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Going to university does not broaden the mind

economist.com

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Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#121

Post by justinclift »

scarface74 wrote: post #120

Only the privileged can afford to go to college to “broaden their mind”. Most people go to college to compete in the market and get a job. It’s amazing how much push back I get about computer science degrees should teach marketable skills and people say they weren’t meant to be ”vocational degrees” and you shouldn’t go to college for “job training”. Just the idea that people are suggesting in some of the comments tha…

Don't many of the "go and live abroad" types mostly self fund by getting work in their target countries? eg waiters, fruit picking, or whatever they can get

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#122

Post by macspoofing »

jedberg wrote: post #114
macspoofing wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Without college I would probably be a racist Quite a statement. If you don't mind me asking, do you see people who don't go to college as probably racist?

No not at all. I just mean that I had never been exposed to anyone who wasn't white before college. And while I didn't dislike them, I never even gave a second thought to making fun of people of other races. I suspect that had I not been exposed to other races, I would have turned those jokes into actual beliefs.

>I never even gave a second thought to making fun of people of other races.

You shouldn't make racist jokes because you shouldn't needlessly hurt or offend the people around you.

That isn't quite the same as being racist (although depending on the intention it could be). Racist means hating someone based on their ethnicity or skin color. It isn't quite the same.

>I suspect that had I not been exposed to other races, I would have turned those jokes into actual beliefs.

This is such a strange and cynical view. Are you sure you want to make the argument that you would have been a racist in America in 2018 had you continued to live in your neighborhood??

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#123

Post by nineteen999 »

anonytrary wrote: post #74
hnuser355 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, as if the average US university graduate is joining the ruling class

Haha, as if the average member of the ruling class didn't graduate from university.

As a counterexample, Gina Rinehart who is Australia's wealthiest woman and number 7 worldwide, never graduated. So there are exceptions, but I get that it is not the norm.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#125

Post by WalterBright »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #105
WalterBright wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some universities teach "follow the rules", others teach "here's where the rules come from." I was fortunate enough to have attended one of the latter. This was brought home to me when I had to calculate the moment of inertia of some gears in a gearbox. I started with the concept of MoI, and worked it out with a bit of calculus. Another engineer was looking over my work, and asked "what book did you get the formula f…

How would gear tooth profile affect MoI?

I just drew a box around half of the teeth. But the rest of the gear cross-section, being an airplane part, was sculpted to put material only where it was needed. Ideally, the strain at any point should be the same as any other point.

So the MoI was not simply a stackup of some stock shapes.

It's not that the calculation was particularly difficult, it's just that calculus was needed, and one couldn't just copy the formula for a stock shape.

It was just clear to me that some engineers were formula-pluggers and others learned it at a deeper level.

Stock shapes were certainly handy to check the math with, however. Fit the gear into a stock shape envelope, and have the gear envelope a stock shape. Your calculation should fall in between the results of those shapes.

The purpose of calculating the MoI was to determine if the stops at the end of the screw were strong enough to stop the gearbox without shattering.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#126

Post by Zafira »

jedberg wrote: post #104
shanghaiaway wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference between north and south China?

Very different foods. The north is a lot more spicy stuff. The south is more about sauces and freshness.

> Very different foods.

This I agree with, just like the US has varied cuisine depending on locale.

> The north is a lot more spicy stuff. The south is more about sauces and freshness.

Citation needed, please.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#127

Post by sonnyblarney »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #110
sonnyblarney wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This insight should be more commonly accepted. That said - just like in Science - the consensus among thoughtfully educated people is probably 'more correct'. Where things can go wrong ... is when the systematic class is wrong, or where there is a value shift. Populism is a super example of this: educated business type see the world through economic lenses, and can't for a second understand how 'Brexit' could happen.…

>Populism is a super example of this: educated business type see the world through economic lenses, and can't for a second understand how 'Brexit' could happen. The same thing comes up whenever we talk about splitting states or cities/towns in the US. Some people are like "why would you want that, it's not in your economic interest" and the people who want whatever the split is to happen reply "we'd rather be poor an…

The fundamental difference is that states and towns generally are not ethnocentric. Nations usually are.

Germany in the EU with open migration may possibly present an existential challenge to the nature of what Germany is in the long term. Some people don't care, some people want that, some are against it.

Whereas making SF Bay area '1 city' would be a matter of pragmatism, not much more.

Also - there's actually scant evidence that federalization is better for everyone in the long run, it depends a lot on many things. I actually believe the EEC with slightly better rules for movement would be fundamentally better than the EU - even in raw economic terms. But that Bay Area - with the right leadership - would be better off.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#128

Post by emmelaich »

andrepd wrote: post #66
tootahe45 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marxist, so even more in favor of a ruling class above all.

I know you're just trying to be snarky, but how does that make any sense?

Maybe a reference to collectivization in Soviet Russia.

The peasants did not go willingly.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#129

Post by dsfyu404ed »

WalterBright wrote: post #125
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would gear tooth profile affect MoI?

I just drew a box around half of the teeth. But the rest of the gear cross-section, being an airplane part, was sculpted to put material only where it was needed. Ideally, the strain at any point should be the same as any other point. So the MoI was not simply a stackup of some stock shapes. It's not that the calculation was particularly difficult, it's just that calculus was needed, and one couldn't just copy the fo…

>being an airplane part,

That explains it.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#130

Post by anonytrary »

nineteen999 wrote: post #123
anonytrary wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, as if the average member of the ruling class didn't graduate from university.

As a counterexample, Gina Rinehart who is Australia's wealthiest woman and number 7 worldwide, never graduated. So there are exceptions, but I get that it is not the norm.

> average member
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