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There is this perception(not invalid) that more research money should go to the best schools because that would result in more impactful research. I, myself don

by nafizh 9y ago

There is this perception(not invalid) that more research money should go to the best schools because that would result in more impactful research. I, myself don't quite disagree with that. But one of the claims for this argument that a huge donation suddenly doesn't turn a bad school into a good one is a strawman argument. Things don't have to be so extreme. There are plenty of middle tier schools specially state schools where amazing research is happening, and there are brilliant researchers who can also make use of that money having huge impact on the world. These schools already have very advanced infrastructure to utilize additional research money. But as a graduate student in a state school, I might be biased.

apersona 9y ago
> But one of the claims for this argument that a huge donation suddenly doesn't turn a bad school into a good one is a strawman argument. Things don't have to be so extreme. There are plenty of middle tier schools specially state schools Yeah, but it sounds like you're also making the assumption that state schools don't get endowments either. I'm from a state school and the last campaign we had raised ~$20M. Admittedly, it's not even close to the pledge, but it's not like state schools are getting absolutely no funding either.
bachmeier 9y ago
I agree with you. It is natural to think that this is a simple problem - give money to the very best university and get the best research. Unfortunately, like many things, it's not quite that simple. Is there any reason to think that research at MIT has been limited by lack of funding? That seems highly implausible to me. And if the answer is that MIT could hire additional researchers to do more research with that money, those researchers can do the same research with that money at many other schools. It's not clear to me that giving the money to MIT will result in any more research, and a good chance that it will result in less, because researchers at other universities currently are limited by financial constraints.
akhilcacharya 9y ago
>But as a graduate student in a state school, I might be biased. As an undergrad at a middle tier state school that at times does cool research, I'm with you here. Ivory tower elitism is a hell of a drug, and it just makes me sad.

by nafizh 9y ago

apersona 9y ago

> But one of the claims for this argument that a huge donation suddenly doesn't turn a bad school into a good one is a strawman argument. Things don't have to be so extreme. There are plenty of middle tier schools specially state schools Yeah, but it sounds like you're also making the assumption that state schools don't get endowments either. I'm from a state school and the last campaign we had raised ~$20M. Admittedly, it's not even close to the pledge, but it's not like state schools are getting absolutely no funding either.

bachmeier 9y ago

I agree with you. It is natural to think that this is a simple problem - give money to the very best university and get the best research. Unfortunately, like many things, it's not quite that simple. Is there any reason to think that research at MIT has been limited by lack of funding? That seems highly implausible to me. And if the answer is that MIT could hire additional researchers to do more research with that money, those researchers can do the same research with that money at many other schools. It's not clear to me that giving the money to MIT will result in any more research, and a good chance that it will result in less, because researchers at other universities currently are limited by financial constraints.

akhilcacharya 9y ago

>But as a graduate student in a state school, I might be biased. As an undergrad at a middle tier state school that at times does cool research, I'm with you here. Ivory tower elitism is a hell of a drug, and it just makes me sad.