4 ms·

It depends on if you are going to actively take advantage of the resources you are paying for or if you are just going to passively get spoon fed information an

by daemonk 12y ago

It depends on if you are going to actively take advantage of the resources you are paying for or if you are just going to passively get spoon fed information and coast through the whole experience for a nominal piece of paper that said you jumped through hoops for 4 years.

sanxiyn 12y ago
How does this follow? Wage premium data support that it is a nominal piece of paper that said you jumped through hoops for 4 years, not actively taking advantage of the resources you are paying for, that benefits your wage. Do you have data to the contrary?
- daemonk 12y ago
  I wasn't referring to salaries. The practical rewards of higher education is obviously important, but I also think learning and growing as a person is also important. So in context of the "worth" of a college education, I was talking about personal growth. Whether we can attribute higher wages to the nominal piece of paper or personal growth is a question I can't answer. Do employers only see potential employees on paper? Or do this personal growth get reflected in the interview? Do they even care. Not sure if there are any data to support either case. I want to say that actively participating in your education can potentially make you better equipped for the rest of your life, which can be more important than that nominal piece of paper. However, I can only attest to that with anecdotal evidence.
  - sanxiyn 12y ago
    Higher education is a large investment, so while personal growth is all good and fine, economic concern is paramount. As the article states, "most of the benefits of college come from graduating, not enrolling". This data do seem to be in favor of the hypothesis that the paper matters. More data on this would be very welcome. It also intuitively makes sense to me, as the paper is easy to verify, but personal growth is not. While I suspect measure of personal growth provides better information to employers compared to the paper, the cost of acquiring that information may make the paper more valuable in the net. Also you seem to underestimate the value the paper provides to employers: jumping through hoops correlates with conscientiousness personality trait, which is a good predictor of workplace performance.
  - arethuza 12y ago
    My favourite example of how University can be a lot more than courses and exams is Stephen Fry - he hardly went to any lectures, came up with an amazing "hack" that meant he aced the exams yet still worked fantastically hard at what he wanted to do. I can recommend The Fry Chronicles for the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fry_Chronicles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fry_Chronicles
redmaverick 12y ago
What about taking advantage of free time to pursue your own interests on the side by passively going through college. I’ve received plenty of Bs and even Cs for classes that I was incredibly proud of because they came from hardly no time spent at all. Time that I could then spend on reading my own curriculum, starting my own projects, and running my own businesses. - DHH

by daemonk 12y ago

sanxiyn 12y ago

How does this follow? Wage premium data support that it is a nominal piece of paper that said you jumped through hoops for 4 years, not actively taking advantage of the resources you are paying for, that benefits your wage. Do you have data to the contrary?

daemonk 12y ago
I wasn't referring to salaries. The practical rewards of higher education is obviously important, but I also think learning and growing as a person is also important. So in context of the "worth" of a college education, I was talking about personal growth. Whether we can attribute higher wages to the nominal piece of paper or personal growth is a question I can't answer. Do employers only see potential employees on paper? Or do this personal growth get reflected in the interview? Do they even care. Not sure if there are any data to support either case. I want to say that actively participating in your education can potentially make you better equipped for the rest of your life, which can be more important than that nominal piece of paper. However, I can only attest to that with anecdotal evidence.
- sanxiyn 12y ago
  Higher education is a large investment, so while personal growth is all good and fine, economic concern is paramount. As the article states, "most of the benefits of college come from graduating, not enrolling". This data do seem to be in favor of the hypothesis that the paper matters. More data on this would be very welcome. It also intuitively makes sense to me, as the paper is easy to verify, but personal growth is not. While I suspect measure of personal growth provides better information to employers compared to the paper, the cost of acquiring that information may make the paper more valuable in the net. Also you seem to underestimate the value the paper provides to employers: jumping through hoops correlates with conscientiousness personality trait, which is a good predictor of workplace performance.
- arethuza 12y ago
  My favourite example of how University can be a lot more than courses and exams is Stephen Fry - he hardly went to any lectures, came up with an amazing "hack" that meant he aced the exams yet still worked fantastically hard at what he wanted to do. I can recommend The Fry Chronicles for the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fry_Chronicles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fry_Chronicles

redmaverick 12y ago

What about taking advantage of free time to pursue your own interests on the side by passively going through college. I’ve received plenty of Bs and even Cs for classes that I was incredibly proud of because they came from hardly no time spent at all. Time that I could then spend on reading my own curriculum, starting my own projects, and running my own businesses. - DHH