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The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

theatlantic.com

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Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#151

Post by Chathamization »

turbinerneiter wrote: post #83

Ya'll use University wrong. The classes, etc. ... whatever! During my time at Uni, I: * designed a demonstrator car frame to show off a bunch of new manufacturing techniques, which was actually built in the end * was part of a team who tested a new type of fiber optical vibration sensor on a sounding rocket * worked with a PhD student on developing a sensor to measure water flow through a tank to validate his simulat…

> University is a place where teachers and students who are interested in a field meet to learn and research together.

It would be nice to have places like this open to the general public and not gated off like universities are. There are a lot of people who become interested in these things after university, people who didn't attend university that are interested in them, who were interested and involved in these things while they were in university but then drifted away from them, etc.

It seems like we'd be better off trying to encourage the public at large to continually improve (and also connect more with their community and improve civil society) than acting like all of this should only exist in a 4 year window that many people aren't even a part of.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#152

Post by oneplane »

battery423 wrote: post #143
funcDropShadow wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point here, however, is what University is for all people Traditionally, that was not true and still is not true in places like Germany. A university is the place where you can get the highest education of a field, or ideally where you study a field on your own. Both requires a lot of prerequisites that not everybody fulfills. I am talking about knowledge, ability to learn although something is not flashy, and…

University should still be open to everyone. Everyone should, independently from where they are and how rich they are, be able to study on an university if they are capable to do so. I believe that: 1. the entry barrier is not fair and designed for a very straight funnel you either fit through or not. 2. If you would open up an university even more and you don't allow anyone to missuse it (by sleeping at the universi…

You can't cater to everyone, especially if what you serve is dependant on exiting skills, knowledge or levels of understanding. One would maybe argue that a university might fix that by making dumbed down versions of things or adding extra pre-learning options but at that point it just becomes a supermarket. If you try to cover everything and everyone you just end up being mediocre which is not the point of a university.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#153

Post by djsumdog »

knolax wrote: post #72

Every time I see articles like this I can only assume the writer either majored in CS or in a humanities major that doesn't involve any physical work. If you study any sort of science or engineering you will find that even the simplest equipment used in lab classes cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Cost aside, you simply can not trust an undergrad to run a centrifuge without in-person training. People also…

There are also things I learned in CS (BigO notation, building algorithms from scratch, working in groups) that I don't think I would have picked up easily on my own (or know that it was important to learn). But it's still theory I use all the time when I design and build things at scale.

There was a lot I didn't learn in University and that I picked up while working, because I kept my skills up.

I know people who graduated from University who only knew Java and never did anything outside of the curriculum. I know other students who played with hardware, hooked up sensors, did assignments in different languages each semester (if the professor allowed it) and went out of their way to learn as much as they could.

You get out of any education what you put into it.

I do think in-person education is really important though, even in things like Comp Sci. I do think it should be affordable. I went to a small school in a small town and IIRC, my tuition was During that same time, I met people from other schools with $20k in debt (and that's considered very low today!).

No education should cost $100k. That's truly insane.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#154

Post by linuxftw »

michaelt wrote: post #50

University right now is a bundle deal. * You get lectures and assignments. * You get schedules and deadlines that discourage procrastination, if you're the sort of person who leaves things until the last minute. * You (hopefully) get detailed feedback on assignments from a real human. * You get big manicured lawns and marble pillars. * You get health insurance. * You get in-person small-group discussions (at least in…

Great list. You missed an important one: Being selected for admission to validate your worth.

The entire HS experience (in the US) is formulated around this validation. Simply being chosen is a reward in itself.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#155

Post by flr03 »

I think the title is clickbaity. As mentioned in the article there is more to University than just classes, there is the social aspect of campus life etc. So it's not like the Uni is getting obsolete because of online learning platforms.

That being said I think there is indeed a big potential to offer quality content at a reduce cost, and make knowledge accessible to more people, especially in countries where access to university is extremely costly, hence access to education not equitable.

