How about allowing schools to use the old HTTP for searches instead of enforcing the HTTPS. All it does is bring an added expense into the district for me to filter the SSL searches to keep kids from accessing images that they shouldn't. By forcing all searches through SSL, filters can no longer be applied to the encrypted data without using some form of DPI-SSL. We don't host our own DNS, so adding nossl to the DNS CNAME won't work. Thanks Google for making it more expensive to be CIPA compliant.

In the tech field, a degree means nothing. It's certification you need. Most companies looking for an IT tech want a specific set of skills. A degree offers a general set of skills. Certification means you have worked with, or at least studied up enough to pass a test, about specific equipment. Tack on experience to that certification, and someone not hiring a tech because they lack a degree is a fool. Certification and experience trump degrees every day. (maybe not in corporate HR's eyes, but in the practical world they do)

Even back in 1813 people were churning out books to make money. I'm not saying that's what Jane Austin was doing, but others were. The books they wrote are the equivalent to today's best sellers. They were intended to tell a story that would entertain people for a time. Some books get over analyzed, and I believe Pride and Prejudice is one of them. I think Austin wrote it to tell a story, primarily, and to mock current social norms secondarily. Lord help us when 200 years from now Harry Potter is being studied to figure out what Rowling was really trying to say about society.

I would love to be alive in another 200 years when English Lit majors like yourself start defending Twilight for it's deep social commentary. Some people read books for the story, not to figure out what the author was really trying to say. If an author has a message, they should write what they mean. Besides, everything is open to interpretation. Just because you see certain meaning in Austins work doesn't mean that's what she intended. I have read and dissected Pride and Prejudice. I didn't like it. That doesn't mean I didn't understand it. It means, I didn't like the story, or her writing style. And, let's face it: most Americans who have read Jane Austin have done so because their high school English teacher made them. That's not the best way to instill a love of literature in people.