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College Major Restrictions and Student Stratification
- Bostonian 5y agoPaper is at http://zacharybleemer.com/wp-content/uploads/Policy-Briefs/UC-CHP-2020.3-Major-Restrictions.pdf http://zacharybleemer.com/wp-content/uploads/Policy-Briefs/U... .
- text70 5y agoI see that this applies to intra-university stratification. Does this trend also explain inter-university stratification, i.e. major universities having majority asian and white students, and lesser universities having larger proportions URM as a majority? Also, why was B.F. Skinner allowed to have so much influence on the way we structure our educational system?
- QuarterReptile 5y agoThere are many holes in these arguments, but that just may be social science generally. Example: >Think that major restrictions may be in students' best interest, keeping them out of fields they're unprepared for? No, I think that the majors have scarce resources best not spent on remediating those who are unlikely to succeed. Anecdotally, I know of very few majors/schools that want fewer students. I think the largest explanation comes from the incredible success of luxury ideas like "find your true calling", "don't make decisions based on money", "don't sell out", etc. These ideas sound nice when you're saying them, but their uptake will always be highest among those who don't have the resources or strong grounding to know that they're basically all bullshit. Meanwhile, anyone better off has either connections that will serve as the real basis for a career start, or parents who won't let them follow that terrible advice