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So you have a sample size of one and you think you can draw conclusions from that? Sounds like maybe you should have gone college, or at least taken a stats cla

by glesica 13y ago

So you have a sample size of one and you think you can draw conclusions from that? Sounds like maybe you should have gone college, or at least taken a stats class on Coursera... ;) Literally no one reasonable is saying that it is impossible to be successful without college, that is clearly false. What they are saying is that it is more likely that someone will be successful if they attend college. For every Gates or Zuckerberg there are 100,000 kids who didn't, or couldn't, go to college and regretted it. And yes, I am quite certain that you did get lucky. That is not to say that you didn't work your ass off, or that you aren't extremely smart and clever, but you almost certainly also got lucky in some ways, just like the rest of us.

gaius 13y ago
90% of the college signal is in the "getting in", actually graduating only adds a little more.
- glesica 13y ago
  It depends on what you want from college. For me, I got almost nothing from the "getting in" but a ton from actually "being there" (in fact, I liked it so much I went back after a few years). One of the problems I see with the debate about college is that people have come to view college as a purely economic investment. If you are totally self-interested and simply looking to make money, then sure, YMMV. But from a social standpoint, college has great value beyond the economic value it produces for individual students. For example, forcing large groups of young people to come together in a (at least somewhat) scholarly environment exposes them to new ideas and cultural norms and produces adults who are better able to handle diversity and change.
  - gaius 13y ago
    By "signal" I mean the social/professional status gained from mentioning that college on your CV. "Went to Harvard" and "dropped out of Harvard" mean nearly the same thing: Harvard. Signals are important, when someone needs to make a decision like "should we interview this person" because they have little else to go on.
    - glesica 13y ago
      I understand the concept of a signal, my point is just that there is more to college than creating signals (or even "education", however you define it) for the individual students. There are social issues involved that, in my opinion, carry a much greater weight than most people seem to assign them when discussing higher education.
dreamdu5t 13y ago
"Sounds like maybe you should have gone college, or at least taken a stats class on Coursera..." Sounds like maybe your commodity CS degree is a demonstration of servility rather than aptitude.
- glesica 13y ago
  Well, first, I don't have a CS degree. Second, I don't see myself as servile, and I don't see how pointing out the logical and statistical fallacy in your comment indicates that I'm somehow "servile". I mean, maybe I am, but your comment is still just anecdotal evidence from which no conclusions may be reasonably drawn.

by glesica 13y ago

gaius 13y ago

90% of the college signal is in the "getting in", actually graduating only adds a little more.

glesica 13y ago
It depends on what you want from college. For me, I got almost nothing from the "getting in" but a ton from actually "being there" (in fact, I liked it so much I went back after a few years). One of the problems I see with the debate about college is that people have come to view college as a purely economic investment. If you are totally self-interested and simply looking to make money, then sure, YMMV. But from a social standpoint, college has great value beyond the economic value it produces for individual students. For example, forcing large groups of young people to come together in a (at least somewhat) scholarly environment exposes them to new ideas and cultural norms and produces adults who are better able to handle diversity and change.
- gaius 13y ago
  By "signal" I mean the social/professional status gained from mentioning that college on your CV. "Went to Harvard" and "dropped out of Harvard" mean nearly the same thing: Harvard. Signals are important, when someone needs to make a decision like "should we interview this person" because they have little else to go on.
  - glesica 13y ago
    I understand the concept of a signal, my point is just that there is more to college than creating signals (or even "education", however you define it) for the individual students. There are social issues involved that, in my opinion, carry a much greater weight than most people seem to assign them when discussing higher education.

dreamdu5t 13y ago

"Sounds like maybe you should have gone college, or at least taken a stats class on Coursera..." Sounds like maybe your commodity CS degree is a demonstration of servility rather than aptitude.

glesica 13y ago
Well, first, I don't have a CS degree. Second, I don't see myself as servile, and I don't see how pointing out the logical and statistical fallacy in your comment indicates that I'm somehow "servile". I mean, maybe I am, but your comment is still just anecdotal evidence from which no conclusions may be reasonably drawn.