5 ms·
If rich people want to buy their way into university, why not? I think the argument is really: 1. Arbitrarily small class sizes - the degree is not so much abo
by zarro 7y ago
If rich people want to buy their way into university, why not? I think the argument is really:
1. Arbitrarily small class sizes - the degree is not so much about the education as it is about the prestige of being in small class size. But long term, who cares? There are obviously candidates that have equal or higher capability if the universities can limit the class size. Besides those that don't go have cheaper market rates and are more attractive investments since the universities strategy is pretty much increase the demand by lowering supply arbitrarily.
2. The idea that you buy merit that is undeserved. To be honest, I am not sure why this is a big deal. Its not in the universities long term best interest to give its clients undeserved merit, because the market decides their merit, and if they pump out people that don't have skills over time their "Prestige" doesn't amount to much, and their customers will go elsewhere. To be honest, I think this is already starting to be the case.
Really I think this argument boils down to distasteful envy and jealousy of the things rich people can "buy", which if you examine it carefully isn't the case anyway.
- human20190310 7y ago> if they pump out people that don't have skills over time their "Prestige" doesn't amount to much I think you're underestimating the degree to which corrupt, inept institutions can maintain their influence over society.
- zarro 7y agoNo doubt, but I think the point is to ask the right questions. Its not so much about preventing the inept institutions from maintaining their influence so much its about making sure that competing institutions don't have arbitrary barriers to entry that prevent them from competing in the market, even if initially, people are skeptical of them in comparison to "established" players.
- rb808 7y agoAgreed. The reason people want to go to the big famous universities is largely because Wealthy people have donated a lot of money so it has a lot of resources. If you stop them donating, it would just be another school and you probably wouldn't want to go to.
- lordnacho 7y agoNumber 2 is a kind of efficiency argument that requires backing with evidence. Is it really the case that the market can adjust for your true merit irrespective of what you've bought? Sounds like one of those college essay questions.
- zapnuk 7y agoThis is the most american way to think about education. This anti-social thinking is why the USA is not going to fix any problem in a meaningful and lasting way.
- ryandrake 7y agoIf there was perfect price discrimination in elite universities, in other words, if schools were able to charge everyone the exact maximum they are willing to pay, then only the rich would go to elite universities. There is far more demand than open seats.
- zarro 7y agoThey could price discriminate if they wanted to, the fact that they wouldn't (In ways they already do) I think illustrates that they intuitively understand that in the long run doing so wouldn't be a profit maximizing strategy.