scrubbedexpat099

Well the EqualityTownHall is fun, looks like Healthcare plans will cover Gender Reassignment for Children.

Giantaxe

Is there a reason they shouldn't?

Giantaxe

+1

Leslie

Oh yeah, totally. I didn't mean that they were necessarily wealthy prior to receiving their degrees, even though some definitely were already wealthy. My point, in response to what someone else said earlier about these people being unemployable losers, was that they had gone on to be successful in life --- some becoming extremely affluent.

Yes, 'liberal arts' covers many, if not most, degrees. The attorney that you pay $500.00 per hour will have a liberal arts degree so will the accountant that you trust with your taxes. The police officers in most cities will have a liberal arts degrees as well as most of the staff working in the White House.

scrubbedexpat099

HDWill

I would think most accountants have undergraduate degrees in accounting, and most cops who get degrees do Criminal Justice. Though plenty of American lawyers have undergrad degrees in history, philosophy etc.

Leslie

Or mathematics or finance or jurisprudence or political science or psychology. The point being that a lot of people don't necessarily start out exactly where they end up. A liberal arts degree never made anybody unemployable, it just depends on what they choose to do with their degree and career in general. The Dallas Police Department requires 60 hours from an accredited university with no requirements as to what subject(s). I know a police officer with a degree in kinesiology, which is a BS not BA but has nothing to do with law enforcement.

robin1234

zargof

Bernie is back! Gave a great performance at the debate last night, healthier and more energetic than before. Plus he has got the endorsement of three quarters of the Squad.

As for the debate, it was the usual joke. Nothing about climate change, immigration or Hong Kong, but about half an hour of trying to get Warren to say the thing we want her to say about M4A. You could see the change in polls as everyone was going after Warren this time. I thought she held her own quite well, and I don't see any of the attacks doing any damage.

The only person that was attacking Biden was Biden with his incoherent rambling. Warren did get in a good burn with thanking Obama over the CFPB.

Bootyjudge was trying to be aggressive and took on Warren, Gabbard and Irish Bob, but he just comes across as insufferable and annoying.

No one else did or said anything of relevance.

civilservant

Sanders is the annoying one. Annoyingly spry.

Luckily he can't win the nomination, Warren is in his lane and is much stronger.

Biden imploding is what I am hoping for - both Amy and Mayor Pete were good and him failing opens up the moderate lane that we need to beat Trump.

scrubbedexpat099

The only clear winner from last night was Trump.

Giantaxe

Steerpike

I graduated in the UK, and never had kids in the US so my exposure to the US education system has been largely limited to interview candidates. In the UK, when you do an undergraduate degree at almost any university, you pick a subject and that's pretty much what you study. I had friends doing Mathematics, for example, and that's what they studied from day 1 and they came out with a "BS in Mathematics". Similarly, some did 'Anthropology', and they came out with a "BA in Anthropology". Same for History, Physics, and my own 'Computer Systems' BSc(Eng) degree (this is from my experience in the late 70s/early 80s).

Conversely, in the US, what I've observed is, you don't pay too much attention to your 'chosen subject' going into University as an undergraduate. Everyone seems to take a core set of 'general education' classes for the first two (?) years, then they 'pick a major'. They will focus on that 'major' more in the last two years, but not exclusively. So at the time of graduation, you have a slight specialization but nowhere as focused as the UK equivalent. So - is my description of a US undergraduate degree the 'Liberal Arts' degree that you are all referring to? If so, I guess I just never heard it referred to as such. And am I correct in understanding that there is no common equivalent in the UK? In the US, it seems all the specialization occurs at the "Masters" level.

robtuck

My daughter is in the second year of her degree here, and yes, it's very general. She has barely touched her Major yet (Accountancy), and next Semester she will be taking Oceanography, which I guess would be useful if she was compiling the accounts for Norwegian Cruse Line or something.

On the debate last night, I just find the whole thing a bit weird. Totally different to the final election period, and results in some bizarre scenes where you can tell they know they have to be aggressive but they also know and agree with other on lots of things. Gabbard is the only one I dislike and what may be a personal level - she comes across as spiteful. While I probably have more "liberal/progressive" in me than Populist/Right (or wherever the political spectrum is these days), it strikes me they all run the risk of doing the one thing that Clinton managed to achieve with aplomb, coming across as if they know better. Given the absurdity that is Trump, and the fact he won't expand his base, all they really need to do is put up someone who sounds as if they care a bit and won't go full Bernie (sorry, alongside the crazy finger wagging, he has a use in life and it's to protest).

Warren may pull it off, temper herself enough during the election that she doesn't create a need for intransigent Republicans to make it to the ballot box (like O'Rourke clearly would as soon as the NRA start advertising about how he's coming to get every item in your house that could be described as a weapon) Essentially, appeal to the Liberal crowd, focus in on a theme, which seems to be Justice (sensing a bit of Blair in that, and regardless of how that ended, it was a success in elections). Avoid going full Bernie and not scaring people. People here seem pretty clued up on the way Govt. works, but then get too scared about Presidents running like Dictators, when in reality they have limited power to do much of anything, as far as I can tell.

Steerpike

Do you think Klobuchar has a hope?