00Comments on Litmocracy: Fighting for taxpayersDave Scotesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14913120983331583889noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854619655125512358.post-23514669515758433632010-02-03T23:14:28.638-08:002010-02-03T23:14:28.638-08:00Alumni should only provide as much as they are wil...Alumni should only provide as much as they are willing, or as much as they have agreed to provide. I don't know if the Alumni Association provides any support to the UC system itself, and I guess it would be good if alumni were informed either way.<br /><br />I was writing about leveraging the intelligence of the current students. Much of what they do is repetitive coursework that is of little value to anyone but themselves in their efforts to learn. Learning, however, is what professional scientists and researchers do - and they get paid for it. Since UC students are green, their work will show it, and be of less value than that of seasoned professionals, but it would still be of great value if the motivation was there - and they'd learn faster and more practically because their work would be in demand.<br /><br />As far as research grants and corporate contributions - you've hit the nail on the head. The trouble is that "grants" can come from public money, which inverts their effect. Normally, a grant is given by an institution that earns money (some of which is the money being granted) by catering to its customers' demands - pleasing society, as it were - and the grant is an investment that the institution makes in order to improve its ability to provide its goods and services. But when it's public money, it isn't earned through demanded work, but rather taken through taxes and justified (or, really, rationalized) after the fact through government services.<br /><br />"Public money" is really oxymoronic, with emphasis on the moronic part. Money is a placeholder for favors, and I don't think anyone nowadays thinks the government does favors or should do favors. Its job is to rule because people think they need that. Makes me sad.<br /><br />Thanks for reading!Dave Scotesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14913120983331583889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854619655125512358.post-17583233728153027352010-02-03T20:26:47.015-08:002010-02-03T20:26:47.015-08:00Hhhmmm... I'm not sure how letting UC alumni s...Hhhmmm... I'm not sure how letting UC alumni somehow pay for the system would actually work. Since I graduated from a UC school in 1978, do you mean I should have paid a portion of my state taxes to the UC system for the last 32 years? Intriguing... I've been giving the alumni association $250 a year since 1985 or so, but I guess we'd need to collect a lot more than that. Maybe that wasn't what you meant? Maybe when my daughter gets her PhD from UCLA this spring, her future employer has to pay UC a recruitment fee or something? I just am not sure what you meant by "leverage" -- I'm assuming it has something to do with the higher lifetime earnings of UC grads compared to the rest of the population. Or perhaps the value of the research grants and other corporate contributions that keep research going?clwriterhttp://clwriter.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.com