Uttered by an administrator:
“It’s not a curricular decision. It’s a resources decision.”
The decision pertained to classes that were being cut.
Also, instruction, it turns out, requires resources.
We have not yet hit bottom here, and I am really tired of the sensation of plummeting.
It’s getting ugly here, too, as the state tries to figure out what’s going to happen when the taxes don’t come in and the stimulus runs out.
I’m so sorry. I think we have a philosophy department here though and the Free-Rides could move in with us.
I’m going to guess that the plummeting feeling is better than the hitting-bedrock-or-cold-baywater feeling, though.
I don’t know where my frustration would be best directed at – adminstration (where does all the money go? not to like teaching and stuff…) or state government (where do you think all those jobs and tax money come from? if people can’t live or get an education in your state, do you think they will continue to come to you and give you money?). Of course, I have a low threshold for frustration.
That sucks. I hope against hope that things will turn sane.
Sounds like you are about a year or two ahead of us here on the Old Continent. Great wailings an gnashings of teeth are heard all around our place. A general election coming up next year means that no politician wants to say openly just how bad those “tough decisions needed to guide us to growth” will be. This means education currently has no cuts in funding. Furthermore, given the economic climate, student numbers are up because people can’t find jobs. This has the effect of bringing a temporary stability – stability inasmuch that horsehair is stable at supporting the weight of the Sword of Damocles. Education will be the softest target whichever colour the next government will be.
We have already traded academic choices for fiscal ones. More will follow and it will be messy. We’ll see how things compare.