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Pretty damn Orwellian, but it certainly shows how some aspects of university education are broken for many people. Socially integrating yourself with other suc

Pretty damn Orwellian, but it certainly shows how some aspects of university education are broken for many people. Socially integrating yourself with other successful people in your classes and degree program will dramatically increase your chances of success. This does not come naturally to many people. Ways to improve this include: * requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. * mandatory weekly study sessions for every class * industry partnerships to get students internships with real world experience during the summer. IMO these guys[0] are on the right track and I wish programs like that were available to more people. [0] http://www.ansep.net/ http://www.ansep.net/

hartator 9y ago
> requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. I think that's even more Orwellian. It does sound like just a jail.
- gnarbarian 9y ago
  Sure, I think it should be opt-in. At ANSEP if you opt in you get a full ride plus internships during the summer. Totally worth it if your main goal in college is to succeed scholastically, rather than party all the time and get distracted by roommates who are taking different classes with different study needs and might be trying to play beer pong and wrestle till 3am the night before your midterm.
  - crooked-v 9y ago
    You seem to be presuming that the only alternative to a dorm is a fraternity house.
    - gnarbarian 9y ago
      I did the dorm thing, was impossible to study there. My point is if you can set people up for success through a program like that, it should at least be an option to people.
  - djrogers 9y ago
    > requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. > Sure, I think it should be opt-in. So which should it be? You seem to be Co trash ting your self here.
    - gnarbarian 9y ago
      What I mean is, you can opt in to the program, which comes with benefits (like internships and scholarships) and with it come additional requirements (like living with classmates and mandatory study sessions).
leetcrew 9y ago
> Socially integrating yourself with other successful people in your classes and degree program will dramatically increase your chances of success. I strongly agree with this claim, but I think it's the kind of thing that only works when it comes about naturally, or at least when the motivation to set up this dynamic comes from within. I disagree with your suggestions to bring this about. > requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. I think this could be nice for some people if it were opt-in (especially those who struggle socially), but overall being exposed to people from other disciplines is a feature of college, not a bug. Most of the people in your classes will already be from the same discipline, so it is important to be exposed to people who study other things in your social life, imo. > mandatory weekly study sessions for every class I really dislike this. People have wildly varying learning styles and you should not impose a specific format on them. I have issues processing auditory information, and I can learn 2-4x faster just reading the textbook than I can from a verbal discussion or lecture. If you force me to attend these, you are making me spend my time suboptimally. Also, while such a session can be highly productive for a small group of bright, motivated students, the whole thing slows to a crawl when it is inevitably forced to cater to the lowest common denominator. > industry partnerships to get students internships with real world experience during the summer. I think this could be a good thing, as long as the company isn't obligated to offer every student an internship. In that case the lowest common denominator issue applies.
- stordoff 9y ago
  > but overall being exposed to people from other disciplines is a feature of college Strongly agree. I studied at a collegiate university, and most of my enduring friendships are people outside of my course. Further, it contributed to having a broader understanding of the world, and being a CS student but having a meaningful discussion about, say, calcium channels with the medical students or microeconomics with the economists gives a valuable skill of being able to quickly build a working model of something outside of your experience/field. > People have wildly varying learning styles and you should not impose a specific format on them. I have issues processing auditory information, and I can learn 2-4x faster just reading the textbook than I can from a verbal discussion or lecture. I think it depends a lot about their exact nature. Personally I found lectures to be of limited value, and general discussions would be all but useless, but focused supervisions with 1-3 students and an academic to be invaluable. Preparing the work ahead of time allows you to learn how you like, but a verbal interrogation regarding it means you must be confident and know it well enough to think on your feet (it's also good viva voce practice). A good supervisor will also dig deeper than any one text typically would (if necessary), and give tailored explanations if something is tripping you up. They'll also push you forward and not let you coast if you covered the minimum mandatory material, and come up with new ways of applying the knowledge or fuse it with material from other classes/years. I think it'd be difficult to replicate that with any form of self-study.
UncleEntity 9y ago
> requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. Hmm...my first semester at university (after transferring from community college) my roommate was the only other male sharing my major (out of 9 total IIRC). Makes me wonder if it was a coincidence? Didn't help any, he did his thing and I did mine. Don't think we ever talked about classes even once. Think he ran off and did a semester (or maybe a year) in New York after that, when he came back one of my friends went out of their way to introduce us to each other since we were the only males in that major. There's probably a point hidden in there somewhere.

