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A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

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111–120 of 162 posts

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#111
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forgive me, but I find it a bit hard to be sympathetic in a broad sense to the organizations that make their money from rental income.

Baffling comment. Providing rental property is a legitimate business.

Landlords collect money for owning property. They pay maintenance people slightly above minimum wage to fix any issues that may come up. How is that a legitimate business? What commodities do landlords produce?

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe virtual learning will be widely used long-term. I might be biased, coming from a mostly engineering school, but there is a lot of vital lab equipment needed for the curriculum, not to mention that social networking and connections are essential to most careers going forward, and I don't see that transferring over in the same way

I’d be happy if this was the beginning of the end for humanities departments that have become overtly political. More resources should be shifted to more utilitarian degrees like engineering and hard sciences.

More resources ARE being shifted to those "practical" (read: revenue-generating) programs, to the detriment of students. The purpose of higher education is edification, not securing directly applicable job skills - that's what trade schools are for. Being able to read, write, interpret and communicate well are just as important to a software developer than the textbook CS curriculum.

It's only because of the harsh economic reality of America's university system that such a prospect is even thinkable.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#113

I feel bad for the colleges. But anyone in their right mind that's going to college to learn things will take a gap year. Those going to college just for the paper are well advised to keep going. The next couple of years will be easy mode, for sure. You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

The issue is that it's not possible for the vast majority of students to just "pause" their lives and wait until this all blows over

I'm not saying I want to just "pause" and play video games for a year, though I'll grant that's true of some of my peers. Rather, I'm saying it makes sense for many people my age to make changes to their up-coming year. I'd continue working as a developer, continue with non-profit work, and keep working on side projects to build skills. I've been working through some interesting books (Boneh and Shoup's crypto book and Crafting Interpreters) and learning a great deal outside the rigor of any formal class.

Essentially, while I get why colleges and politicians would want students to go about business as usual, it seems it benefits them rather than me. I'm going to college for two things: research and connections. Both of these are greatly impeded by virtual-only learning. Research is possible in CS but much harder, especially if one doesn't already know the professor. And it seems impossible to form relationships over videochat only.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#114

I feel bad for the colleges. But anyone in their right mind that's going to college to learn things will take a gap year. Those going to college just for the paper are well advised to keep going. The next couple of years will be easy mode, for sure. You get an A, and you get an A--everyone gets an A!

"... If a student wants to study at Princeton, he doesn’t really need to apply or pay tuition. He can simply show up and start taking classes. As a professor, I assure you that we make near-zero effort to stop unofficial education; indeed, the rare, earnestly curious student touches our hearts. At the end of four years at Princeton, though, the guerrilla student would lack one precious thing: a diploma. The fact that…

The author's not at Princeton, so why is he even offering an opinion? This is a bunch of made up BS anyway. Princeton faculty aren't going to be okay with dozens of extra students attending their lectures (there are room capacity constraints). They're sure as heck not going to grade essays, hold office hours, and answer email inquiries from a few dozen random individuals that decided to stroll into the class.

He's basically saying there's no need to buy food because you can eat free samples at the grocery store. He also just happens to be the author of a "contrarian" book arguing that college is worthless. It's purely a coincidence that he's posting misinformation on the same topic - making claims about a university where he doesn't work - in one of the most widely read news outlets.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#115
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineers are worthless if they can't communicate effectively and don't understand the context of their work.

Humanities departments emit some of the most cryptic texts around. They should be worrying about that before trying to help engineers.

The opacity of contemporary humanities texts is overstated. Yes, the general academic style tends to be verbose and baroque. But it bespeaks a certain hubris when a layman to a given field claims an absence of meaning to its work. The topics being discussed are often technical and by virtue of their intended audience (peer scholars) presuppose vast amounts of preliminary knowledge.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#116

High schooler here. On-line school is far from perfect. There are two approaches I've seen: 1. The "self-taught" style. This one is being done by my linear algebra class: the prof tells us which chapters to read, sends out notes, and some recommended problems. Periodically, he sends out a take-home test; we work it and send him the answers. This style is helped by the fact that our book is short and concise enough to…

> can any current student tell me if y'all are getting refunded for room and board, at least partially

To my knowledge, all colleges/universities are refunding room and board for the times campus is closed. Legally I don't think there's an option.

Online teaching is difficult. It's not a good substitute for all parts of the in-person experience.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#117
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... If a student wants to study at Princeton, he doesn’t really need to apply or pay tuition. He can simply show up and start taking classes. As a professor, I assure you that we make near-zero effort to stop unofficial education; indeed, the rare, earnestly curious student touches our hearts. At the end of four years at Princeton, though, the guerrilla student would lack one precious thing: a diploma. The fact that…

Is this still True? I didn't go to the institution in question, but we had ID cards that we had to show when entering the building. Also I think a more obvious example of it being popular is the courses and lectures that are made freely available online.

I went to an Ivy League school, and while an ID was needed for some resources (mainly the libraries and gyms), no one would have batted an eye if you went into a decently sized lecture.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#118
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... If a student wants to study at Princeton, he doesn’t really need to apply or pay tuition. He can simply show up and start taking classes. As a professor, I assure you that we make near-zero effort to stop unofficial education; indeed, the rare, earnestly curious student touches our hearts. At the end of four years at Princeton, though, the guerrilla student would lack one precious thing: a diploma. The fact that…

Is this still True? I didn't go to the institution in question, but we had ID cards that we had to show when entering the building. Also I think a more obvious example of it being popular is the courses and lectures that are made freely available online.

Notice that he does a neat little switch there. He talks about Princeton, then he says "As a professor", then he talks about Princeton again. He's a professor at George Mason. I think anyone can figure out why he used Princeton rather than the place he works without actually stating the name of his employer.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#119
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... If a student wants to study at Princeton, he doesn’t really need to apply or pay tuition. He can simply show up and start taking classes. As a professor, I assure you that we make near-zero effort to stop unofficial education; indeed, the rare, earnestly curious student touches our hearts. At the end of four years at Princeton, though, the guerrilla student would lack one precious thing: a diploma. The fact that…

It may also be a strong sign that few young Americans have the money to live in that area with no income for four years. The student admitted to Princeton can get money--financial aid or loans--to apply to food and shelter. The student apparently just hanging out has to have some other source of money. I also wonder whether the libraries and the computer centers have such a laissez-faire attitude.

I highly doubt that. In most college towns, at least until very recently, it was really not difficult to get a college-town-like part-time job that could easily pay for food and a shared room. The point is most people aren't going to do that is if the story is at the end of those 4 years you have no credentials to show for it, and I think more importantly, a primary value of college is the social experience. It would be very difficult to integrate yourself into college life if you were not an admitted student without lying.

Re: A List of Colleges’ Plans for Reopening in the Fall

#120

High schooler here. On-line school is far from perfect. There are two approaches I've seen: 1. The "self-taught" style. This one is being done by my linear algebra class: the prof tells us which chapters to read, sends out notes, and some recommended problems. Periodically, he sends out a take-home test; we work it and send him the answers. This style is helped by the fact that our book is short and concise enough to…

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