Having social, human one to one interaction with professors like Deleuze, Grothendieck, who, in example, where both teaching in French Uni, is not quite the same as watching a video online. So I'd say Uni is the color dolby surround cinema experience, online learning is the black & white TV at home.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#156

Post by throwawaygh »

OGWhales wrote: post #133
turbinerneiter wrote: post #83

Ya'll use University wrong. The classes, etc. ... whatever! During my time at Uni, I: * designed a demonstrator car frame to show off a bunch of new manufacturing techniques, which was actually built in the end * was part of a team who tested a new type of fiber optical vibration sensor on a sounding rocket * worked with a PhD student on developing a sensor to measure water flow through a tank to validate his simulat…

I think the issue is so many jobs require a college degree for no other purpose than further general education skills. I am of the opinion that public schooling needs to be extended to include these skills and then we still need higher education where the exact experiences you described are the main point. Far too many people go through college for no other reason than to get some degree, doesn’t even matter what deg…

There's an extremely old joke (like 100+ years old; I can't find the source atm) that goes something like: "US universities are the best high schools in the world". And it's true. It's not safe to assume that someone with only a high school education will be able to write well, do basic mathematics, etc. The high school grads who go on to teach themselves how to program are an extreme outlier.

The entire US education system needs an overhaul. You can't really fix our university system without making corresponding reforms in K-12.

A lot of it grounds out in trying to be overly egalitarian, realizing that doesn't work, and then hacking the system by introducing an honors/AP track. As a result, things are no longer egalitarian (the split between honors/AP and not-honors/AP happens freshman year or before). However, instead of having a gymnasium-like true high school liberal arts curriculum, we instead just moved some fairly boring college 101 courses into the last year or two high school. Which really isn't the right thing to do.

We should now make the split explicit. And then, instead of teaching mediocre university 101 courses to the honors ("gymnasium"-like) students, simply study the high school material but at a much deeper level in the "honors" track.

Then, the university system should split in a corresponding way, with non-honors students going to applied universities designed for them and honors students going to universities designed for them. NB: this split already de facto exists; there's a whole class of universities you can't get into without doing the honors/ap track in high school.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#157

Post by zucker42 »

everdrive wrote: post #14

It's hard not to be pedantic here. CDs still have their place, and a lot of streaming is terrible; either there are advertisements, or DRM, or fidelity costs, or limited libraries due to licensing problems. etc. I think the metaphor still goes the same way: the old fashioned way may not be perfect, but there is some real value there that is not necessarily replaced by steaming online courses.

All the problems with streaming you mentioned are completely artificial. They are not actual technological problems with streaming.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#158

Post by itronitron »

turbinerneiter wrote: post #83

Ya'll use University wrong. The classes, etc. ... whatever! During my time at Uni, I: * designed a demonstrator car frame to show off a bunch of new manufacturing techniques, which was actually built in the end * was part of a team who tested a new type of fiber optical vibration sensor on a sounding rocket * worked with a PhD student on developing a sensor to measure water flow through a tank to validate his simulat…

I'm guessing that for each of your bullet points listed you needed some initial set of technical skills, and that you had those skills before even arriving at University (otherwise the first semesters would not have been wasted.) I am curious whether there were any classes that you feel were more educational than these work experiences.

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#159

Post by michaelt »

pjc50 wrote: post #123
mikece wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the benefits of a college setting would be the gathering together of young intelligent people and exposing them not only to new ideas but how to evaluate, value, and compare ideas for their relative worth. I wonder how much open and free debate of ideas even exists anymore, having given way to the inculcation and indoctrination of "correct ideas." I have long believed that the best way to eradicate racism is t…

> eradicate racism is to allow racists and anti-racists to have open Lincoln-Douglas style debates on college campuses: allow racists to explain their ideas Allow people to point at one of the nonwhite people in the audience and say, "I don't think this person belongs in the country, who's with me?" Because that's what it is: for one side, it's a debate with no stakes, but for the other it's their exclusion from the…

Do you think there's any way universities can analyse living racist ideas, like a virologist analyses a deadly disease, handling it in an isolated lab and only through thick gloves?

Re: The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

#160

Post by dlhavema »

GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #57
mikece wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the benefits of a college setting would be the gathering together of young intelligent people and exposing them not only to new ideas but how to evaluate, value, and compare ideas for their relative worth. I wonder how much open and free debate of ideas even exists anymore, having given way to the inculcation and indoctrination of "correct ideas." I have long believed that the best way to eradicate racism is t…

The “debate” on racism was lost a long time ago. I would hope it’s well understood it’s a net negative for society. I don’t think debating it over and over again as if there’s merit to racist ideas is remotely a good idea. It’s like letting the flat earthers continue to teach science classes even though we know the earth is round.

I'm glad you made the flat earther connection here. I was thinking the same thing and you validated my thought process
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