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I heartily agree regarding your point on rigor, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that, because of MIT's excellent online offerings, legendary engineers like

by FD3SA 13y ago

I heartily agree regarding your point on rigor, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that, because of MIT's excellent online offerings, legendary engineers like Musk no longer need to be in MIT to experience the MIT rigor. They can do the courses in the summers, and hangout with MIT students to build their teams for their first few startups. I vehemently disagree regarding grades. Grades are the stupidest measure of engineering ability. Paper tests are meaningless except as a measure for the most basic levels of competence in mathematics and physics. We are talking about people who push the state of the art. These people are often very annoyed by tests, since it is idiotic to use an extremely distant proxy (i.e. a test) for an ability like like engineering when it's much simpler (and infinitely more satisfying) to just practice engineering itself. The only measure of an engineer's skill is his ability to built elegant systems. This cannot be taught through a course. It must be learned through iteration, and repetitive failure.

grinich 13y ago
I really hope that becomes the case! Honestly I learned most of my coursework from my peers, during late nights in the library or someone's dorm room. I haven't yet seen a compelling replacement for that yet, which is unfortunate. I think the only thing worse than using grades as a measure of mastery is using an inflated grading scale. :P
zhemao 13y ago
> The only measure of an engineer's skill is his ability to built elegant systems. This cannot be taught through a course. This can be taught through a course if said course requires you to build an elegant system. Many courses in engineering schools are project-based.
Patrick_Devine 13y ago
I absolutely agree with you in regards to grades. They are completely pointless; How does someone get an 'A' when they've missed over 10% of the questions on an exam? We should demand absolutely mastery in every subject, and thankfully we're starting to get the tools (in online courses) which allow us to do that. There is one point though which I think you're not giving enough; schools like MIT and Standford are all about connections and networking. You go to an MIT or a Stanford to have a pedigree, and it opens doors and opportunities which wouldn't be there if you hadn't gone there.

by FD3SA 13y ago

grinich 13y ago

I really hope that becomes the case! Honestly I learned most of my coursework from my peers, during late nights in the library or someone's dorm room. I haven't yet seen a compelling replacement for that yet, which is unfortunate. I think the only thing worse than using grades as a measure of mastery is using an inflated grading scale. :P

zhemao 13y ago

> The only measure of an engineer's skill is his ability to built elegant systems. This cannot be taught through a course. This can be taught through a course if said course requires you to build an elegant system. Many courses in engineering schools are project-based.

Patrick_Devine 13y ago

I absolutely agree with you in regards to grades. They are completely pointless; How does someone get an 'A' when they've missed over 10% of the questions on an exam? We should demand absolutely mastery in every subject, and thankfully we're starting to get the tools (in online courses) which allow us to do that. There is one point though which I think you're not giving enough; schools like MIT and Standford are all about connections and networking. You go to an MIT or a Stanford to have a pedigree, and it opens doors and opportunities which wouldn't be there if you hadn't gone there.