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The Great Firewall of Yale

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Re: The Great Firewall of Yale

#131

Post by zamalek »

> Universities are a bastion of free speech.

Incorrect - universities are now a business, nothing more. You can have your free speech so long as it makes the shareholders happy. Having students confused and lost (or being unable to chose the best education for themselves) is a fantastic way to have them repeat courses in the long run.

Tertiary education is no longer what it used to be. It is now exactly the same type of delusion that women face in terms of having to be slim; or consumers face in terms of having to have the latest iPhone or what have you.

Re: The Great Firewall of Yale

#132

Post by nmodu »

elwell wrote: post #115
nmodu wrote: post #86

If I'm paying $58,000 to attend an institution (rather, if my family is sacrificing $58,000 for me to attend an institution...or,worse yet, if I am taking out $58,000 worth of student loans per year), I should be able to use a course listing service so that I can tailor my academic experience however I chose. THAT is how we open this debate, not with comments about who the proper copyright holder is or whether or not…

No, if you choose to go to Yale and pay 58k/yr then you get the product they give you. It's up to them to design the product (your Yale education). It might lead to unhappy customers, but I don't see how entitlement can be argued.

I disagree. Completely. First of all, I object to your classification of a 4-year educational experience as a "commodity" that is offered on a "take-it-or-leave-it" basis. In fact, every student is guaranteed (and therefore, entitled to) the right to chose the classes that he takes. Yes, there are gen-ed requirements. Yes, there are majors. But, generally speaking, a STUDENT is responsible for tailoring his education. The value of the "product" lies within the choices that it offers students (both in terms of courses/professors and in terms of post-grad prospects).

If Yale prescribed to your notion of higher education, each student would be handed a list of pre-determined courses that he would have to take each semester. Instead, Yale students are allowed to chose their own courses/majors, and in some cases are allowed to create their own majors. Why? Because "choice" is the underpinning of the liberal arts philosophy.

So, within this context, I believe that I should be able to use a well-designed course listing platform as I am considering what courses to take. Especially at 58k/yr.

Re: The Great Firewall of Yale

#134

Post by selimthegrim »

jessaustin wrote: post #100
el_devo wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, at my university, UNC Chapel Hill, there are two networks, one of which requires you to install a custom root certificate, and is the network that the university prefers you connect to. For devices on which this is not possible, there is another network which only requires that you register your device's MAC address to your university id for access. Regardless of which option you choose, you are…

Oy. Students at your university certainly have my sympathy. I've always been leery of the mitm cert, not only from the users' perspective, but also from that of the organization. If a rogue administrator used the cert to set up a "real" mitm for a local bank's site, I think the school would be on the hook for that. That's just one example; one could imagine other variations on that theme. Whereas, if the school simpl…

I believe Stanford does something similar (as well as forces you to install Sophos bloatware)

Re: The Great Firewall of Yale

#135

Post by Zaephyr »

nmodu wrote: post #86

If I'm paying $58,000 to attend an institution (rather, if my family is sacrificing $58,000 for me to attend an institution...or,worse yet, if I am taking out $58,000 worth of student loans per year), I should be able to use a course listing service so that I can tailor my academic experience however I chose. THAT is how we open this debate, not with comments about who the proper copyright holder is or whether or not…

Having been around academics, they don't seem to understand that students are the paying customer, for whom the university is working.
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