4 ms·

This is clearly out of my purview, but why in the world would you have an institution as a beneficiary unless it's one you control? Are they really that accomp

by seiji 14y ago

This is clearly out of my purview, but why in the world would you have an institution as a beneficiary unless it's one you control? Are they really that accomplished at brainwashing people?

jlgreco 14y ago
You aren't going to control any institution after you are dead. The best you can do is pick one that you feel you can trust.
- seiji 14y ago
  Okay, poorly worded on my part. I was thinking more in line with Gates leaving everything to the Gates Foundation. My brain can't reconcile why someone would want to donate to something that already takes money from people in return for services. Kinda like the onion half-headline: "Man Has Alarming Level Of Pride In Institution That Left Him $50,000 In Debt."
  - danso 14y ago
    I don't know MIT's specific financial situation, but my impression was that, while tuition covers a great many things such as salaries and programs, every academic institution is dependent on generous endowments in order to pursue large capital projects and initiatives. Hence, why many stadiums are named after their donors.
  - whatusername 14y ago
    Remember that some of those donations go to scholarships/etc so that there may be a reason for reciprocity. (That being said-it doesn't really seem to exist in Australia. I've never been contacted by my old university (a Gof8) and asked for donations.
    - SyneRyder 14y ago
      There's some in Australia who do. UWA telephones & writes to me every year for donations to their Alumni fund - this year they even invited past students to a cocktail party called "A Celebration Of Giving". I don't donate anymore but did once in the past, specifically because the funds went towards scholarships.
  - Evbn 14y ago
    Go dedicate a year to read about a small fraction of MIT's contributions to the world, and then post an update to your comment. We aren't talking about ITT or U of Phoenix here.
shawn-butler 14y ago
Not that it is any of your business but because I have no children and the education of future generations is about the most important thing there is to me. What is important to you? Thanks for trolling me. I will try and make your contribution positive by reminding readers that if they lack a will with benefactors or executors with real world power, the state generally takes everything often ignoring legal documents you leave behind.
- seiji 14y ago
  No intent to troll here. I was just curious, seeing as I hold my academic institution in such high contempt. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure where I would leave any form of wealth I had. My first intuition would be needy organizations of some sort (cancer/hiv/troubled youth--and there's always hackerdojo). Intelligence finds a way. I'm not too worried about the world on that front.
  - shawn-butler 14y ago
    I'm glad you took a few minutes to think about it. Even if you are not wealthy it helps focus on what is valuable. Regarding your bad experience it sounds like you weren't able to make the best out of your time and maybe your school failed in some respect. I find universities valuable because they are basically reincarnated every 4 or 5 years. They exist and function as an expression of the values of the students and to a lesser extent the faculty hired in that time. I simply cannot fathom how the Institute in any incarnation that I have been involved with would set out to destroy a productive community member for something so inane. Perhaps handle it internally but to ask for a formal prosecution? Something is really broken and I hope it is brought to light before the institution fails its students further.
    - seiji 14y ago
      I find universities valuable because they are basically reincarnated every 4 or 5 years. Ah ha! That's where we differ. My university experience made me feel it was a huge cancerously-growing bureaucracy that doesn't really want to change. A huge bureaucracy with draconian rules whose goals were to never inconvenience any employee of the university at the expense of student time and frustration. [[ At one point, they threatened to suspend my registration privileges because I WWW::Mechanize-automated my registration against their crappy web registration system. They kept telling me I was a horrible person for violating the "honor code" and "computer use policy" and I had no recourse but to write a lengthy letter of apology before they allowed me to register again. fun times. ]]

by seiji 14y ago

This is clearly out of my purview, but why in the world would you have an institution as a beneficiary unless it's one you control? Are they really that accomplished at brainwashing people?

jlgreco 14y ago

You aren't going to control any institution after you are dead. The best you can do is pick one that you feel you can trust.

seiji 14y ago
Okay, poorly worded on my part. I was thinking more in line with Gates leaving everything to the Gates Foundation. My brain can't reconcile why someone would want to donate to something that already takes money from people in return for services. Kinda like the onion half-headline: "Man Has Alarming Level Of Pride In Institution That Left Him $50,000 In Debt."
- danso 14y ago
  I don't know MIT's specific financial situation, but my impression was that, while tuition covers a great many things such as salaries and programs, every academic institution is dependent on generous endowments in order to pursue large capital projects and initiatives. Hence, why many stadiums are named after their donors.
- whatusername 14y ago
  Remember that some of those donations go to scholarships/etc so that there may be a reason for reciprocity. (That being said-it doesn't really seem to exist in Australia. I've never been contacted by my old university (a Gof8) and asked for donations.
  - SyneRyder 14y ago
    There's some in Australia who do. UWA telephones & writes to me every year for donations to their Alumni fund - this year they even invited past students to a cocktail party called "A Celebration Of Giving". I don't donate anymore but did once in the past, specifically because the funds went towards scholarships.
- Evbn 14y ago
  Go dedicate a year to read about a small fraction of MIT's contributions to the world, and then post an update to your comment. We aren't talking about ITT or U of Phoenix here.

shawn-butler 14y ago

Not that it is any of your business but because I have no children and the education of future generations is about the most important thing there is to me. What is important to you? Thanks for trolling me. I will try and make your contribution positive by reminding readers that if they lack a will with benefactors or executors with real world power, the state generally takes everything often ignoring legal documents you leave behind.

seiji 14y ago
No intent to troll here. I was just curious, seeing as I hold my academic institution in such high contempt. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure where I would leave any form of wealth I had. My first intuition would be needy organizations of some sort (cancer/hiv/troubled youth--and there's always hackerdojo). Intelligence finds a way. I'm not too worried about the world on that front.
- shawn-butler 14y ago
  I'm glad you took a few minutes to think about it. Even if you are not wealthy it helps focus on what is valuable. Regarding your bad experience it sounds like you weren't able to make the best out of your time and maybe your school failed in some respect. I find universities valuable because they are basically reincarnated every 4 or 5 years. They exist and function as an expression of the values of the students and to a lesser extent the faculty hired in that time. I simply cannot fathom how the Institute in any incarnation that I have been involved with would set out to destroy a productive community member for something so inane. Perhaps handle it internally but to ask for a formal prosecution? Something is really broken and I hope it is brought to light before the institution fails its students further.
  - seiji 14y ago
    I find universities valuable because they are basically reincarnated every 4 or 5 years. Ah ha! That's where we differ. My university experience made me feel it was a huge cancerously-growing bureaucracy that doesn't really want to change. A huge bureaucracy with draconian rules whose goals were to never inconvenience any employee of the university at the expense of student time and frustration. [[ At one point, they threatened to suspend my registration privileges because I WWW::Mechanize-automated my registration against their crappy web registration system. They kept telling me I was a horrible person for violating the "honor code" and "computer use policy" and I had no recourse but to write a lengthy letter of apology before they allowed me to register again. fun times. ]]