hartator 9y ago

> requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. I think that's even more Orwellian. It does sound like just a jail.

gnarbarian 9y ago
Sure, I think it should be opt-in. At ANSEP if you opt in you get a full ride plus internships during the summer. Totally worth it if your main goal in college is to succeed scholastically, rather than party all the time and get distracted by roommates who are taking different classes with different study needs and might be trying to play beer pong and wrestle till 3am the night before your midterm.
- crooked-v 9y ago
  You seem to be presuming that the only alternative to a dorm is a fraternity house.
  - gnarbarian 9y ago
    I did the dorm thing, was impossible to study there. My point is if you can set people up for success through a program like that, it should at least be an option to people.
- djrogers 9y ago
  > requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. > Sure, I think it should be opt-in. So which should it be? You seem to be Co trash ting your self here.
  - gnarbarian 9y ago
    What I mean is, you can opt in to the program, which comes with benefits (like internships and scholarships) and with it come additional requirements (like living with classmates and mandatory study sessions).

leetcrew 9y ago

> Socially integrating yourself with other successful people in your classes and degree program will dramatically increase your chances of success. I strongly agree with this claim, but I think it's the kind of thing that only works when it comes about naturally, or at least when the motivation to set up this dynamic comes from within. I disagree with your suggestions to bring this about. > requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. I think this could be nice for some people if it were opt-in (especially those who struggle socially), but overall being exposed to people from other disciplines is a feature of college, not a bug. Most of the people in your classes will already be from the same discipline, so it is important to be exposed to people who study other things in your social life, imo. > mandatory weekly study sessions for every class I really dislike this. People have wildly varying learning styles and you should not impose a specific format on them. I have issues processing auditory information, and I can learn 2-4x faster just reading the textbook than I can from a verbal discussion or lecture. If you force me to attend these, you are making me spend my time suboptimally. Also, while such a session can be highly productive for a small group of bright, motivated students, the whole thing slows to a crawl when it is inevitably forced to cater to the lowest common denominator. > industry partnerships to get students internships with real world experience during the summer. I think this could be a good thing, as long as the company isn't obligated to offer every student an internship. In that case the lowest common denominator issue applies.

stordoff 9y ago
> but overall being exposed to people from other disciplines is a feature of college Strongly agree. I studied at a collegiate university, and most of my enduring friendships are people outside of my course. Further, it contributed to having a broader understanding of the world, and being a CS student but having a meaningful discussion about, say, calcium channels with the medical students or microeconomics with the economists gives a valuable skill of being able to quickly build a working model of something outside of your experience/field. > People have wildly varying learning styles and you should not impose a specific format on them. I have issues processing auditory information, and I can learn 2-4x faster just reading the textbook than I can from a verbal discussion or lecture. I think it depends a lot about their exact nature. Personally I found lectures to be of limited value, and general discussions would be all but useless, but focused supervisions with 1-3 students and an academic to be invaluable. Preparing the work ahead of time allows you to learn how you like, but a verbal interrogation regarding it means you must be confident and know it well enough to think on your feet (it's also good viva voce practice). A good supervisor will also dig deeper than any one text typically would (if necessary), and give tailored explanations if something is tripping you up. They'll also push you forward and not let you coast if you covered the minimum mandatory material, and come up with new ways of applying the knowledge or fuse it with material from other classes/years. I think it'd be difficult to replicate that with any form of self-study.

UncleEntity 9y ago

> requiring students to live in dorms with students taking the same classes. Hmm...my first semester at university (after transferring from community college) my roommate was the only other male sharing my major (out of 9 total IIRC). Makes me wonder if it was a coincidence? Didn't help any, he did his thing and I did mine. Don't think we ever talked about classes even once. Think he ran off and did a semester (or maybe a year) in New York after that, when he came back one of my friends went out of their way to introduce us to each other since we were the only males in that major. There's probably a point hidden in there somewhere.