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One of the things that I've known for years but has become increasingly evident is that there's the social nature of academia and then there's academics. We li
by DanielBMarkham 14y ago
One of the things that I've known for years but has become increasingly evident is that there's the social nature of academia and then there's academics.
We live in the age of the net. Knowledge is out there for the taking. Communities of people? Different thing entirely. Physical communities of people have value.
So when we say "college", we can either mean learning that knowledge and skill which will prepare you to begin really learning in the real world, or we can mean a place you go to appear smart, hang out with famous people, and make friends that can do you favors somewhere down the road.
We use "college" to mean both things, but more and more these are vastly different concepts. As students, it's probably important to understand whether your goal is to position yourself to actively engage in a discipline, or position yourself to actively engage in a community.
It's important to know that because most elite colleges are starting to look pretty generic in terms of politics, philosophy, and worldview. Either it's worth all of that money to hang out with the right people, or you're better off picking up classes at the community college for your undergrad and then taking a look again at where you are.
- uchi 14y agoIt's also becoming increasingly more reasonable to go overseas to attain your graduates degree. Undergraduate programs in community collages are still reasonably priced in the states, and overseas it's not that much worse provided you enroll into a school that accepts financial aid (FAFSA). As long as you have your associate's degree, you're generally golden, provided you might encounter the possibility of running a few extra aptitude tests in certain countries. 36 grand for a single undergraduate school year? Thanks, but you can go fuck right off America. At the very least studying overseas does provide you with a genuinely different political and philosophical worldview.
- kenferry 14y agoHere's the interaction, though: A person _can_ get books from the library written by experts in any field, and a sufficiently motivated student can learn that way. A person _can_ also be a solo founder. But you know, that's kind of hard. Sticking through it every day is a lot easier if there's someone besides you who cares, and someone besides you who notices if you stop really working at it. To say that the social experience does not contribute to learning on a college campus is to miss that _determination_ is the thing that's most difficult, and that the external situation you set up as your learning environment can have a pretty big impact on that determination. Which of your classes did you learn from and remember the best? For me, it's those classes where I had great problem set sessions with my friends. That's what stuck. (My startup is working on this problem.)
- nborwankar 14y agoWhat startup is that? Can you post a link?