According to department's founding document (http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/history/publication_0015.shtm), its primary mission is to protect the United States from terrorism. This is also pretty peripheral to my larger point.
The political logic of "staying the course" is pretty ironclad, but there has been significant push-back against a few status quo policies. To me, that suggests that some reform is possible under the right circumstances.
Read the Jeffrey Goldberg article I link to above. DHS is in charge of a lot basic counter-terrorism enforcement, including airport and port security. According to Wikipedia, its primary mission is to protect the United States from terrorist attacks:
I suppose that's possible, but we really won't know either way unless there's a more open, comprehensive discussion about the extent and nature of the terrorist threat.
No, I think Douthat's perspective is that the liberal arts should be more rigorous. I don't doubt that math and science are exponentially more difficult areas of study than the humanities, but I see no reason why that should be the case.
Here are a few quotes from the Douthat piece that jive with my broader point:
"Humanities students generally did the least work, got the highest grades, and cruised academically, letting their studies slide in favor of time-sucking extracurriculars, while their science- and math-minded classmates sometimes had to struggle to reach the B-plus plateau. "
"It was hard work to get into Harvard, and then it was hard work competing for offices and honors and extracurriculars with thousands of brilliant and driven young people; hard work keeping our heads in the swirling social world; hard work fighting for law-school slots and investment-banking jobs as college wound to a close … yes, all of that was heavy sledding. But the academics—the academics were another story."
One additional point: even if the "more rubble, less trouble" school of thought is right, I doubt we have the public appetite for a full-bore campaign of extermination. The half-measures that inevitably follow from this public constraint are probably the worst possible approach to counter-insurgency.
The question isn't whether students pick up useful skills at college - I think we all acknowledge that four years of school will teach you something, if only through osmosis. The real question is whether this process deserves to be valorized (and, by implication, extended to every eligible high school grad) as some sort of uniquely beneficial educational experience.
I agree with you about the importance of certain skills acquired by college graduates, but I wonder if four years of undergraduate study is really necessary to pick up public speaking, writing or critical thinking.
On “Thank You Jesus, Subway, and NBC”
Gush over bad shows somewhere else, Dierkes. If you weren't a man of the cloth, I'd smite you.
On “Monday Evening Humor”
Nicely played, Dierkes.
On “Department of Idiotic Ideas”
You're right! Clearly, some government agency needs to protect our delicate readers from my offensive prose.
On “Terror Talk”
Ken -
Agreed. Maybe it wasn't clear in the original post, but I refer to it as botched because of how bungling the suspects were.
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Jim -
According to department's founding document (http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/history/publication_0015.shtm), its primary mission is to protect the United States from terrorism. This is also pretty peripheral to my larger point.
"
Graham -
The political logic of "staying the course" is pretty ironclad, but there has been significant push-back against a few status quo policies. To me, that suggests that some reform is possible under the right circumstances.
On “Get this man a blog”
Word.
On “Terror Talk”
Jim -
Read the Jeffrey Goldberg article I link to above. DHS is in charge of a lot basic counter-terrorism enforcement, including airport and port security. According to Wikipedia, its primary mission is to protect the United States from terrorist attacks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security
Mike -
I suppose that's possible, but we really won't know either way unless there's a more open, comprehensive discussion about the extent and nature of the terrorist threat.
On “Notes from a Vacation”
Mark -
There's a word for Americans who voluntarily visit Europe. It begins with a "c" and ends with an "ommunist."
Welcome back!
On “Terror Talk”
Damn, beat me to it.
On “Corrugated Degree Factories”
Mark -
No, I think Douthat's perspective is that the liberal arts should be more rigorous. I don't doubt that math and science are exponentially more difficult areas of study than the humanities, but I see no reason why that should be the case.
"
Mark -
Here are a few quotes from the Douthat piece that jive with my broader point:
"Humanities students generally did the least work, got the highest grades, and cruised academically, letting their studies slide in favor of time-sucking extracurriculars, while their science- and math-minded classmates sometimes had to struggle to reach the B-plus plateau. "
"It was hard work to get into Harvard, and then it was hard work competing for offices and honors and extracurriculars with thousands of brilliant and driven young people; hard work keeping our heads in the swirling social world; hard work fighting for law-school slots and investment-banking jobs as college wound to a close … yes, all of that was heavy sledding. But the academics—the academics were another story."
On “Flip a COIN”
One additional point: even if the "more rubble, less trouble" school of thought is right, I doubt we have the public appetite for a full-bore campaign of extermination. The half-measures that inevitably follow from this public constraint are probably the worst possible approach to counter-insurgency.
On “Corrugated Degree Factories”
Lebecka -
The question isn't whether students pick up useful skills at college - I think we all acknowledge that four years of school will teach you something, if only through osmosis. The real question is whether this process deserves to be valorized (and, by implication, extended to every eligible high school grad) as some sort of uniquely beneficial educational experience.
On “Who are you going to believe, the NBA or your lying eyes?”
Thank you for this.
On “Corrugated Degree Factories”
Mike -
I agree with you about the importance of certain skills acquired by college graduates, but I wonder if four years of undergraduate study is really necessary to pick up public speaking, writing or critical thinking.
On “I was a teenage border patrol agent”
Seriously - I'm like this site's freaking copy editor.
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Schrute* (for the record)
On “an ocean full of paper boats”
Sword at Sunset was quite good - presaged all the bad Arthurian reimaginings we've been plagued with.
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Shout-outs for George R. R. Martin but no love for Rosemary Sutcliff? Wtf?
On “I was a teenage border patrol agent”
Mike -
Most of that sounds pretty innocuous, but the guns and the combat training stuff is really creepy.
On “(non)coercion”
Felonious sense of fashion? Nicely put.
On “Silly Arguments Against Hate Crimes Legislation”
Jaybird -
Nice find. I'll be sure to check it out.
On “No one is criticizing Rush Limbaugh’s business acumen”
Mike -
Yup.
On “He Doesn’t Look a Thing Like Jesus”
Robot Boy -
I admit I'm not too familiar with Geert's presence in the blogosphere, but if that's true, credit LGF with steering clear of the nutjobs.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.