6 ms·

The entire thread is pure gold. If you scroll down, he writes: > The Chair [of the Columbia Film program] reached out and said he was confident that we could w

by _RPL5_ 5y ago

The entire thread is pure gold. If you scroll down, he writes: > The Chair [of the Columbia Film program] reached out and said he was confident that we could work out an arrangement to get my degree. But he insisted that I fly out to NYC immediately for an in-person meeting. So I spent a fortune on a last-minute flight in order to hear his proposal. > But instead of telling me what I need to do to satisfy the requirements to get my degree, the Chair began pitching me his idea for a TV pilot. In excruciating scene-by-scene detail. I nodded along, waiting to get back to the terms of me getting my degree. > But to my horror... I slowly begin to realize this IS the deal. He made it pretty clear if I wanted my degree, I needed to help him sell his tv pilot. Yep, the Chair of Columbia’s prestigious graduate film program tried to shake me down in order to jump-start his own stalled out career.

steveBK123 5y ago
this was probably my favorite part its grift all the way down!
hogFeast 5y ago
I studied a social science (economic history) with the suspicion (I am can't recall why) that a lot of people in universities who do more vocational subjects are there because they can't actually make money using those skills (so I would only do a course that was totally useless). When I got to university that was confirmed in spades (and I was glad to actually get something for my money, because the subject was "useless", I got great teaching, great feedback on my work, etc.). Obviously, business was the absolute worst (one professor taught a course on investing, he literally wrote a book on investing, he left at the same time I graduated to run a fund...just before the pandemic, he got fired because his fund was down 10-20%/year, he was one of the worst-performing fund managers in the UK at the time), stuff like law was pretty decent (although most people who studied law never became lawyers either, I don't understand how because the school was number #1 ranked for law...after I left, I saw quite a few lawyers who got a job due to family...so it might be that), and even CS had a great reputation in teaching but the actual linkages with industry were non-existent, so the teachers taught the theory and things they thought were fun to teach (lots of students struggled, I spoke to startups who said they had trouble recruiting, even though this school turned out hundreds of grads every year, because they all just went to larger companies that didn't require actual development skills). It isn't the case everywhere but I think the idea that university is required for success outside university is misleading, particularly for high school students. A lot of the knowledge is definitely very useful but life outside university tends to be about things that aren't in any books. University is orthogonal to life.
- okareaman 5y ago
  Those who can, do; those who can't, teach George Bernard Shaw
  - hogFeast 5y ago
    I wasn't convinced they could teach either. It is like being taught cycling by someone who not only hasn't cycled, they haven't even seen a bike. Being able to do, and being able to teach aren't separate. I got value because my professors could teach and do, they were experts. If you can't do, don't teach either...just do...something else. Teaching seems to attract all the dregs from society.
  - kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5y ago
    Makes you wonder about those sex-ed teachers, eh?
  - FranzFerdiNaN 5y ago
    If you can’t do it you can’t teach it. This quote, while being dumb as shit, does show the incredible low value we place on teaching. Teaching is for losers, and yet as a society we’re incredibly confused why we aren’t being taught well in schools and universities????
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - bwship 5y ago
    "And those that can't teach, teach gym" - Jack Black, School of Rock
  - addison-lee 5y ago
    What an abysmal quote. It is completely false, and does nothing to encourage intelligent people to go into teaching which we desperately need.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
mannerheim 5y ago
This should be a red flag to anyone studying film at Columbia. How much can your degree possibly be worth if your department chair can't sell a TV pilot without shaking down a former student to jump-start his own career?
- joe_the_user 5y ago
  I'm pretty the situation is not confined to Columbia. This is how crazy the film/movie world is.
  - mannerheim 5y ago
    Indeed this is certainly more broadly applicable. But if this is the case for a school as prestigious as Columbia in New York City (i.e., a city with a thriving television industry), things must be even more dire at no-name liberal arts colleges in flyover states.
  - duped 5y ago
    "Those who can't do, teach" is fitting for many fields of study
    - tpoacher 5y ago
      Actually, those who "can't do", generally "can't teach" either. One surefire way to get better at doing something is trying to teach it, in fact. I get what the quote is trying to imply, (and why) but it's totally backwards.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - julian_t 5y ago
        It always annoys me when I see that quoted. The original idea applied to people like athletes - you do it when you can, but when you're too old to compete, you can still teach. Nothing to do with ability, and in fact, it assumes more ability on the part of the teacher.

