OUR BLOG: 2015 FEB



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Since the article we linked to above is from an Alabama online newspaper, it makes sense that it would use Alabama as an example of all the other problems with the plan, and many of those involve expenses other than tuition, like rent, food, transportation, books, etc., etc.

All those problems would be solved if an existing system (a High School Diploma), that was already in place and paid for, automatically became an Associate's Degree after graduation from high school.

More people might even go get a Bachelors Degree, because that would now only take two years to get instead of four, and thus be cheaper.

One of the first problems, of course, would be that high school teachers would then want to be paid as much as college teachers, and that would mean teacher's unions would get involved, and who knows what'll happen after that gets all finished, but the federal government could help out here by making high school teacher's salaries exempt from income tax for four years, or more, while this was all worked out, and to also help give those same teachers time to upgrade their educational requirements so they can teach college courses.

Which brings us to the next big problem, the biggest granddaddy of them all problems, and that problem is a hurdle that needs to be jumped for Dave's idea to even begin to get off the ground and become reality, and that is the College Accreditation System.

While looking up "college accreditation" in Google, we ran across the following piece from the Wikipedia entry, "regional accreditation":

FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_accreditation

"Regionally accredited higher education institutions are predominantly academically oriented, non-profit, or state-owned institutions. Nationally accredited schools are predominantly for-profit and offer vocational, career or technical programs.

"Every college has the right to set standards and refuse to accept transfer credits. However, if a student has gone to a school that is only nationally accredited and not regionally accredited, it may be particularly difficult to transfer credits (or even credit for a degree earned) if he or she then applies to a regionally accredited college. A 2005 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that, in making decisions on credit transfer, about 84 percent of U.S. higher education institutions considered whether the sending institution is accredited, and many had policies stating that they would accept credits only from regionally accredited institutions. About 63 percent of institutions told the GAO that they would accept credit from any regionally accredited institution, but only 14 percent similarly accepted credits from nationally accredited schools. Regional institutions are reluctant to accept credits from nationally accredited institutions due, in part, to national accreditors' less stringent standards for criteria such as faculty qualifications and library resources. Students who are planning to transfer credits from a nationally accredited school to a regionally accredited school are advised to ensure that the regionally accredited school will accept the credits before they enroll.

"In general, the names of U.S. post-secondary institutions and their degree titles do not indicate whether the institution is accredited or the type of accreditation it holds. Rules on this topic vary from state to state. Regulations of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission require that post-secondary institutions in the state of Tennessee must be regionally accredited to use the word 'university' in their names, and that a school lacking regional accreditation may not use the word 'college' in its name without adding a qualifier such as 'career', 'vocational', 'business', 'technical', 'art', 'Bible', or 'Christian'. Tennessee rules also specify that only regionally accredited schools can issue 'liberal arts' degrees or degree titles such as Associate of Arts or Science and Bachelor of Arts or Science... "

In short, what I got from all that was that the important thing about college credit was the transfer. Will one college accept credits (or transfer credits) from another college, that can then be used to get the final credits for a degree at another college, without having to take all those credit courses again, and that's where the major hang-up will be as far as High School Diplomas being used as credit for college courses will be, and that is will colleges accept them as such? That's the big question.

I not only learned that the transferability of credit depends on accreditation, but also that accreditation depends on an institution meeting certain standards by either a regional or national accreditating agency, which brings up two questions. What are these standards and can most high schools, in general, meet these standards?

FROM: http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg2.html

"Accreditation in the U.S.

"The United States has no federal Ministry of Education or other centralized authority exercising single national control over postsecondary educational institutions in this country. The states assume varying degrees of control over education, but, in general, institutions of higher education are permitted to operate with considerable independence and autonomy. As a consequence, American educational institutions can vary widely in the character and quality of their programs.

"In order to insure a basic level of quality, the practice of accreditation arose in the United States as a means of conducting nongovernmental, peer evaluation of educational institutions and programs. Private educational associations of regional or national scope have adopted criteria reflecting the qualities of a sound educational program and have developed procedures for evaluating institutions or programs to determine whether or not they are operating at basic levels of quality... "

I still have yet to find what these standards for accreditation are, especially as it applies to the quality and kind of course materials that need to be offered by the prospective accrediting institution.

As of this writing, and even without knowing what the standards are for college accreditation, it's easy for us to see that the probabilities of it being attained by high schools are slim at best, but certainly not impossible. It just needs a few key people to take the idea seriously. Obama's proposal mentioned at the beginning of the post is definitely a good start in the right direction.

The article shows a video of someone trying to kick the robot over, and it does kind of resembled a dog, and it acted like one too, because the robot did almost exactly what a dog would if you tried to kick it over, with the legs kicking around to balance itself. It was really creepy looking, now that I think about it, and one of the creepy things was that the robot didn't try to bite you for kicking it. I half expected it to, even though I knew it didn't have a mouth to bite with.

But, would you kick it? It's really no different than kicking your TV. At least, that's what Dave says, but he admitted he wouldn't kick it, and I have to agree, I wouldn't kick it either.

It would feel too much like I was substituting the robot for my dog, and I would never hurt my dog. Never.

But, it is interesting to watch though, which brings up the next question, what if it looked like a human? Would you feel comfortable kicking it than?

And now it seems that some other people have picked up on this, most notably CNN:

FROM: http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/13/tech/spot-robot-dog-google/

Is it cruel to kick a robot dog?
By Phoebe Parke, for CNN
Updated 8:43 AM ET, Fri February 13, 2015

' ...But more recently, the conversation flared up again, most of it stemming from the video released this week showing Boston Dynamics employees trying to kick Spot over in order to show how robust it is. The video spread around the Internet like wildfire and raised questions about ethics, the future of robotics and Google's intentions... '

Maybe we should be thinking about how we treat our electronics nowadays. You know, just in case the uprising comes sooner than we think it will. Why take chances, if you don't have to.

So the next time you feel like pounding the living shit out of your keyboard or throwing your tablet against the wall, just think about that robot dog that was made to be kicked, if only for a minute, and just maybe that feeling will pass, and you'll be safe again... for now anyway.

Stephen Hawking predicts robot apocalypse coming within 100 years
By TJ Dietsch May. 13, 2015 1:26 pm
http://www.geek.com/news/stephen-hawking-predicts-robopocalypse-in-next-century-1622734/
"If you thought the title villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron was scary: just wait, because one of the biggest brains on the planet thinks a robot takeover is likely in the next century... "

Could your next pet be a robot?
By Rowena Lindsay, Staff Writer
MAY 12, 2015
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0512/Could-your-next-pet-be-a-robot
"The next step in artificial intelligence technology may be robot pets, at least according to one animal welfare researcher at the University of Melbourne... "

Japan's Robot Dogs Get Funerals as Sony Looks Away - Japan
3/8/15 AT 2:34 PM
BY LAUREN WALKER
http://www.newsweek.com/japans-robot-dogs-get-funerals-sony-looks-away-312192
"In 1999, Sony launched a robot dog named Aibo in the U.S. and Japan that not only responded to external stimuli, but was able to learn and express itself. These capabilities, a press release from the time explained, 'allow each unit to develop a unique personality including behavior shaped by the praise and scolding of its owner.' And Aibo, short for 'Artificially Intelligent Robot,' quickly became a hit--especially in Japan... "