"To Ignorance and Beyond!!!"

[MacBean]

I agree. I'd rather have small classes, get my questions answered, and spend my time on my studies rather than have professors who don't bother to learn my name and spend my time at the yacht club.

Don't mean to single Whidbey out, but having been to Ivy League, Land Grant, large and small colleges and universities, I can say for sure that any generalizations are worthless. There are branch campuses of the State schools that have small classes and lovely helpful atmospheres. There are land grant universities that have nothing but commuter campuses. There are great and awful professors at all of them. The 'best" schools do in fact attract very intelligent and enterprising students, creating a wonderful learning environment in contrast to the party schools.

[Whidbey78]

Don't mean to single Whidbey out, but having been to Ivy League, Land Grant, large and small colleges and universities, I can say for sure that any generalizations are worthless. There are branch campuses of the State schools that have small classes and lovely helpful atmospheres. There are land grant universities that have nothing but commuter campuses. There are great and awful professors at all of them. The 'best" schools do in fact attract very intelligent and enterprising students, creating a wonderful learning environment in contrast to the party schools.

I agree. I just get irked by people who seem to think that a good education can't be earned at colleges without big well known names or high five or even six figure annual costs. Ultimately when it comes to the value and quality of education it comes down to the students and instructors and not the institution's name. Often people will cite the graduates average starting salary as an indicator of the quality of education, but I believe that opening doors to a career that the individual truly enjoys is more valuable. That's not to say that I would dislike the Harvard grad's starting salary over Podunk State's, but money is secondary.

I also agree that party schools are not the best choice. My wife went to one and it actually hindered her a bit starting her career though she was well ranked in her class. She has since proven herself well and has shaken the stink from her school. Early on she had several interviewers comment about it being a heck of a place to learn important skills such as beer pong and quarters. All is well now though. She's finishing her masters in education, but at a more educationally respected institution.

[Mindrop]

Oh, Gosh. I have no idea what to say. Man, thanks for sharing that. gosh I can't believe both of them.

[AFS1970]

OK, since this is no longer about Walmart, I will weigh in with a couple of stories.

First is my favorite about what names mean. My mother had a friend who was Indian. This lady had two children. Her son was named Javin. My mother thought that was an interesting name and must surely have some Indian roots, so she asked about it. The answer was the parents both from India, had moved here and wanted to give their son an American name as he was born here. They could not decide between Jason and Kevin, so they made up Javin, thinking that it would be seen as uniquely American. So sometimes names do not mean what we think they do.

Second about finding lost relatives. I work with a guy who is Guatemalan. His teenage son found a whole bunch of people with the same last name on Facebook and started talking with them. The name is Alcayaga, which they always assumed was local to Guatemala. One relative is French and is the Mayor of a town called Alcayaga and has invited them to come to France to meet the rest of the family that did not sail with the conquistadors. Another is from the Philippines although now lives in Canada. My friend was very surprised to find out that this girl did not speak any Spanish and did not see her name as being of Spanish origin. My friend and his son have been up to Toronto to meet her. So sometimes finding things you did not plan on works out well.

No back to the Argument at hand.