I'm rich, I want to buy your boy!

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by AsianStew, Jan 24, 2022.

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  1. AsianStew

    AsianStew Moderator Staff Member

  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Originally $250K, but the coupon was expired.
     
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  3. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    She claimed she had the money in her car! That sounds ridiculous to me. More likely she had a gun in her car. :eek: What a stupid lady. Why not adopt?

    Actually, my wife's father sold her sister in Taiwan. It was all legal. The little 6 year old girl was treated as a slave running a street side stand. Her mother bought her back but had to pay extra to compensate them for the food they fed her.
     
  4. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    My kids are getting to the age where I'd be willing to pay six figures to get them out of the house. Though, I suppose, in a few more years I will do exactly that unless I can really change their minds about the community college transfer option.
     
  5. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I transferred from community college. I highly recommend community college. My community college classes were superior for the following reasons.

    The community college classes were smaller. At Berkeley the professors were good but typically you generally couldn't talk to them individually. You saw the professor a couple hours per week in a huge class at Berkeley. Then one hour a week would be taught by a graduate student in a small class where you could get some individual help from the graduate student that typically had a very strong accent and sometimes was difficult to understand. The professors seemed much more interested in their graduate students, grants and research than teaching undergraduate classes.
     
  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Agreed. And very likely mentally ill. Who can say, for sure?
    Because, hopefully, she won't qualify. Adoption authorities should not give children into the care and custody of disordered, sick people. Unfortunately, it still happens - but hopefully not in such a blatant case.

    I would suspect that it's also remotely possible this woman intended to buy the kid as a slave, as happened to your wife's sister. This is grim stuff! Not for sissies. :(
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2022
  7. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    You don't have to change their minds, although obviously that's a good thing to do. Ultimately, though, you can simply let them know what you will subsidize and what you will not.
     
  8. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    My wife has only very recently become less hostile toward community colleges, as a concept.

    I don't know how she'll feel about me sharing this story but, heck with it, my wife was brought up with the notion that small private schools are "better" than state schools and absolutely worth the money. As such, to her, community colleges were the lowest of the low. And the idea of transferring to a "real" school afterward seemed like a distasteful loophole that people were exploiting.

    Thankfully, she made a comment to that effect in front of two of our friends who, it turns out, transferred into Cornell (whence they graduated) from community colleges. So we've had a bit of a realignment of thought on community colleges in the Neuhaus household.

    That said, I don't know if an embargo on overpriced and ill thought through college choices will be enforceable.
     
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  9. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Understood, completely.
     
  10. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Also, having just paid to have my furnace serviced I would not be sad if either (or both?) of my children opt to take up HVAC repair as a career. I was mid-career by the point I was making what the hardworking gentleman who vacuumed out my furnace is pulling down in a year.
     
  11. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Trades are definitely a viable career. We need to get better at nuance though: you don't see many 60 year old electricians because it's hard on your body. At the same time, you don't see many tradespeople making less than the median income in their area. For someone with the aptitude, the trades can be a great option - especially as a first career.
     
  12. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    This is a good point. Though I would also offer that there is a difference between being a union electrician with solid benefits and a well funded retirement plan and working for a random self-proclaimed electrician (there is no statewide licensing for electricians here and in many places).
     
  13. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I taught Air Force ROTC at a huge state university for 4 years as its Commandant of Cadets. We had cross-town agreements with a UC school and an expensive and well-regarded Catholic school. Most of our scholarship students came from these two schools (and some from our host university). But....

    By far, the best performers came from the community colleges. These students were, typically, non-scholarship, paying their way through ROTC for a shot at a military career. After two years at the CC, they'd transfer to our host state university, having done all 4 ROTC years in our program (the only one in the city). These were the award-winners, the cadets who held the most leadership positions, the ones (almost exclusively) went on to pilot training.

    Don't get me wrong. The other schools provided us some terrific cadets, too. But if I had an underperforming upper class cadet, he/she was almost always from one of those more exclusive schools.

    I attributed all of this to the amount of fight in the dog. The CC students held jobs, did ROTC, and did their academic work. They were also easier to eliminate (on paper) because they didn't hold scholarships. If we didn't want them to advance to upper class (the final 2 years) status--which lined them up to be commissioned--then we simply didn't submit them. (Denying a scholarship student was really, really difficult.) But those CC transfer students, when given a level playing field, were way more competitive in their military studies and leadership activities. A scrappy bunch. I've held community colleges in very high regard ever since.
     
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  14. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Having taught at a community college I can safely say that they really don't deserve the negative reputation some people attribute to them. Academically, they are competent. And yes, they often have low completion rates. That is often because, as Rich notes, the students are very often juggling jobs and sometimes families as well on top of studies. But people do tend to look for ways to put other people down, unfortunately. And CC's took that hit before for-profits or NA degree granting schools were on the scene.
     
  15. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    On a lighter note, Chris Rock talked about getting his GED--calling a "Good Enough Diploma." Noting that people were telling him he could now go to college, he noted that the only college you could get into with a GED was community college. And why did they call it "community college"? Because, "Anyone in the community can get in. I'm gonna get my learn on!"

    Beyond the humor, that's the point. It's a place anyone can get into. But to graduate, you really do have to successfully complete a two-year college curriculum. This open-admission policy does result in more people not finishing, but you never know what someone can do until you give them a chance. Community college is a fantastic investment into our culture. It ought to be free.
     
  16. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

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