Spirit of Math 2013 Video Contest Grand Prize Winner
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1/3 of Students Consider Sex Work at Berlin University
A third of students at Berlin University are willing to consider sex related work to pay their tuition. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss.
@DrQuijano BAFöG stands for Bundes-Ausbildungs-Förderungs-Gesetz translated
national education support law, used synonymously with financial aid. As
one might expect it depends on your as well as your parental income,
assets, debts, age, the whole shebang. It's enough for most people, yet has
absurd restrictions on how much you can save,own,earn, where and how you
can live, etc. Even as a truthful person you can be "punished" for weird
things. I'm glad it exists,yet they have you by the balls.
First of all, Germany isn't in the sex aspect a medieval theocracy like the
U.S Empire. Secondly, if university studies or whatever aren't free, they
have to pay for it somehow. Are there no other jobs, why not this? . I most
certainly hope there are less degrading forms of labour the students can
choose if they feel unwilling to this but, again, when you are forced to
pay for education what are you going to do? The alternative would be to be
locked in a permanent poverty circle with minimal pay
@DrQuijano Germany needs more qualified people. If they weed out the
willing and possibly qualified just for the sake of doing so, it leads to
the situation they have now, which is a lack of qualified people. Your
speculation is (sadly) correct. What the government doesn't take into
account though is the afore mentioned lack of qualified workforce. Which
means the government is happier providing work to less qualified Germans
than qualified outsiders. Even though they should pay the same taxes.
@computerjero Finally, there is no denying that Harvard is one of the best
universities worldwide, but right now Ox-Bridge are making more of a splash
in research, the red bricks are raising in rank while the ivy leagues are
going down, Europe is focusing on cheap/free education for all while the US
is focusing on turning its not-so-cheap public institutions (UCLA, UT, etc)
into expensive private-public voucher crap, and Toudai U and universities
in India are being hailed as having the best ed.
Yeah the Bologna Plan was an American invention, photocopied off ALEC, make
money off education means off students as well. Takes a generation to get
people accustomed to crazy stuff. Why not avoid money and do a direct trade
with the VCs or professors? Heck, why not make sex work compulsory on
enrolment and get rid of school fees for all. Everyone would be happier to
have orgies and a free education as well. Maybe, Profs will stop being so
competitive with each other and with students..
@computerjero you're right about the current standard of former soviet
states' education - i meant it was the highest in the world, especially
when it came to science and medicine, but due to the collapse of their
whole system and funding it broke down and is now not as good as it
formerly was. the thiong about the german education is true though: the
education is better than in the US. it may be getting worse and worse, but
compared to the US it's like "the academic's wet dream".
@computerjero Courses weed out students because they are aware that
education doesn't happen in a room with 30 + people, and the smaller the
class size the better for the students. Because they know this, they limit
the amount of people who can enroll. This is also common practice in the
universities that I have visited in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. They need
more graduates because a high percentage of students graduating is a
requirement for accreditation and university rank.
@computerjero education in the US IS NOT better than in ALL OF EUROPE! the
further you go east, the better it gets. in fact, in former soviet states
they had the highest levels of education. when i look at what my mom leaned
in serbian high-school, i must say todays education in germany isn't even
near as good! unfortunately after the soviets went down the western
countries didn't accept their education and many doctors and scientists
ended up in far less attractive positions.
@DrQuijano America really does need to improve it's current system, no
doubt about that. Even though Europe is focusing on such education it's
system still is a mess, albeit relatively better than the American one.
From my experiences I would say university should concentrate on
understanding, not only on knowledge. That give a degree more meaning. It
would show graduates actually understand what they have been doing, instead
of just know what they've been doing.
@computerjero Basically, if a university accepts very few students,
graduates all of them, and puts most of them to work they have 3 of the 6
requirements for high international ranking, the others being a low faculty
to student ratio, solid doctoral programs, and high research volume. I
guess it's difficult for educated foreigners to find work in Germany
because (speculation) Germany would rather employ their own people instead
of hire outsiders.
@DrQuijano If education in Germany is so respected why are they cutting the
educational budget ? Why do courses so radically weed out students, when
they so desperately need more graduates ? Why is it so difficult for
educated foreigners to work in Germany ? Why does BAFoG have such
discrepancies when setting the amount of aid ? In terms of quality,
American universities seem to better, in terms of equal opportunity,
Germany is indeed better.
@DrQuijano I'm not talking about entering uni, I'm talking about weeding
out while they're studying. I have friends studying similar subjects, but
the profs take material out of higher semesters thus increasing the
workload for beginners to an incredible level. In addition they click
through 100-200 slides in ONE lecture. Result is an at least 70% dropout
rate. I can guarantee you not all drop-outs are lazy and/or stupid. I find
that very sad.
So? College is free here and there are lots of other jobs available. It is
just that sex work is very well paid. As long at it is all voluntary and
you are not forced into it through economic hardship.. I don't see anything
wrong with this (I am German, would not do it personally but..) Who cares?
Americans need to loosen up with the Sex thing.. It is at the same time
over sexed and repressed, not a good combination.
@computerjero I can answer some of those, but I must admit ignorance in
others. Why cut education? The same reason that governments are doing it
everywhere - systemic corruption and pandering to the wealthy. Still, the
general population respect education more in Germany (where everyone is
encouraged to study) than in the US (where every day an article comes out
saying that college isn't worth it).
@shotsky94 You're confusing Germany with Scandinavian countries. Not that
they are "socialist"; they are socio-democratic. I know little of Germany,
only been there a few times. However, while schools are free, you still
need money for food and rent. We usually get that by lending money from the
state, but it is something many want to avoid, thus they work on the side.
mhhh... i wonder which unversity they mean? FU oder HU? @reanimeviewed 1500
€ normal? sorry not really... first many unversitys don't have tuition the
classic way, your only pay twice a year and in the CAU Kiel (where i study)
thats is about 250€ in one year. I geuss Kiel is more or less the cheapest,
but in generally 1500 is not standart.
@m0rbusPolytox I never claimed it was better than in all of Europe, just
better than Germany. I'm not sure about your claim about it getting better
going east. I've been to Ukraine and they have obsolete schedules due to
obsolete hardware and methods. Maybe they were great a few decades, however
I'm assume it isn't so anymore.
I hate getting through school always worrying about how to pay for your
school fees. It almost feels like you are working more than studying which
is not so good. It fucks up your education and takes twice as long to
graduate. I mean it sucks even more not being a citizen and not being able
to get student aid.
I call BS. I study in Germany, there are no university fees here and every
student can ask for federal support for living costs (which I did) and that
support is sufficient to live on. Most students here do not even work a
part time job because the money from the support is sufficient.
I went through University with a girl that danced as a stripper to fund her
way through school. She was also able to afford her own car and a condo at
the same time. She never considered making dancing a career, just money
through school, and it worked out very well for her too.
Because in Germany education is respected, people ARE WILLING to do sex
work to pay for their education. In the US, however, where education is
looked down on, people go to "get educated" in order to get laid.
@DrQuijano Any country that cuts on education doesn't understand it's
importance and has therefore - in my eyes - less respect for it. A reason I
claim Germany isn't as respectful.
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