President of University of Oregon Fired For Helping School?

      
         As I was going through the Austin American Statesman I noticed that former UT liberal arts dean; Richard Lariviere has been fired from The University of Oregon.  He had made his switch from UT to The University of Oregon in 2009.  Although what Richard Lariviere did was not bad per say; he did do something controversial and was not given any authority for his actions.  Richard getting fired is the right choice in my humble opinion.  Richard tried to make the school a flagship university(meaning it more private and having more research facilities and NCAA division 1 athletic program)  and rose the professor's salaries without permission.  He was not authorized to do so; so he should rightfully be punished; which is what happened.
         Basically Richard was trying to make the school better as he says,  “I rather be fired .... Trying to seize an act to make the university better than watch it on the glide path to mediocrity."  But he wasn't given any authority; I mean where are they going to get this money from?  The answer would be tax payers.  He wants to make the school bigger and better but he does not think of how it will affect the people of Oregon.  If he makes it bigger will he make it more expensive?  How will this effect people of Oregon attending college?  Will the acceptance rate decrease? There are so many unanswered questions; that he doesn't address.
         In conclusion as much as I agree with paying the teachers more money; where is that money going to come from?  Again this whole idea raises the question; how will this affect the economy of the state of Oregon.  On paper this sounds like a great idea, but not very well thought out.  Second of all he was not given any authority to do this.

Educating The Masses Critique

         I agree with her a 100 percent. But at the same time we do need to some sort of scale to measure education and intelligence. In order to pass the kids on to the next grade level. Standardized test don’t mean much but at the same time what alternative/method would you rather choose. Would you choose a Henry David Thoreau method of studying where we would learn by soaking up the outside world and just sit together and talk amongst each other?
       I do agree and I don’t think we should cram material down student’s throats. I also don’t agree that we shouldn't prepare them to take standardized test but as of now there isn't a better alternative.   I just wish she gave an example of alternative ways to measure kids learning ability.  We can’t just assume the kids learned the material they need to be tested. 

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