Going to university does not broaden the mind • Hacker News Board

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#291

Post by 8bitsrule » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 3:45 AM UTC

PeterisP wrote: post #217

8bitsrule wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"wealth is created literally from nothing." Most of the real wealth I see being created has ultimately come from the exploitation of natural resources. Far from being 'nothing', most of these limited resources (which in another theory belong to all life on Earth) require underpaid 'human resources' to turn them into the highly-profitable 'nothing' of which you speak. Much of which winds up in the garbage. (E.g., here…

Primary extraction (mining, farming, forestry, fishing) is something like 6% of the global economy. On average, the things you or I use consist of 6% exploitation of natural resources and 94% of labor after that. Natural resources are important, but now (as opposed to 19th century) they are a tiny part of what we make and use, they are not the main part of wealth.

I see a significant difference between 'real wealth' and the 'global economy'. Apples and pears.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#292

Post by yosito » Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 6:08 PM UTC

AnaniasAnanas wrote: post #205

happertiger wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think the US should require all college grads to spend a year overseas in a country that speaks a different language. I got an education and then I got a real education from travel myself.

How will that help them with their CS education exactly?

Most CS professionals are going to do work that has a potential global impact. It's at best negligent, and and worst destructive to do work without understanding the impact of the work you're doing. (See Facebook, Twitter, et al.) On top of the ethical factor, there's also the fact that understanding and empathizing with more diverse perspectives makes one a better developer of user facing software.

Re: Going to university does not broaden the mind

#293

Post by bwrobrts » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 5:50 PM UTC

Hi folks, as one of the co-authors of said paper, I'd like to share some of my thoughts about the write up and the study. First, IMHO the Economist article does not reflect what we reported or tested. We did not test whether university "broadened the mind." There are many ways, as a researcher, that I would test that including some of the ideas expressed here, such as examining changes in ideology, changes in knowledge of different theoretical and knowledge systems. We didn't do that. The closest we came was testing changes in openness to experience. But even that measure is not a good proxy for "broadening the mind." Second, the changes found in the vocational sample aren't necessarily negative. When people decide on what they want to do with their lives, they naturally diminish their interests in alternatives that reflect paths they have chosen against. We've found this pattern in other samples, including college samples and view this as a natural, if not healthy development. Third , while the changes found in the vocational sample may be construed as "different" the other way to view them is that they are the changes that the college sample will eventually experience. They just don't have to because of the opportunities for exploration and not choosing offered by university life. In closing, we appreciate your interest in the study. We have registered our objections about the way the article was written up with the Economist. The entire process was botched in our opinion--in part because of a breakdown of QC at the Economist and in part because we were not as timely in our responses to the writers queries as they needed us to be given their tight deadline.