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I think they are losing esteem, but some silly protests aren't why. The selection process itself is deeply, deeply flawed and interacts poorly with incentives f
by anothernewdude 2y ago
I think they are losing esteem, but some silly protests aren't why. The selection process itself is deeply, deeply flawed and interacts poorly with incentives for education. Feedback on performance is muddled up with the effects of networking with monied up people.
Not much of this is positive. Their ability to hire and the amount of money they have still is, I suppose. Assuming those are focused on teaching, though, which I doubt.
- afavour 2y agoNetworking with monied people is still a perk for sure. But I wonder (jokingly but not completely jokingly) if you’d be better off spending 1/10 of the cost going to Burning Man every year with index cards of rich inheritees to hunt down.
- bsder 2y agoMaybe not Burning Man, but probably Coachella and SXSW.
- DiogenesKynikos 2y agoThe selection process at most highly competitive schools is flawed, but the Ivy League universities still get the best students, in general.
- anothernewdude 2y agoAnd if you get the best students, then do you need to bother to provide the best education? If your students are going to achieve good results anyway? Might the quality of that education become suspect, if it lacks incentives to improve, since the branding largely carries everything?
- DiogenesKynikos 2y agoThe Ivy League schools don't necessarily have the best teachers. Professors are hired mainly based on their research output, not on teaching skills. However, if you go to an Ivy League school, you'll be surrounded by the best students, which makes a difference, and you will get other perks, like tutoring from graduate students (the university gives them housing in exchange). If you're in science, you'll also be able to do undergrad research in a top lab. Branding is a big deal, but these universities are legitimately great places to study.