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Or why not just hire more faculty and start up more sections? The students are paying huge tuition bills. Why can't they get the courses they want? This is why

Or why not just hire more faculty and start up more sections? The students are paying huge tuition bills. Why can't they get the courses they want? This is why I often tell everyone, not just high school students, to consider other marketplaces for information like uDemy or Coursera or any of the dozens of upstarts. They're sooo much better than old school universities because they're not designed to enforce artificial scarcity. There's no bogus song and dance for the admissions department and after that there's no limit on how many people can take the course. This is what the digital world has to offer and we should celebrate the unlimited access to knowledge.

abdullahkhalids 3y ago
Because there are limited rooms and times of the day. I have seen the data at the Registrar's office at a couple of universities. Often, room utilization is above 90% with barely any time and space left over for talks and special events. And a university in the middle of a city (where universities should be) often don't have any land to make new buildings. Not to mention, the highest demand courses are always the easiest ones. As someone who has worked as a professor, I refuse to accept that the universities have some administrative imperative to increase the number of sections of easy courses, so students can learn less. Students should take online courses, but that is besides the point.
- ke88y 3y ago
  It's not about rooms. One of the required courses is sailing. Only so many little training sail boats can even fit on the Charles.
  - eichin 3y ago
    And at least back in the day, the pistol/rifle range wasn't very large either (and had a variety of competing users.)
  - brewdad 3y ago
    Why doesn’t MIT dredge a lake on campus then?
    - doctorwho42 3y ago
      Have you looked at a map of Boston/Cambridge? The Charles is practically a large dredged up lake on MIT campus, it just happens that MIT only occupies one side of the 'lake' lol
      - ke88y 3y ago
        ...and the rest of campus is some of the most valuable real estate in the world.
- xhkkffbf 3y ago
  Again, the number of classrooms leads me to ask, "Where is the tuition going?" It's not a good excuse. The students are paying plenty of tuition. Why shouldn't they get the courses they want?
  - abdullahkhalids 3y ago
    Oh, I absolutely agree that tuition is much higher than it needs to be in universities across the world. The reason is also quite clear. Administrative staff has increased way too much, and universities also provide services that should in principle be provided by the government or larger society. The correct answer is to this is to cut that administrative staff and reduce tuition. Not to redirect money towards easy classes. But there is a larger issue here. > The students are paying plenty of tuition. Why shouldn't they get the courses they want? Universities are institutions for providing credentials [1]. Students cannot be the party who should decide what courses are offered, because there is a clear conflict of interest. If you work at a universities, you will see that students naturally and constantly advocate for easier passing requirements and courses. The same way you don't want your trainee electrician at the vocational school to have a say in whether they get to take the safety courses or not, * you don't want your trainee software engineers at the university to have a say in which math courses they will need, and * you don't want your English majors at the university to decide they would rather take the course on Twilight rather than the one on Shakespeare. What courses should be offered should be decided by professors in collaboration with industry professionals. Not students who often don't know what is good for them long term. What should be provided to students before enrolling at the university is complete information about what courses are part of the program and why, and the students can decide up front whether the program is for them. The above is not a blanket defense of universities in any way. I left academia because I think it is broken, but not for the reasons your comments postulate. [1] Besides the necessary education of society. I also strongly believe there is space in society for educational institutions that don't provide test based credentials, but those cannot replace universities.
    - master-lincoln 3y ago
      This assumes the purpose of a university is to prepare students for a job. But wasn't a university meant to teach and carry out science? Is it really a credentials provider mostly? Especially in the tech industry it seems the notion of having knowledge has gotten more important than just having credentials (though this could also just be a direct consequence of employers not trusting university credentials anymore)

abdullahkhalids 3y ago

Because there are limited rooms and times of the day. I have seen the data at the Registrar's office at a couple of universities. Often, room utilization is above 90% with barely any time and space left over for talks and special events. And a university in the middle of a city (where universities should be) often don't have any land to make new buildings. Not to mention, the highest demand courses are always the easiest ones. As someone who has worked as a professor, I refuse to accept that the universities have some administrative imperative to increase the number of sections of easy courses, so students can learn less. Students should take online courses, but that is besides the point.

ke88y 3y ago
It's not about rooms. One of the required courses is sailing. Only so many little training sail boats can even fit on the Charles.
- eichin 3y ago
  And at least back in the day, the pistol/rifle range wasn't very large either (and had a variety of competing users.)
- brewdad 3y ago
  Why doesn’t MIT dredge a lake on campus then?
  - doctorwho42 3y ago
    Have you looked at a map of Boston/Cambridge? The Charles is practically a large dredged up lake on MIT campus, it just happens that MIT only occupies one side of the 'lake' lol
    - ke88y 3y ago
      ...and the rest of campus is some of the most valuable real estate in the world.
xhkkffbf 3y ago
Again, the number of classrooms leads me to ask, "Where is the tuition going?" It's not a good excuse. The students are paying plenty of tuition. Why shouldn't they get the courses they want?
- abdullahkhalids 3y ago
  Oh, I absolutely agree that tuition is much higher than it needs to be in universities across the world. The reason is also quite clear. Administrative staff has increased way too much, and universities also provide services that should in principle be provided by the government or larger society. The correct answer is to this is to cut that administrative staff and reduce tuition. Not to redirect money towards easy classes. But there is a larger issue here. > The students are paying plenty of tuition. Why shouldn't they get the courses they want? Universities are institutions for providing credentials [1]. Students cannot be the party who should decide what courses are offered, because there is a clear conflict of interest. If you work at a universities, you will see that students naturally and constantly advocate for easier passing requirements and courses. The same way you don't want your trainee electrician at the vocational school to have a say in whether they get to take the safety courses or not, * you don't want your trainee software engineers at the university to have a say in which math courses they will need, and * you don't want your English majors at the university to decide they would rather take the course on Twilight rather than the one on Shakespeare. What courses should be offered should be decided by professors in collaboration with industry professionals. Not students who often don't know what is good for them long term. What should be provided to students before enrolling at the university is complete information about what courses are part of the program and why, and the students can decide up front whether the program is for them. The above is not a blanket defense of universities in any way. I left academia because I think it is broken, but not for the reasons your comments postulate. [1] Besides the necessary education of society. I also strongly believe there is space in society for educational institutions that don't provide test based credentials, but those cannot replace universities.
  - master-lincoln 3y ago
    This assumes the purpose of a university is to prepare students for a job. But wasn't a university meant to teach and carry out science? Is it really a credentials provider mostly? Especially in the tech industry it seems the notion of having knowledge has gotten more important than just having credentials (though this could also just be a direct consequence of employers not trusting university credentials anymore)