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Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

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Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#71

Post by dikdik »

jccooper wrote: post #11
finolex1 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I daresay the experience of hustling and trying to build a company is a valuable form of education even for the 80 who fail

Sure, but what's important from college is not education, but credentials. The credit given for having a failed company on your resume is significantly less than for a BA of any sort.

so signals. If you're talented enough you don't need signals, you just provide value.

So for many people, acquiring signals is a complete waste of time and money.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#72

Post by dikdik »

goldfeld wrote: post #30

Sounds like a horrible idea full of assumptions and pressure, as opposed to offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually), a nice option for those who can afford it. Not everyone has to be coaxed into entrepreneurship, it's an evil of our consumerist age. Your kid would probably rather participate in society at large than in your suicidal runway idea of a romanticized youth of m…

Why is everyone that disagrees with you being flagged?

We don't accept dissent or discussion here?

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#73

Post by tptacek »

eropple wrote: post #69
hanklazard wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really care if my thoracic surgeon has a strong grasp of microeconomics or 19th Century British Lit. I only care that s/he has good medical training and experience. Note: I'm a doctor.

You don't care if your surgeon has been exposed to the idea of opportunity costs and given a framework for thinking about them structurally? That's pretty weird, Doc.

I sure don't. First-line health care is way too expensive, and everyone suffers from it, both patients and prospective caregivers. I don't really believe exposure to gen-ed requirements makes my internal medicine doctor any more effective at diagnosing and treating illness.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#74

Post by [deleted] »

eropple wrote: post #69
hanklazard wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really care if my thoracic surgeon has a strong grasp of microeconomics or 19th Century British Lit. I only care that s/he has good medical training and experience. Note: I'm a doctor.

You don't care if your surgeon has been exposed to the idea of opportunity costs and given a framework for thinking about them structurally? That's pretty weird, Doc.

[deleted]

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#75

Post by [deleted] »

dikdik wrote: post #72
goldfeld wrote: post #30

Sounds like a horrible idea full of assumptions and pressure, as opposed to offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually), a nice option for those who can afford it. Not everyone has to be coaxed into entrepreneurship, it's an evil of our consumerist age. Your kid would probably rather participate in society at large than in your suicidal runway idea of a romanticized youth of m…

Why is everyone that disagrees with you being flagged? We don't accept dissent or discussion here?

[deleted]

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#76

Post by detaro »

dikdik wrote: post #72
goldfeld wrote: post #30

Sounds like a horrible idea full of assumptions and pressure, as opposed to offering an exploratory period of life that is college (socially and intellectually), a nice option for those who can afford it. Not everyone has to be coaxed into entrepreneurship, it's an evil of our consumerist age. Your kid would probably rather participate in society at large than in your suicidal runway idea of a romanticized youth of m…

Why is everyone that disagrees with you being flagged? We don't accept dissent or discussion here?

I see one flagged comment, and that starts with an insult. There are other comments disagreeing visible (and not even grey), so what are you on about?

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#77

Post by eropple »

tptacek wrote: post #73
eropple wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't care if your surgeon has been exposed to the idea of opportunity costs and given a framework for thinking about them structurally? That's pretty weird, Doc.

I sure don't. First-line health care is way too expensive, and everyone suffers from it, both patients and prospective caregivers. I don't really believe exposure to gen-ed requirements makes my internal medicine doctor any more effective at diagnosing and treating illness.

First-line health care is too expensive for reasons entirely separate from "the doctor had the basics of a humanities education," though. TBH, most of the doctors I know (and I used to work in healthcare) are hyper-specialized cargo-cultists in a lot of ways and that worries me a lot; a basic framework of how-to-think-about-things seems kind of important to me (and that's what the humanities are).

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#78

Post by tptacek »

eropple wrote: post #77
tptacek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure don't. First-line health care is way too expensive, and everyone suffers from it, both patients and prospective caregivers. I don't really believe exposure to gen-ed requirements makes my internal medicine doctor any more effective at diagnosing and treating illness.

First-line health care is too expensive for reasons entirely separate from "the doctor had the basics of a humanities education," though. TBH, most of the doctors I know (and I used to work in healthcare) are hyper-specialized cargo-cultists in a lot of ways and that worries me a lot; a basic framework of how-to-think-about-things seems kind of important to me (and that's what the humanities are).

I think I'm going to push back on this. First-line health care is expensive in large part because the educational process of taking an 18 year old and turning them into a caregiver who can prescribe drugs and perform basic procedures is nosebleed expensive. (I'm staring down the barrel of it right now with my first kid going off to school this fall).

I'm aware that a lot of that expense is in stuff like organic chemistry, which we probably don't want to cut back on. But the gen-ed stuff matters too, especially because it matters where you go for undergrad and how well you do in those gen-ed classes in order to get into a selective med school, which is how you get a selective residency.

I don't think those gen-ed requirements are really paying for themselves in how health care is delivered.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#79

Post by dokein »

09bjb wrote: post #61
treehau5 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's it. Actually, you scratched the surface, but it goes so much further than that -- that sadly most of our modern universities have lost sight of. I've posted this in previous comments, but universities are actually suppose to help build more just societies -- an idea Plato describes as the purpose of university, and echoed by many chancellors across the country. "The goal of university education is to help bu…

I think this is what everyone is missing. If we're treating college strictly as a financial ROI calculation (which, partly, it is) it's obviously getting dicier by the year. This is exacerbated by Colleges and Universities treating every major from Economics to Cultural Studies as if they held roughly equal career prospects (they obviously don't). Yes, it is a luxury to have the time to take a step back and consider…

Most short-sighted members of the upper class went to college too; not clear that we have any data on if / how much a liberal education modifies selfish behavior.

Re: Replacing My Kid’s College Fund with a “Start Something” Fund

#80

Post by eropple »

tptacek wrote: post #78
eropple wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First-line health care is too expensive for reasons entirely separate from "the doctor had the basics of a humanities education," though. TBH, most of the doctors I know (and I used to work in healthcare) are hyper-specialized cargo-cultists in a lot of ways and that worries me a lot; a basic framework of how-to-think-about-things seems kind of important to me (and that's what the humanities are).

I think I'm going to push back on this. First-line health care is expensive in large part because the educational process of taking an 18 year old and turning them into a caregiver who can prescribe drugs and perform basic procedures is nosebleed expensive. (I'm staring down the barrel of it right now with my first kid going off to school this fall). I'm aware that a lot of that expense is in stuff like organic chemi…

Is it nosebleed expensive because of this class or that class, or because demand is high and supply of positions in medical schools is strictly controlled to provide scarcity to the consumer market on the other end?

I kinda feel like you're pulling an XY problem here.

(Grats on your oldest, though. Condolences on the bill.)

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