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Sure, college is a worthwhile investment if you are allowed to attend Stanford or Berkeley-caliber institutions. The vast majority of Americans do not have that

by ken47 9y ago

Sure, college is a worthwhile investment if you are allowed to attend Stanford or Berkeley-caliber institutions. The vast majority of Americans do not have that opportunity. And in light of America's student loan crisis, what politician in his right mind is going to propose subsidizing college education even more? It would be nice, but it is unrealistic. That is why MOOCs are so important -- a Stanford and Berkeley-caliber education can be made available on a massive scale, for much less than the standard tuition nowadays. People do not recognize it, or do not want to recognize it, but we are in an Industrial Revolution-like period for higher education.

lsc 9y ago
>Sure, college is a worthwhile investment if you are allowed to attend Stanford or Berkeley-caliber institutions. The vast majority of Americans do not have that opportunity. Don't I know it. I'm trying to get in now, and even though the fees seem cheap to me, I'm still at least a year of intensive test prep, study, and a lot of luck away from admissions. Note, I think there's a reasonably large chance that if I take 4 years off for school that I'll have to take a pay cut when I get back (at least relative to industry norms; pay is going up hard) That's not why I want to go, and I don't think that's really what college is for. It's not a trade school. >And in light of America's student loan crisis, what politician in his right mind is going to propose subsidizing college education even more? It would be nice, but it is unrealistic. Because loans on dystopian-fiction terms are a bad idea, and a terrible way to subsidize education. Education should be subsidized directly, like farming and defense. I like having access to fresh food, no matter what is going on in the world. I like not worrying about being invaded. The government spends my tax money on those things, which is fine. I also like people who have the right to vote in my government to have some rudiments of an education. I mean, if this also means they can earn more money, that's great, but for me? It's mostly the voting thing. The government should directly subsidize schools. Make community college free. why not? the existing payments are mere tokens compared to the real cost. Do something about books for community college, too. Books are cheap in the scheme of things, but expensive for the very poor. They are also something that scales. I think MOOCs are great for people who like to learn from video, but they aren't college any more than buying and reading books and doing exercises like I've been doing is college. I mean, these activities are great, and are education, but they lack the socialization aspects, and, I guess what the conservatives would call indoctrination. "conventional wisdom" or "common sense" - Honestly, this Einstein guy sounds pretty nuts. should I read him? What about Bohr? he sounds even more nuts. I mean, I'm several years out, if I keep up my studies, from really having the math to really understand quantum physics. But there are a lot of people who try to apply the concepts therein to philosophy and other things, people who have even less grasp than I do on math. You could spend lifetimes reading all the crank science out there. A reputable university, and the academic system in general provides you a reasonable framework for deciding if something is worth learning about. I mean, it's not 100%, but if I spent 3 years learning the prerequisites to every crank theory out there, I'd never do anything else. I suppose a MOOC with sufficient credibility could do that, too, but I think we're a long way from a MOOC having the academic weight of an established university.

by ken47 9y ago

lsc 9y ago

>Sure, college is a worthwhile investment if you are allowed to attend Stanford or Berkeley-caliber institutions. The vast majority of Americans do not have that opportunity. Don't I know it. I'm trying to get in now, and even though the fees seem cheap to me, I'm still at least a year of intensive test prep, study, and a lot of luck away from admissions. Note, I think there's a reasonably large chance that if I take 4 years off for school that I'll have to take a pay cut when I get back (at least relative to industry norms; pay is going up hard) That's not why I want to go, and I don't think that's really what college is for. It's not a trade school. >And in light of America's student loan crisis, what politician in his right mind is going to propose subsidizing college education even more? It would be nice, but it is unrealistic. Because loans on dystopian-fiction terms are a bad idea, and a terrible way to subsidize education. Education should be subsidized directly, like farming and defense. I like having access to fresh food, no matter what is going on in the world. I like not worrying about being invaded. The government spends my tax money on those things, which is fine. I also like people who have the right to vote in my government to have some rudiments of an education. I mean, if this also means they can earn more money, that's great, but for me? It's mostly the voting thing. The government should directly subsidize schools. Make community college free. why not? the existing payments are mere tokens compared to the real cost. Do something about books for community college, too. Books are cheap in the scheme of things, but expensive for the very poor. They are also something that scales. I think MOOCs are great for people who like to learn from video, but they aren't college any more than buying and reading books and doing exercises like I've been doing is college. I mean, these activities are great, and are education, but they lack the socialization aspects, and, I guess what the conservatives would call indoctrination. "conventional wisdom" or "common sense" - Honestly, this Einstein guy sounds pretty nuts. should I read him? What about Bohr? he sounds even more nuts. I mean, I'm several years out, if I keep up my studies, from really having the math to really understand quantum physics. But there are a lot of people who try to apply the concepts therein to philosophy and other things, people who have even less grasp than I do on math. You could spend lifetimes reading all the crank science out there. A reputable university, and the academic system in general provides you a reasonable framework for deciding if something is worth learning about. I mean, it's not 100%, but if I spent 3 years learning the prerequisites to every crank theory out there, I'd never do anything else. I suppose a MOOC with sufficient credibility could do that, too, but I think we're a long way from a MOOC having the academic weight of an established university.