It's the truth... that is why it hurts: College Reality

I am introducing a new segment:  It's the truth... that is why it hurts.  Sometimes it is painful to hear, to face, to admit the truth. Truth, like shots, hurts in the short-term but is a vital element of long-term health and vitality.    Unfortunately we live in a world where the very idea of truth is under attack.  Some say there is no objective truth and all is subjective.  What a load of crap.  If these people were really honest they would say, "I want things my way and NOTHING is going to get in my way!"  Since this sounds blantanly childish and narcissistic, they create, instead, sophisticated and veiled arguments -many shrouded in science, philosophy, religion or hiding behind political and social causes like health, the environment, the welfare of innocents (children, the poor, etc.) and such.  But I am getting away from my main point.

In the midst of our self-deception, moments and examples of truth emerge like a spotlight in a dark theater to illuminate absurdity.  For a brief moment truth is on display until someone scrambles to pull the plug on the light because our eyes hurt from the glare. 

Consider this little bit of information about a very specific element of modern life:  higher education.  Many are understandably concerned with the rising cost of tuition at US universities.  At the same time many professors are being squeezed by macro economic forces which are reducing their pay and the number of faculty in many departments (which translates into a higher workload for remaining faculty).  You might be interested in reading some exerpts from an article by Heather Mac Donald in The National Review... then again, you might not be interested since the truth hurts.  My purpose is not to summarize her argument, she does a far better job than I ever could, but to provide a concise blast of truth that will hopefully cause enough of a intellectual pin-prick to generate a pain response (i.e. indignance, astonishment, anger that leads to some sort of action).  Here is the amazing statement of truth from her piece:
"Since 2006, full-time administrators (at the college/university level) have outnumbered faculty nationally."
That is UNBELIEVABLE!  There are more administrators in higher education than there are faculty!  This should anger any student or parent (or taxpayer) who is paying ever increasing tuition fees.  Last time I checked, our young people go to college to be taught by professors who are expert in their dicipline not for the priviledge of being administered by some nameless, faceless person in a campus office building they never see in the 4, 5 or 6 years spent at the institution.  Read the full piece for more truth and pain (wait til you read what these "administrators" are paid compared to faculty and the important roles they are attending to)!