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Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

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Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#11

Post by aphextron »

omalleyt wrote: post #6

Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model (although when applied to the humanities I can hear in my head the 3000 years of the land owning, non-laboring intelligentsia protesting about the noble virtues of an education uncorrupted by the banalities of productive yada yada...) But anyway back to CS. 1) Risk is pooled in the institution rather than distributed amongst the students,…

>Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model

I strongly disagree. Let universities be universities. The point of a university is to develop your mind, not train for a job. There's no reason we cannot have a parallel vocational system which teaches people practical skills. Let the market decide which one better serves students.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#13

Post by [deleted] »

omalleyt wrote: post #6

Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model (although when applied to the humanities I can hear in my head the 3000 years of the land owning, non-laboring intelligentsia protesting about the noble virtues of an education uncorrupted by the banalities of productive yada yada...) But anyway back to CS. 1) Risk is pooled in the institution rather than distributed amongst the students,…

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#14

Post by nxc18 »

This is very interesting and I like the finance model a lot. I'd be curious to see more details on the syllabus, however.

I also have questions about the quality of instruction. There are some big name institutions listed, but that doesn't necessarily indicate quality instruction. The best researchers are often emphatically not the best instructors, and for this venture instructors are much more important.

I sincerely hope this is successful; perhaps this can prompt traditional institutions to be more innovative (in delivery, instruction, finance, all of it).

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#15

Post by austenallred »

aphextron wrote: post #11
omalleyt wrote: post #6

Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model (although when applied to the humanities I can hear in my head the 3000 years of the land owning, non-laboring intelligentsia protesting about the noble virtues of an education uncorrupted by the banalities of productive yada yada...) But anyway back to CS. 1) Risk is pooled in the institution rather than distributed amongst the students,…

>Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model I strongly disagree. Let universities be universities. The point of a university is to develop your mind, not train for a job. There's no reason we cannot have a parallel vocational system which teaches people practical skills. Let the market decide which one better serves students.

If that's what universities are, that's fine, but I'd argue that's not why the vast majority of students attend a University.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#16

Post by spraak »

aphextron wrote: post #11
omalleyt wrote: post #6

Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model (although when applied to the humanities I can hear in my head the 3000 years of the land owning, non-laboring intelligentsia protesting about the noble virtues of an education uncorrupted by the banalities of productive yada yada...) But anyway back to CS. 1) Risk is pooled in the institution rather than distributed amongst the students,…

>Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model I strongly disagree. Let universities be universities. The point of a university is to develop your mind, not train for a job. There's no reason we cannot have a parallel vocational system which teaches people practical skills. Let the market decide which one better serves students.

> The point of a university is to develop your mind, not train for a job.

I think that's true in practice, but not in most university's marketing, or even the general cultural/social attitude towards going to university, which is in general viewed as the surest path to the best job.

> Let the market decide which one better serves students.

Most universities exist outside of the market in how they receive funding etc.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#18

Post by austenallred »

nxc18 wrote: post #14

This is very interesting and I like the finance model a lot. I'd be curious to see more details on the syllabus, however. I also have questions about the quality of instruction. There are some big name institutions listed, but that doesn't necessarily indicate quality instruction. The best researchers are often emphatically not the best instructors, and for this venture instructors are much more important. I sincerel…

> The best researchers are often emphatically not the best instructors, and for this venture instructors are much more important.

This is very true. Most of our instructors are refugees from an academic world; they really just want to teach, and research for them was a necessary evil.

We have a pretty rigorous hiring process (and we're hiring now! careers@lambdaschool.com)

>I'd be interested to see more on the syllabus

What would you like to see?

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#20

Post by sant_176 »

sigstoat wrote: post #5
jbob2000 wrote: post #2

How do you know that your graduates are or aren't making more than 50k? How do you know that you're getting your 17%? Aside from that, you're essentially giving your students a loan and then having them repay it once they start earning money. How is this any different than a regular student loan (but with way more risk on your end)?

i'm not affiliated, but like this model. > How do you know that your graduates are or aren't making more than 50k? How do you know that you're getting your 17%? you can ask students to fill out and sign, as a condition of admission, forms authorizing the IRS to hand over their tax returns, in advance. it wouldn't be very hard to contract with a law firm to take the results and check to see if they had more than 50k o…

Could you please tell me whether its applicable in India or any other counties or not?
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