They are talking about this, right? http://4pt0.org/programs/startup-weekend-education/
EDIT: No, probably not. Different Christine Ortiz...
MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
81–90 of 281 posts
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#82The only point of a modern day university is that they are (a) exclusive, and (b) "guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught". That's at least what people who hire think. I remember someone saying "It wouldn't matter if MIT only taught basket weaving as long as they still had such a thorough selection process". This holds true here. People only care about the pedigree of your degree, it's substance comes…
"guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught" That used to be the case, but now corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you. Let that sink in a moment. No longer are the universities taken at their word about their product. For some of you it has never been any different, but this change came about more or less when I was teaching at university/college. Some of us saw this as a quit…
> That used to be the case, but now corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you
I'm seeing this as well and am developing a learning / training platform based on this thesis for professional dev.
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#83This sounds overly dreamy. At the very least, their new "university" should bother to award degrees when specific breadth-and-depth levels of knowledge are adequately demonstrated.
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't say that the substance of e.g. a M.D. degree comes "second". Maybe you're focusing too much on IT?
There's no doubt the substance is actually more important, but the question is what folks end up caring about. As an interesting anecdote, I found that when I'm around my Chinese friends or family, I'd hear the question "where did you go to school?", but when I had conversations with White or Black folks we'd talk about "what did you study?". I think that's a pretty interesting cultural nuance. For me, the second que…
My ex girlfriend was Chinese. She thought I was making a mistake by deciding to go somewhere other than Stanford for graduate school, that I was settling for something beneath me.
When I explained to her that as a professor, she or I would probably teach at places other than the school she or I studied at, she conceded that maybe she too would be willing to study at a place like Harvard.
It seems in China, theres only a couple of good schools. In America, the quality of 100 or 200 of the more prominent schools is probably rather indistinguishable. I never even applied to the Ivy league schools in undergrad, I just applied to the state schools and went to the one I liked best.
Also in China, people seem to go to great lengths to prove that theyre not one of the peasants. In America, people dont seem to need to make that distinction as often, if ever.
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
"guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught" That used to be the case, but now corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you. Let that sink in a moment. No longer are the universities taken at their word about their product. For some of you it has never been any different, but this change came about more or less when I was teaching at university/college. Some of us saw this as a quit…
It's surprising that it's taking so long. The wealthiest have always found ways to preserve their wealth and Ivy League institutions have played a role in that. Take some smart people, a lot of people that are good at fitting the mold that looks best, mix your rich kids in there and call the paint one color. Remember, George W. Bush (all politics aside, just looking at him in terms of intellectual prowess) graduated…
George W Bush plays much dumber than he is. It's hard to get an unbiased opinion on the matter since it can be used to score political points, but he definitely has >100 IQ.
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#86I like the idea of project based learning. I think it will end up being a more lasting method of instruction.
I am interested in how they will still teach the breadth of the subject matter.
For example, you can get a lot of work done with linear algebra without really understanding vector spaces.
I assume this method of instruction would require more teacher-student interaction to be effective. The teacher could review the student progress on a project and make a note of where the application of a new technique would be helpful. Guiding the student towards a more complete understanding of a subject.
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#87The only point of a modern day university is that they are (a) exclusive, and (b) "guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught". That's at least what people who hire think. I remember someone saying "It wouldn't matter if MIT only taught basket weaving as long as they still had such a thorough selection process". This holds true here. People only care about the pedigree of your degree, it's substance comes…
By this reasoning, you should put a list of the universities you were admitted to on your resume, not the university that you actually attended. Under these terms, what's the difference between going to Harvard for a couple of semesters and dropping out, and getting admitted to Harvard but deciding to attend Dartmouth instead?
Not a bad idea. Bright person gets accepted to Harvard, Yale, etc, but chooses a state college. Kinda like the Spock2 maneuver declining the Vulcan Science Academy. If you're young, and don't have a particularly long resume, sure why not include it?
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#88The only point of a modern day university is that they are (a) exclusive, and (b) "guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught". That's at least what people who hire think. I remember someone saying "It wouldn't matter if MIT only taught basket weaving as long as they still had such a thorough selection process". This holds true here. People only care about the pedigree of your degree, it's substance comes…
"guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught" That used to be the case, but now corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you. Let that sink in a moment. No longer are the universities taken at their word about their product. For some of you it has never been any different, but this change came about more or less when I was teaching at university/college. Some of us saw this as a quit…
> No longer are the universities taken at their word about their product.
Exactly. Education is a thing where a student voluntarily decides how much effort he/she wants to put in learning, not some software that the professor can install inside their brains. All they can do is check out their past scores to determine how dedicated a student is and only admit such high-grade students. But again, time is fickle and people do change. Lazy and lethargic students suddenly have some life-altering experience and they turn into rank-holders, the opposite can happen too!
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#89The current system was created for a reason: because for most people, it works. I ran a language learning group for a couple of years and we tried many different styles of learning. With no structure, most people flounder. Unless you already learned the material and just need it for review, it really doesn't work well. The best was complete structure: tests, lesson plans, and homework. Most people are passive. They w…
> Most people are passive. They want a teacher to lead them and guide them through the learning process.
Bull. Most people have any interest in learning beaten out of them by our crappy factory/prison like educational system. Because you know what's not conducive to learning? Having no choice as far as subjects; having no choice how long you spend on them; having no choice on who to learn from; having no choice who you learn with.
PG has a classic essay on makers vs managers on scheduling, and he places emphasis on how for work like programming, getting into the material takes time. I see no reason this wouldn't apply to learning. How much work would most developers get done if they had their day broken into 50 minute segments, five minute transition times, and six different projects they were required to work on every day with equal consistency?
My mother runs a Montessori preschool. Consistently, the kids that go off to first grade come back with stories of attending traditional school and wondering when they get to start doing something instead of sitting at their desk. Or when they can do something new instead of going through material they already know with the class. This is not to say Montessori is a perfect system - but it was actually designed with the education of children in mind, rather than efficiency from a bureaucratic perspective.
It bothers me greatly when someone blames the nature of people for problems that are systemic in nature - it feels no different from the ridiculous number of ADHD diagnoses we have these days, which seems to largely stem from not giving kids space to be kids.
Re: MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures, no classrooms”
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
"guarantee" that students "know" what they are "taught" That used to be the case, but now corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you. Let that sink in a moment. No longer are the universities taken at their word about their product. For some of you it has never been any different, but this change came about more or less when I was teaching at university/college. Some of us saw this as a quit…
> That used to be the case, but now corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you. You mean an ... interview?! Ok, that was purposely obtuse, but I don't see how an extension of a company's interview process (ensuring, through their own testing, that candidates meet the proper qualifications without school bias) is a bad thing. Or how it signals an 'inevitable disruption of modern higher ed'. W…
i'm from germany and never visited a good university ( so its entirely possible that none of this happens to graduates from mit, i dont know), but i'm pretty this is what he meant.
i applied for several different companies for a pretty low position around 3 years ago. one of the companies was MAN and I had to pass a) an online test for preselection, b) a written exam on premises and finally b) an interview.
i fucked up in the interview, but they still mentioned that they would need at least a second interview, probably two, before seriously considering me for this position.