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The Disneyfication of a University

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Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#261

Post by downerending »

erklik wrote: post #242
downerending wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's two wild claims--one of 'em must be wrong. :-) For context, I'm comparing graduates from a local name-ish school with my no-name school back in the day. Back then, there was a lot of theory, math, proofs, etc. These days it seems more like websites, apps, etc. Some ML, though more because it's trendy, I suspect, and I don't think linear algebra is required.

And most average graduates aren't using theory, math proof etc in every day employment. Websites and apps however are bread and butter of the majority of developers out there. Good schools still build a lot of fundamentals though, and I'd argue people are better with data structures and algorithms mainly due to their increase of usage in interviews.

I'm somewhat sympathetic to the "college should be trade school" approach, and I think there should be some of this. Yet, you'll spend your entire career learning new practical tech like "websites and apps". In my experience, if you don't do the theory in school, you probably never will. It usually doesn't matter, but it seems like engineers that lack this often have blind spots that sometimes do matter, and they don't even realize it.

Beyond that, I spent a ferocious amount of time in the computer labs getting the "trade school" part of my education on my own while I was taking the theoretical coursework. Kind of two curricula for the price of one. I think this is the best path for someone who really wants to be at the top of the field.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#262

Post by arpa »

possiblelion wrote: post #259
bitwize wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not long ago at $JOB I sat through what I call "mandatory psychobabble day". The particular psychobabble being peddled to, or rather, imposed on, us was the DISC system -- a variant of which was recently outed on Hackernews as pernicious hucksterism which somehow held much of Sweden in its sway. It was supposed to make us better collaborators, under the rubric that understanding the traits of both your own star sign…

Do you have a link to the HN article about DISC?

I think it was about Thomas Ericson.

Edit: found it! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22064530

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#263

Post by magduf »

thu2111 wrote: post #260
magduf wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It must be this way because otherwise it'd be that very high earning people help the poor to a vastly greater extent than the average person does, just by turning up to work every day and paying their taxes. This would only make sense if paying taxes actually helped the poor. In America, it doesn't really follow. There's not much of a social safety net here. For proof, all you have to do is walk around various large…

The USA spends about 25% of the entire federal budget on social security, or nearly a trillion dollars. Sure, America is very large. It may not be 'much' of a social safety net relative to other countries. But it's still the case that the rich subsidise the poor to a very large degree, in any western country.

This is disingenuous. Social security has multiple components, but the main one people think of is called "OASDI", and is a government-run retirement program, not a social safety net. It's paid for by individuals over their working careers through a separate tax (called FICA), and then when retired, they draw out of it, based on what they contributed. Someone who contributes nothing to SS gets nothing out of it, while someone with a high income gets a relatively large pension check. It's not helping the poor much at all. It's just a guaranteed but generally poor-return investment that's mandatory for all working adults.

There are some other components administered by the same agency, including TANF, SCHIP, and Medicare, so yes there is some safety net there, but relative to other western countries it's rather poor. If it weren't, we wouldn't have so many homeless people. America is NOT like western European nations.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#264

Post by thu2111 »

magduf wrote: post #263
thu2111 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA spends about 25% of the entire federal budget on social security, or nearly a trillion dollars. Sure, America is very large. It may not be 'much' of a social safety net relative to other countries. But it's still the case that the rich subsidise the poor to a very large degree, in any western country.

This is disingenuous. Social security has multiple components, but the main one people think of is called "OASDI", and is a government-run retirement program, not a social safety net. It's paid for by individuals over their working careers through a separate tax (called FICA), and then when retired, they draw out of it, based on what they contributed. Someone who contributes nothing to SS gets nothing out of it, whil…

The rich will bail out state pensions when they go bankrupt, and effectively already do via implicitly backing state debts.

In the end, all social security is a wealth transfer from rich to poor. Even rich employees become much (money) poorer when they retire. That's not a criticism, just an observation.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#265

Post by mjcohen »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #141
bumby wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This made me genuinely chuckle. I love economic theories applied to real life when they border on absurd because they assume everything is about maximizing utility. I'll be sure to farm out all my spousal duties if I have better things to do and I'll report back on how that went.

One time my wife explained to me that she didn't feel like I appreciated her doing my laundry. I responded that she should stop doing my laundry. I didn't feel like it was her "job" to do the laundry and if it was the source of some emotional problem, it could easily be avoided. I thought I had solved the problem. She's my ex-wife now.

I'm learning standup comedy. That is a great joke.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#266

Post by jacques_chester »

PakG1 wrote: post #251
jacques_chester wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like you remember that meme because of how it made you feel.

Hahahaha, I see your point. But I'd say that I remember that meme because people keep posting it and I disagree with it. There are a lot of other things I remember just as well, even though I've seen those things only once, and those things don't necessarily evoke any emotional response.

I appreciate your good humour. I mostly saw an opportunity to needle.

Self-reflection is often lacking in the profession. Many folks feel threatened by it. I used to be very emotionally invested in how unemotional and rational I was.

Now I accept that emotions are just part of the business of existing and thinking.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#267

Post by cafard »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #65

The most common reason people leave companies is not compensation. It's usually about relationships, primarily with the boss but also coworkers. I'm on the spectrum, so I function a bit like an automaton which places little value on the social aspects of work, but most people aren't like that. This is how "on the spectrum" I am. One time I was on a team that did a team building exercise where we went to a local chari…

Some years ago, an acquaintance was going to go with a group to Central America to do repair or construction work at a remote town. The acquaintance was an office worker, and I imagine that most of the rest of the group were office workers also. Now, a pretty large percentage of the construction workers in the metropolitan area are natives of Central America; the whole thing seemed curious to me, though I didn't say anything.

But I suppose it might be for the volunteers to get back into the US than it might have been for a randomly selected group of construction workers. A back problem intervened, and the acquaintance didn't go.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#268

Post by cafard »

ahi wrote: post #174
smoyer wrote: post #144

Hey GW ... I hear that "Don't Be Evil" is available again and seems like it would be suitably generic. On a more serious note, I'm on staff at a relatively major university having spent the previous 30 years in private industry. One of the things I (now at least) appreciate is that the university isn't supposed to have a corporate culture. There isn't a profit motive, it provides a safe-haven for "new thoughts", and…

I am an '05 alum of GW. GW disqualified itself from using "Don't Be Evil" a long time ago. e.g. https://www.propublica.org/article/george-washington-univers... But GW isn't really an academic institution. It's a real estate developer that uses rich kids from Long Island to fill it's square footage.

Universities do that. I have lived in Washington, DC, for many years, and have seen all of the local universities sprawl. I'm not sure American University had reached to the west side of Massachusetts Avenue yet: now it has a building or two on Connecticut Avenue. Catholic has expanded up along the train tracks. Howard briefly had a dorm on 16th St. Georgetown is trapped in an expensive neighborhood, and has publicly considered what it might do to put some facilities in Maryland.

If you want to meet a real estate behemoth have a look at Harvard...

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