There are many ways to affect politics and influence the minds and opinion of the citizens of the United States that are protected by freedom of speech, but the collegiate classroom of a public university should not be one of these ways.  As a society, we send our young people to college with high aspirations not stopping to see what the reality of the collegiate classroom actually is.  While working on my Masters in Curriculum & Instruction, I found that many of the professors use the collegiate classroom to promote their own ideologies. I spent lots of money and gave up lots of my time to learn these professor's views when I was supposed to be learning how to be a secondary teacher.  If the curriculum & instruction professor is a lesbian that hates football and white males, then we as graduate students were given reading assignments to support her views towards these topics.  For example, to discount the white male, we had a reading assignment that discussed how out of the 13 mass killings (there have been more since) 11 of the shootings were by white males.  One of the professors hated George Bush and she blamed him for something every single class period repeating his name with disgust over and over and over again.  In her classroom we learned very quickly that we did not have to read the assignments. Instead, all we had to do was turn the discussion towards George Bush, especially the no child left behind program and testing.  I found that you could literally not read the assigned readings and get away with it; there was no accountability.  But she did teach me the "right" way to vote was for Obama.

And there is an open hostility towards Christians and even more so for the Christians who worship at a Baptist church.

Las Cruces Sun News
November 5, 2014

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and I said something like, "I can't believe the professors can get away with this", and she replied, "It's probably because we don't know that they are doing it".  I have to admit that I was shocked, literally shocked, to find out that this is happening in the collegiate classroom of a public university.  I don't have sour grapes just because they are pushing buddhism instead of Christianity.  I merely want the professors to teach the course material and only the course material.  Just because they have spent more years in college getting a PhD does not make them smarter than me on social issues, politics, or religion.

Contemplate what their unmitigated power has on our society.

  

New Mexico State University and Public Education

My opinion is the mission of the College of Education at New Mexico State University is to influence America through public school teachers.

Las Cruces Sun News
August 13, 2014

The Grading System

For most of us Americans we are all too familiar with the grading system A,B,C,D,F.  For undergraduate courses at NMSU the same grading system is utilized, but at the graduate level the grading system is A, B, C; A and B are both passing grades and a C means you failed the class.  I am only pointing this out because when I went back to get my Masters in C & I with a Teaching License, I did not know this.

Jamie Baker, Assistant Director of Secondary Education, gave me an F in the graduate course Exploration of Education.  This course is required to get into the Secondary Teacher Education Program and you have to get in this program in order to get  a teaching license.  Thus, I cannot be a teacher.  All she had to do was give me a C to keep me out of the program, yet she felt inclined to give me an F.  What message do you think she was sending my way?

Self-governing:  When I went through the grade appeal process, it became very evident to me that NMSU is a self-governing entity.  I presented a detailed letter appealing my grade to the department head, James O'Donnell, that documented my experiences and my classwork.  His response was a letter that merely stated, "I am denying your grade appeal", and referred me on to the Graduate School.  Per the grade appeal process protocol, I asked the Graduate School to let me present my case to the review board which would at least gotten it reviewed by someone outside of the College of Education. The Graduate School denied my request stating, "it has no merit".  In a letter to the Graduate School I asked how they came to this conclusion and they said they talked to James O'Donnell.

Self-serving:  Another rude awakening from the collegiate system.  I did not know the college classroom could be used by professors as a platform to promote their own personal ideologies.  They can and they get paid really well to do it.

Bureaucratic:  The power solely belongs to the administrators of the collegiate system. Students are merely pawns...means to make money.  In any other business, the business is held accountable to its customers.

All of the other professors in the program deemed my work to be of a high quality (3.7 GPA not counting the F) so I do have enough graduate credits to get a Masters in Curriculum & Instruction, but a Masters in C & I is a worthless piece of paper without a teaching license.

Student Debt

College graduates already owe the federal government a trillion dollars. This is money that the only way you can get out of it is to die.  To tackle this absurdity Obama raised the interest rates on student loans and reduced the amount of free money (Pell Grants) students receive; reducing Pell Grant funds forces students to have to borrow money from the federal government.  And Obama will loan just about anybody money and it's basically as easy as touching the "accept" button on your online student account.  Yet, although Obama promised future college graduates that they could get a job when they graduated, over 50% of college graduates are unemployed or underemployed.

It seems like every other student I ask, "What are you majoring in?", the answer is Psychology. What are we going to do with all of these Psychology majors?  The cost of an undergraduate degree in Psychology is at least four years of your life and around $30,000.  I think NMSU should have a warning sign on each of their degree programs....Warning!...a degree in Psychology will cost you four years of your life, $30,000 in tuition, fees, and books, and you will not be able to get a job in Psychology.

Instead you see and hear advertisements encouraging DACC and NMSU students to fill out their FAFSA (form to get federal loans) AND WE'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO FILL IT OUT.  That's how NMSU stays in business, because when a student hits the "accept" button for a federal loan NMSU immediately collects their tuition fees.  They continue to stay in business at the expense of young people.

The justification is that college is a good investment.  Is it?

The Prospector
December 3, 2013
Blake Lanhan

Age Discrimination in NMSU Program

Las Cruces Sun News

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

See my new and improved coloring skills in my October 21 post!

The Power of the Internet

It's been interesting to me how far reaching your voice can be heard, the ease with which an audience can be reached, and who might end up hearing your story.  I put a link to my blog on my business website and I was surprised at how many of my customers took the time to check it out.  I have customers all over the United States and through a customer up in Maine I came into contact with Tucker Carlson, American political news correspondent and commentator for Fox News, and co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller!!!

What is the Purpose of Education?

Recently I heard on a local radio station an ad for New Mexico State University stating something like NMSU graduates get jobs.  To me this implies that NMSU believes the purpose of education is to be able to get a job.  In the graduate course Exploration of Education taught by Jamie Baker, Assistant Director of Secondary Education, our first assignment was to write a short paper answering the question, "What is the purpose of education?" using our own voice.  Here are a few excerpts from my paper:

The most significant objective of public education I feel is to improve the quality of life of the individual...For the average American forty plus years will be spent in the work force.  To ensure quality of life, then preparing students for the work force must be a primary goal of the public educational system...The highest level on Maslow's hierarchy is self-actualizing where personal growth and fulfillment are achieved.  In order for our students to reach this level they must be prepared to enter the work force either as a white-collar worker through a college education or blue-collar worker through a journeyman program; either one now requires a high school diploma or G.E.D....Therefore, I feel the purpose of education is to help students accomplish fulfillment in their lives by preparing them for the work force through classroom settings and extracurricular school activities.

Jamie Baker gave me an F on this paper; I received 12 points out of 25.

So which is it New Mexico State University?!