The new WVU budget slashes nearly 10 percent of majors and 7 percent of all faculty—but students and staff aren't going down without a fight.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1806644

Archived version: https://archive.ph/nFSSK
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230823162005/https://therealnews.com/this-public-university-just-announced-massive-layoffs-is-all-higher-ed-at-risk

    • Jim@programming.dev6•10 months ago

      Just because you can get part of your education remotely or through self-learning didn't mean "anything can be learned online".

      And if you were hiring a math tutor for your kid, would you prefer a self-proclaimed expert from watching YouTube videos or would you want someone who got a degree from a credentialed university? And even if you don't care, why are you surprised that others would be skeptical of the YouTube expert?

      Remote learning can be fine for some things, and self learning through informal channels are also fine, but it's not a full on replacement for formal education in all cases.

            • @WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml1•10 months ago

              Lmao. Nope. I've done both. Online classes are a fucking joke. Maybe some schools do it well, but most treat online classes like a correspondence course.

                • @WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml1•10 months ago

                  Because math and science are large interconnected fields that you simply cannot learn from a textbook study. You must speak with other people about many different topics so you can broaden your understanding of where your education fits in the world around you.

                  Have you ever studied a particular subject and wondered "OK... I can solve that problem now. Why did I learn it?" Textbooks are notoriously bad at explaining the why.

    • Sinonatrix [comrade/them]2•10 months ago

      For one, you can have a second screen and Google the answers. It's a little bit harder in person.

      I'd really like to see a system of online learning where extension offices are built out into testing center networks. This still disenfranchises people sadly, but staves off some existential questions about what passing an exam even means now.