Touro College is an outstanding institution. Myself, Da Wife, Rafi G. and countless others have graduated from there.
Unfortunately, there always are the losers, the scumbags that have ruin it for us all. I am referring to the scandal that has been exposed last week. Some personnel in the Manhattan and Brooklyn Campuses have been selling bogus degrees.
NotSoFrummie, Chaptzem and others are quick to implicate and besmirch the good name of Touro.
NotSoFrummie, please, NotSoQuick.
Touro College is revolutionary. It has allowed the right-wing, frum population to get a degree without having to attend co-ed classes in places like Brooklyn College, BMCC and others.
No longer is the excuse valid " Oh, I can't attend college because of mixed classes and perfidious influences".
During my time there, all degrees of religious folk have attended classes with me, from Hasidim to Yeshiva students to regular run-of-the-mills guys like myself.
Due to places like Touro College, our community and way of life is substantially better than religious ultra-orthodox people living in Israel. We have a way to earn a living and still maintain our lifestyle.
I have a lot of HaKarat HaTov for Touro College. When I see the esteemed Deans on the street now, I greet them with respect. The general administration has been very helpful throughout the years too.
No college is perfect. I'm sure that NYU, Harvard and others have had their fair share of scandals.
To bring up the "Frum people are better than others and do not do such things" canard is a load of donkey droppings. As religious Jews, yes, we strive to do whats right but we aren't angels.
Sometimes, there are bastards out there who use trappings of faith to deceive others of their true intentions, like the Kolko scandal etc.
Do not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Da Wife adds: This whole scandal just shuts up those who claim that Touro Degrees are worthless. If they were really just junk, why would people pay thousands of dollars for them?
Posts
27 comments:
I know of a few girls that graduated from Touro and got nice degrees and great jobs (in the field they graduated from; unlike people that graduated from other colleges and universities that now work a register instead of being computer engineers) and I commend anyone who goes through the process to achieve their goals.
I think I lost focus here...did I catc the gist of the post or should I go lie down?
Ah well...Thats part of the point.
Never mind dear, don't worry about it :) .
Jacob,
You and your wife and the others you have earned their degrees the right way. I wouldn't get offended if I was you since this whole story does not apply to the people who really went to this college and graduated. There are thugs and thieves in all over the place.
take out the "you" after "others", sorry.lol.
Rebel, perhaps you misunderstood my point.
People are trying to use the example of a few scumbags to extrapolate over the whole school.
Thats not acceptable.
Jacob- while it's true that other schools have had their academic scandals (Harvard, for instance, with the grade inflation a few years ago), there is something about the concept of buying grades that is just so repugnant to the academic community.
Unfortunately you can never know who did and who didn't, and how it affected professors' judgement, so every degree granted is under suspicion. Does this mean that every person was involved? Absolutely not, but it makes it hard not to tar every graduate with the same brush.
I understood that but I think everyone with some intelligence will understand this has nothing to with the whole school but with a handful of corrupt individuals.
This reminds me of O rabbis making dubious conversions. One lady who comes to my shul converted without knowing many of the important halachot including how to keep Pesah. Now that pisses me off. However I am not angry at all beit dins of course.
You might want to defend your excellent education by spelling the word "defense" correctly."
Anon,
Look who is talking. You don't put an quotation mark at the end of a sentence unless you are still quoting something.
correctly."
Duh!
Actually, "defence" is a valid British spelling variant of the word.
um...I spell it defence too, but then, maybe I'm just reading too many British authors. LOL
Annie: I agree with what you are saying. That is why I wrote this post, to defend their rep.
Anon: Stuff it.
Rebel, NJG & MaK: Thanks people!
Wow, I was really inspired by this post, and decided to add my own two cents to this issue.
After all, NCSY (heavily) recruits Jews from public school backgrounds (you know, the "at risk" kids) to attend Touro, and I sure can't think of a better place for them. After all, what could be better than a safe, heimeshe environment without all the unnecessary pressures of secular culture and overly rigorous academics?
Touro = Love!
Also, I know one girl who got her physical therapy degree and she's doing great!
DK: I wasn't aware of the NCSY connection and couldn't care less.
Boy, you got some hard-on for NCSY.
What did they do to you, poor thing?
I think parents should thank NCSY for secretly guiding their kids to Touro and if they resent it it's just because they hate frum people. Would you rather your kid go to Touro and marry someone Jewish or would you prefer your kid go to a secular college and maybe date out and become a heroin addict and end up stabbed and left in a gutter to die somewhere?
Which one?
Righttt...Like I was saying...
(This dude has some serious issues with NCSY for some reason)
Oy, this makes me shake my head.
lmao Jacob. ;)
Would you rather your kid go to Touro and marry someone Jewish or would you prefer your kid go to a secular college and maybe date out and become a heroin addict and end up stabbed and left in a gutter to die somewhere?
I think Touro is an excellent college but I did not go there. Maybe if I was religious back then, I would have attended Touro.
I attended a secular university but I am not a heroin addict, neither do I date out and was not left in a gutter to die. lol.
You know I always wondered if those ads in the JP were real when they listed all those yeshiva guys who graduated from Touro and went on to Harvard and NYU- maybe all of that was a fraud to- considering my brother went to Touro for one semester and decided it was a degree mill for kids who wanted to be lifelong hockers.
On a side note - did you notice that the names of the people who generated this system were all non-Jewish, pretty good eh.
I am not saying that the people that went there are bad, nor am I saying the professors are bad. They do a great job in their niche market, catering towards the frum crowd who dont want the mixed classes and outside influences (which i dont agree with but thats not the point). But, this is nearly impossible to pull off in any normal institution like brooklyn college. How good is their computer system, how can these be folks have access to these computers. Its almost as if the management knew about it and kept it quiet because it was bringing in steady revenue.
Me too, Jack, me too.
LOL@Rebel.
Hesh, am I a lifelong hocker? Pleeze!
There different campuses, Lander in Queens is major hockers, the one in Flatbush is better. You get all kinds there.
NSF: In case you didn't read the articles correctly, it was the head of the computer dept. in Manhattan that kept the scam going.
I know the management personally, for many years AND YOU DON'T!
So quit hocking.
yo,
in every college theres problems..
theres always a few bad apples in every bag!!!
You Go Jacob! stick up for what's right
I hear you about one person ruining it for everyone. but as a graduate of Touro I do not hold the college in the same esteem as you do. Yes, I was able to get into a good program after I moved on, but that was mainly in part of my effort. Most of the faculty sucked and the college is totally unprofessional.
LIM: Thanks.
Nuch: Fo shiz!
Anon: Everyone has their own experience.
Lander wanted to cater to the students who wanted a credential but didnt really care about being educated, had a rift with YU about his philosophy and thats how Touro came into being.
Most FFB guys who go there are insincere and are neither into learning Torah nor into learning academics. For girls its another story. It's just a practical thing for them.
Of course it works for many people and they do get their degrees and are able to get parnassas and this is not worthless. There is something to say, however, for actually being educated and for being inbued with the idea that intellectual curiosity is a positive thing.
It's a pity that Rav Hutner and Rav Mendlowitz were shot down by Rav Kotler. Perhaps they would have developed a less sheker institution.
Post a Comment