Mid-term Sampler

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:57:55 -0500, "Opus"
wrote:

Policy analysis is not a value neutral process. Using the example of
deconcentrating the poor in Minneapolis-St. Paul area, discuss how different
values are evident in different perspectives of policy action and therefore
affect policy choices/outcomes. Why is it important to consider who is
involved (the players) or excluded from the policy process, their political
values, and issues of ethics when conducting policy analysis.


Seeing that I live in that area, I'd say that in Minneapolis, as to
what shows up in the newspaper, it's predicated on what the pols think
will gain votes, what they think the graft will be, and what the chief
of police puts his foot down on. St. Paul is more quiet and hidden,
so not much makes the papers. The council and upper levels of
bureaucracy are at least as corrupt, but they've mostly been there
long enough to keep it all under the rug.

Don't trust much in the way of stats and figures and public statements
from either city, even though you'll have to use them for your paper.
************************************************* **********************************************
That one took me 24 actual hours to complete 6 pages, and I will likely go
back and revise before I turn it in.


--

r.bc: vixen
Minnow goddess, Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher.
Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

"Cyli" wrote in message
...

Seeing that I live in that area, I'd say that in Minneapolis, as to
what shows up in the newspaper, it's predicated on what the pols think
will gain votes, what they think the graft will be, and what the chief
of police puts his foot down on. St. Paul is more quiet and hidden,
so not much makes the papers. The council and upper levels of
bureaucracy are at least as corrupt, but they've mostly been there
long enough to keep it all under the rug.

There a book entitled "Clearing the Way." It's not a fun read, but it ia
very informative. It's a case study about the 1992 lawsuit filed against
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, HUD, the Met Council and several other
defendants. Mostly it's about deconcentrating concentrated areas of
impoverished citizens, the demolishion of there homes and their subsequent
involuntary relocation.

I laughed, I cried, I puked.

Don't trust much in the way of stats and figures and public statements
from either city, even though you'll have to use them for your paper.

Thankfully, this stuff is all qualitative in nature! No math or stats at
all.

Op

r.bc: vixen
Minnow goddess, Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher.
Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:46:55 -0500, "Opus"
wrote:



There a book entitled "Clearing the Way." It's not a fun read, but it ia
very informative. It's a case study about the 1992 lawsuit filed against
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, HUD, the Met Council and several other
defendants. Mostly it's about deconcentrating concentrated areas of
impoverished citizens, the demolishion of there homes and their subsequent
involuntary relocation.

I laughed, I cried, I puked.


Yep. I saw some of that when I used to take the bus to work. Older
apartment buildings razed and then everything left to look like a big
hole for a couple of years. By the time I stopped taking the bus,
they were putting in yet another large block building frightfully
lacking in personality. And probably utility.

Hmm. Did you get into any of the fuss about Block E? That was a
disgusting exercise of power. And it's turning useless on them. I
smirk. I liked Block E, scuzzy though it was.

St. Paul did that when it got I-94 through town. Cut right into the
heart of the black neighborhood (not necessarily the impoverished
part), dividing it in two and leaving only a few overpasses. Also
totally removed a couple of square miles of older low rent buildings
that spoiled the view between downtown and the capitol building while
they were at it. I don't know whether it was the St. Palliates or the
legislature that did the latter.

Though, just to prove they weren't colour prejudiced entirely, 10 or
15 years later they later did the same to a blue collar white
neighborhood for another freeway. They lost big time on that one and
it's never really become a freeway, but it has remained a thorn in the
midst of a neighborhood. It's now a 'parkway', with a freeway amount
of automobile traffic, but no trucks. Badly built, too,
intentionally, so that trucks using it would destroy it. By now
automobile use is doing a pretty good destruction job, so when they
rebuild it, it may become a real freeway.
--

r.bc: vixen
Minnow goddess, Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher.
Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

"Opus" wrote in message
...

Policy analysis is not a value neutral process....

Hm......

I got nuthin'.

Well, just this:

http://www.guzer.com/pictures/findx.php

Wolfgang
who knows that school is where they teach the basics of how not to answer
the question......the fine points come later.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Opus" wrote in message
...

Policy analysis is not a value neutral process....

Hm......

I got nuthin'.

Well, just this:

http://www.guzer.com/pictures/findx.php

Wolfgang
who knows that school is where they teach the basics of how not to answer
the question......the fine points come later.


I'm still questioning "take home mid-term exams", when did that start?
fwiw,
-tom

"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Opus" wrote in message
...

Policy analysis is not a value neutral process....

Hm......

I got nuthin'.

Well, just this:

http://www.guzer.com/pictures/findx.php

Wolfgang
who knows that school is where they teach the basics of how not to answer
the question......the fine points come later.


I'm still questioning "take home mid-term exams", when did that start?
fwiw,
-tom

When professors realized they could get an extra day off, if they sent
students home with essay oriented test questions that took a week to
complete.

Currently on my third vacation day from work :~^ (

Op

On Feb 28, 10:58 am, "Opus" wrote:
Currently on my third vacation day from work :~^ (

FWIW (and that ain't much at this point), I recently purchased some
voice recognition software. I can now write reports in half the time
or less (but I suck at typing). Of course, the hard part is knowing
what you're going to write.

Again FWIW (for anybody who may have been thinking of asking), I got
the Dragon "Naturally Speaking Preferred". I find it fairly easy to
use and remarkably accurate. Editing is even fairly simple. The down
side is that even if it gets a word wrong, the wrong word will be
spelled correctly; so you really need to proofread carefully, 'cause
spell check ain't going to help you.

Joe F.

"Opus" wrote in message
...

"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message
...

I'm still questioning "take home mid-term exams", when did that start?
fwiw,
-tom

When professors realized they could get an extra day off, if they sent
students home with essay oriented test questions that took a week to
complete.
Currently on my third vacation day from work :~^ (
Op

I was thinking if you used the Trout Unlimited Calendar you could have
an extra 3-days tacked onto your vacation.
fwiw,
-tom

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Opus" wrote in message
...

Policy analysis is not a value neutral process....

Hm......

I got nuthin'.

Same here!

Working at pesent on my third question, but not a word written :~^ (

Well, just this:

http://www.guzer.com/pictures/findx.php


Very helpful! Thanks.

Op

Wolfgang
who knows that school is where they teach the basics of how not to answer
the question......the fine points come later.

"Opus" wrote...
[snip test questions]

First off, I ain't gotta clue as to which way to go with these questions,
though I do like Frank's channelling of Rodney Dangerfield from "Back to
School." Probably the practical answer.

Anyway, what struck me more is the specificity of the questions. While
certainly there are multiple "right" answers (so long as they are well
argued) it seems that there is a general tack one must take to get the
questions correct. Am I wrong on that?

In my field the exams (PhD qualification exams) are much more open-ended. A
hypothetical might be:
_____
"Historian Herbert G. Gutman has argued that as the American working class
formed in the period of time commonly known as the "Progressive Era," these
people relied upon a shared, pre-industrial culture to guide and support
them through the changes and travails of industrialization. Discuss this
idea critically, acknowledging supporters, detractors and implications."
_____

There are no right answers here. The purpose (other than of course a
professionalizing "rite-of-passage") is to prove that you can regurgitate
the arguments of many different historians in a short time frame (these
exams are typically 90 minutes with a pencil in a small room -- makes it
easier to stab yourself in the neck if you don't have an answer.) The
faculty then break out the Rosetta Stone to decipher your chickenscratch and
then decide if you know enough about the field to "qualify" to move on to
write your diss. It's a strange process.

Anyway, thanks for posting the questions. Very interesting. And good luck...

Dan