Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

stanforddaily.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 482 posts

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#141

Post by Consultant32452 »

chongli wrote: post #105
bob33212 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value offered by colleges is not just an education. It is 4 years of living away from home experiencing whatever floats your boat ( frats, independence, parties, sports, friends, etc... ). There is virtually no demand for online only classes above a 5k/year price point. There is a similar situation with private schools. Some of the demand comes from the fact that it is also a babysitting service, forced social gr…

It is 4 years of living away from home experiencing whatever floats your boat ( frats, independence, parties, sports, friends, etc... ) I’m in university right now. I just finished a term of online classes. I’ve definitely witnessed those benefits being enjoyed by other students but I haven’t had the time to enjoy them myself; my program is simply too difficult for that. The most I’ve enjoyed is going out for drinks…

It's staggering to me how much people will publicly support government subsidized partying and friend making. At least in the past it felt like people pretended it was about education.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#142

Post by take_a_breath »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #126
netcan wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that any parent who outright rejects this logic is a moron too, probably moreso. The idea that "social desirability" does not reflect actually valuable stuff is foolish. Class exists in some form in every society. People are always hyper-aware of class issues, and it has always been a primary part of the college/career decision process.

In the US we pretend that class doesn’t exist here. We have risen above that, you see, anybody here can become anything they want. Much the same way we pretend that racism doesn’t exist.

==Much the same way we pretend that racism doesn’t exist.==

We even take the next step of referring those who point out racism as the actual racists.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#143

Post by jimmar »

jstepka wrote: post #124
jimmar wrote: post #106

I'm a professor at a regional university. Not a big name school, but we have about 5,000 students. We would be bankrupt if we told students we'd only be offering classes online this fall because students, by an overwhelming majority, want the in-person experience. We know we would lose enrollment if we went fully online this fall, and the drop would be significant enough for the university to declare bankruptcy. Harv…

businesses go through these challenges all the time. the fat that gets trimmed is what makes them better.

I agree that universities should do more to control costs. I'll push back just a bit that trimming all "fat" would make universities better. Where I am, the "fat" proposed for trimming is support for study abroad, music education, research conferences, and other things that enrich the lives of students and (hopefully) benefit society as a whole.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#144

Post by unishark »

elliekelly wrote: post #77
chrisseaton wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would consider all of those “trades.” Well good luck communicating with other people because is not how anyone else anywhere uses the word ‘trade’. They’re not ‘trades’ they’re ‘professions’. And I would guess you already know this and you’re trying to be contrary rather than you’re genuinely misunderstanding a basic word.

I’m not being contrary at all. Nor do I think I’ve grossly misunderstood the word. Haven’t you ever been to a trade show - a meeting of people from one profession? I don’t think I’ve used the word outside of its definition: > 3. b : the business or work in which one engages regularly : OCCUPATION > 3. c : the persons engaged in an occupation, business, or industry https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trade

I'd say the defining feature of a trade show is businesses demonstrating their specialized products for members of the profession. The word "show" is also important here.

Without that, a meeting of a profession is commonly called a conference.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#145

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin »

chrisjarvis wrote: post #137
tyingq wrote: post #9

My son's state university is forcing students to return in person. I fully expect a notable outbreak in some college to start a wave of media noise, followed by all the universities sending everyone back home again. Sucks because students are signing leases, moving crap, buying meal plans, etc, right now. Aside from the obvious safety issues.

Your son wants to be there in person and he is at no danger from the coronavirus... EDIT: *infinitesimal danger

That is a lot of assumptions to be making. It's pretty irresponsible to say that someone is at no danger from coronavirus at this point.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#146

Post by chrisjarvis »

chongli wrote: post #105
bob33212 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value offered by colleges is not just an education. It is 4 years of living away from home experiencing whatever floats your boat ( frats, independence, parties, sports, friends, etc... ). There is virtually no demand for online only classes above a 5k/year price point. There is a similar situation with private schools. Some of the demand comes from the fact that it is also a babysitting service, forced social gr…

It is 4 years of living away from home experiencing whatever floats your boat ( frats, independence, parties, sports, friends, etc... ) I’m in university right now. I just finished a term of online classes. I’ve definitely witnessed those benefits being enjoyed by other students but I haven’t had the time to enjoy them myself; my program is simply too difficult for that. The most I’ve enjoyed is going out for drinks…

You don't have to be in a frat to have the "college experience", but you should explore interests outside of your direct course of study and meet new people. I think you will regret it if you just keep your nose down the whole time, whether or not its right you are paying for much more than classes. Given a second chance I would follow this advice :)

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#147

Post by baby »

LargeWu wrote: post #56
netcan wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat different take. The student debt problem is not really related to the college format. The format existed in earlier decades, exists in other countries and exists in K-12 education without runaway costs and student debt. It's mostly a matter of policy. The US' method to expand third level education to most of the population was by government backed and/or subsidized loans, without price controls. This caused…

I disagree about the college format going completely online. There is so much about the college experience that is not directly related to earning a degree. It's a place where most people are exposed to new ideas, new types of people. It's a place where lasting friendships and relationships are formed. It's a place of growth that an online experience could never hope to replicate, and that's the REAL benefit of colle…

Heh. That’s the US college experience. College in France is not that fun. You mostly go to class and then go home. I met most of my friends outside of campus during student organized events, so the only benefit was that I was living in a student town where people moved to to go to its university, but the university itself was eventless.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#148

Post by amanaplanacanal »

jnwatson wrote: post #100
tyingq wrote: post #9

My son's state university is forcing students to return in person. I fully expect a notable outbreak in some college to start a wave of media noise, followed by all the universities sending everyone back home again. Sucks because students are signing leases, moving crap, buying meal plans, etc, right now. Aside from the obvious safety issues.

"Forcing". There's no one forcing anybody to go to college. This would be a fine time to take a gap year.

Exactly! With any luck there will be a vaccine available before fall 2021, which should make things look much better next year.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#149

Post by acdha »

nimaco wrote: post #91
acdha wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are relatively unlikely to _die_ from COVID-19 (and please do not repeat the false claim that these are only “people already on the cusp of death” - the average victim is losing at least a decade of life based on actuarial data) but we know that there are a much greater percentage of people who will experience significant health problems, potentially with life-long impacts. Similarly, not everyone on or near cam…

I always hear "much greater percentage" type language when referring to long-term effects of COVID-19. Is there an actual number associated with this? Or is it more so guesswork

We know that there are people who take a long time to recover. This is pretty widely reported but we don’t know how long that will end up taking or what permanent impacts there are since it’s a new disease and treatment options are being rapidly pursued.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/brain-fog-heart-dama...

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/long-term-symp...

https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/12/after-covid19-mental-neu...

There are studies looking at permanent changes to various bodily systems - see for example, this one finding cardiac differences in recovered patients:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/...

There are similar concerns for liver damage, reduced lung capacity, and neurological effects.

Obviously it’s too soon to have high precision numbers for this or level of impact on the rest of someone’s life but it definitely means that the deniers’ favorite framing of the outcomes as 99% ok, 1% fatal is leaving out a lot for the sake of political correctness.

Re: Stanford cancels plans to bring half of undergrads back to campus

#150

Post by chrisjarvis »

bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #145
chrisjarvis wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your son wants to be there in person and he is at no danger from the coronavirus... EDIT: *infinitesimal danger

That is a lot of assumptions to be making. It's pretty irresponsible to say that someone is at no danger from coronavirus at this point.

if that person is 18-22 years old, given the data, how is it irresponsible?
Post reply on HN