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My office was next door to Seymour's office at the Media Lab. This was before the motorcycle accident in Vietnam. I was a freshly arrived student from India. Hi
by throw42 10y ago
My office was next door to Seymour's office at the Media Lab. This was before the motorcycle accident in Vietnam. I was a freshly arrived student from India. His main observation about India was about how the IITs were terrible for the country because they left such a profound debilitating effect on those who did not make it to those schools.
- throwaway2998 10y agoInteresting. Greetings from India . Could you elaborate on his thoughts on that ? I too sometimes feel like I've missed out on a good education. But I feel it's too late now to change that. :(
- gohrt 10y agoMy guess is that Papert believed that IIT curriculum (or similar) should be taught everywhere, not limited to the few seats in IIT.
- gizmodo59 10y agoI'm not sure about this. Stanford/Harvard is much more than the curriculum.
- josegonzalez 10y agoBased on what you are responding to, it sounds like you are saying those not at said schools should not learn what is in the curriculum.
- thomasfoster96 10y agoI don't think the comment meant that, rather that a lot of the success of those institutions in educating people comes from having better facilities, better teachers, better community, etc.
- sleepychu 10y ago>better facilities, better teachers, better community This. I had a few good teachers at university that taught me a lot, this made it painfully apparent how little I was learning in some other classes. I guess it's the same everywhere but I suppose you'd expect that the prestige of the IIT would attract the 'better teachers' of course in practice it probably attracts the more prominent experts which isn't the same thing at all ;-)
- Zafira 10y agoIt is likely referring to the criticisms that IIT creates a socioeconomic pecking order with IIT as the crème de la crème and all the prestige associated with it. I'm not sure, but how much value is seen being an IIT graduate? How much of an edge would it give you in your career?
- thewarrior 10y agoThe advantage is huge. I'd find it hard to quantify, but an IIT graduate can expect to earn atleast 4-5 times more than the average graduate over their life time. And owing to the huge population , most people are simply locked out of a lot of the best jobs and positions which such an elite degree can open up.
- throw42 10y agoSorry, I missed responding to this. His point was that there are many many many more students who don't make it to IIT, and feel that not going to IIT has led them to not be confident in their abilities.