by _RPL5_ 5y ago

steveBK123 5y ago

this was probably my favorite part its grift all the way down!

hogFeast 5y ago

I studied a social science (economic history) with the suspicion (I am can't recall why) that a lot of people in universities who do more vocational subjects are there because they can't actually make money using those skills (so I would only do a course that was totally useless). When I got to university that was confirmed in spades (and I was glad to actually get something for my money, because the subject was "useless", I got great teaching, great feedback on my work, etc.). Obviously, business was the absolute worst (one professor taught a course on investing, he literally wrote a book on investing, he left at the same time I graduated to run a fund...just before the pandemic, he got fired because his fund was down 10-20%/year, he was one of the worst-performing fund managers in the UK at the time), stuff like law was pretty decent (although most people who studied law never became lawyers either, I don't understand how because the school was number #1 ranked for law...after I left, I saw quite a few lawyers who got a job due to family...so it might be that), and even CS had a great reputation in teaching but the actual linkages with industry were non-existent, so the teachers taught the theory and things they thought were fun to teach (lots of students struggled, I spoke to startups who said they had trouble recruiting, even though this school turned out hundreds of grads every year, because they all just went to larger companies that didn't require actual development skills). It isn't the case everywhere but I think the idea that university is required for success outside university is misleading, particularly for high school students. A lot of the knowledge is definitely very useful but life outside university tends to be about things that aren't in any books. University is orthogonal to life.

okareaman 5y ago
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach George Bernard Shaw
- hogFeast 5y ago
  I wasn't convinced they could teach either. It is like being taught cycling by someone who not only hasn't cycled, they haven't even seen a bike. Being able to do, and being able to teach aren't separate. I got value because my professors could teach and do, they were experts. If you can't do, don't teach either...just do...something else. Teaching seems to attract all the dregs from society.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 5y ago
  Makes you wonder about those sex-ed teachers, eh?
- FranzFerdiNaN 5y ago
  If you can’t do it you can’t teach it. This quote, while being dumb as shit, does show the incredible low value we place on teaching. Teaching is for losers, and yet as a society we’re incredibly confused why we aren’t being taught well in schools and universities????
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bwship 5y ago
  "And those that can't teach, teach gym" - Jack Black, School of Rock
- addison-lee 5y ago
  What an abysmal quote. It is completely false, and does nothing to encourage intelligent people to go into teaching which we desperately need.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

mannerheim 5y ago

This should be a red flag to anyone studying film at Columbia. How much can your degree possibly be worth if your department chair can't sell a TV pilot without shaking down a former student to jump-start his own career?

joe_the_user 5y ago
I'm pretty the situation is not confined to Columbia. This is how crazy the film/movie world is.
- mannerheim 5y ago
  Indeed this is certainly more broadly applicable. But if this is the case for a school as prestigious as Columbia in New York City (i.e., a city with a thriving television industry), things must be even more dire at no-name liberal arts colleges in flyover states.
- duped 5y ago
  "Those who can't do, teach" is fitting for many fields of study
  - tpoacher 5y ago
    Actually, those who "can't do", generally "can't teach" either. One surefire way to get better at doing something is trying to teach it, in fact. I get what the quote is trying to imply, (and why) but it's totally backwards.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - julian_t 5y ago
      It always annoys me when I see that quoted. The original idea applied to people like athletes - you do it when you can, but when you're too old to compete, you can still teach. Nothing to do with ability, and in fact, it assumes more ability on the part of the teacher.