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Interesting read. His observation that there are many, many people who want to go to MIT and Stanford and would do great but didn't get in because they only ha

Interesting read. His observation that there are many, many people who want to go to MIT and Stanford and would do great but didn't get in because they only have many seats, is spot on. However, the flip side is that there exists lower-tier institutions because there are lots of people who would not do great. If you keep a Stanford education meaning what it means today then those folks would flunk. Look at the MOOC experiments where the percentage of people who pass is in the single digits. (There are all kinds of arguments that some people only sign up for part of the course anyway, that people can take it three times at much less cost than the traditional way once, etc., but single digits is a shock.) There are lots of people who have the skills and motivation to succeed, which is wonderful. But there are also lots of people who will fail to swim, but who are now being helped by these other places.

chosenbreed37 6y ago
> Look at the MOOC experiments where the percentage of people who pass is in the single digits. (There are all kinds of arguments that some people only sign up for part of the course anyway, that people can take it three times at much less cost than the traditional way once, etc., but single digits is a shock.) Could you elaborate on this? I've done a couple of MOOCs recently (Coursera in conjuction with Columbia, Princeton, etc). I could see that tens of thousands of others had enrolled. I'm curious about what the completion rate is. I personally got some value out of them. I'm wondering why they might be considered failures. In fact I'm seeing lots more courses come up.
chriskanan 6y ago
I think there may be considerable grade inflation once admitted to many top schools. After interviewing enough people from top schools, including Stanford, the assumption that they are inherently better and the content is more difficult has worn off.
watwut 6y ago
> Look at the MOOC experiments where the percentage of people who pass is in the single digits. (There are all kinds of arguments that some people only sign up for part of the course anyway, that people can take it three times at much less cost than the traditional way once, etc., but single digits is a shock.) There I personally signed up to many courses I did not even intended to finish. And even where I intended to finish, it turned out too much. I could do required 6-8 of work for first few weeks, but sooner or later there is deadline in work or personal problem that you have deal with and will stop the course. It was free and I learned something without finishing it anyway. In one case, I dropped out from final test while having all previous homework done and full credit up to that point. I just decided that learning for final test would be too much effort an stopped. Actually relevant study I have seen compared online and offline version of the same course, in the same year and students who all paid to study (e.g. normal students). The online people dropped out or failed much more often then offline, but it was not single digit. I cant find it now.

chosenbreed37 6y ago

chriskanan 6y ago

I think there may be considerable grade inflation once admitted to many top schools. After interviewing enough people from top schools, including Stanford, the assumption that they are inherently better and the content is more difficult has worn off.

watwut 6y ago

> Look at the MOOC experiments where the percentage of people who pass is in the single digits. (There are all kinds of arguments that some people only sign up for part of the course anyway, that people can take it three times at much less cost than the traditional way once, etc., but single digits is a shock.) There I personally signed up to many courses I did not even intended to finish. And even where I intended to finish, it turned out too much. I could do required 6-8 of work for first few weeks, but sooner or later there is deadline in work or personal problem that you have deal with and will stop the course. It was free and I learned something without finishing it anyway. In one case, I dropped out from final test while having all previous homework done and full credit up to that point. I just decided that learning for final test would be too much effort an stopped. Actually relevant study I have seen compared online and offline version of the same course, in the same year and students who all paid to study (e.g. normal students). The online people dropped out or failed much more often then offline, but it was not single digit. I cant find it now.