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Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

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Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#51

Post by scottlocklin »

jessewmc wrote: post #49
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not opposed to free college if 1) you're studying something with a proven ROI, and/or 2) you have a good academic history, and/or 3) you can't otherwise afford it. I think the idea that someone can get straight C's in highschool and get $50k a year to study art in college is not a good use of my tax dollars. I also don't think it's a good idea to give someone like me a free college education. I make $400k a year.…

A lot of these problems are solved by making student loans dischargeable and subject to market forces. Nothing like someone with monetary incentive to sort out who has a positive ROI on education. As a side effect it would almost certainly make American universities much leaner than the zero-risk loan-glutted monstrosities they are now, which also means more people could afford to go without a loan.

Better yet: make the school liable for the loans if the student defaults.

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#52

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

jessewmc wrote: post #49
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not opposed to free college if 1) you're studying something with a proven ROI, and/or 2) you have a good academic history, and/or 3) you can't otherwise afford it. I think the idea that someone can get straight C's in highschool and get $50k a year to study art in college is not a good use of my tax dollars. I also don't think it's a good idea to give someone like me a free college education. I make $400k a year.…

A lot of these problems are solved by making student loans dischargeable and subject to market forces. Nothing like someone with monetary incentive to sort out who has a positive ROI on education. As a side effect it would almost certainly make American universities much leaner than the zero-risk loan-glutted monstrosities they are now, which also means more people could afford to go without a loan.

I completely agree. I think the biggest problem with the current situation is that these loans are non-defaultable. If you want something to cause a bubble, let banks lend money with no risk of default!

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#53

Post by flashyfaffe2 »

syrusakbary wrote: post #46
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not opposed to free college if 1) you're studying something with a proven ROI, and/or 2) you have a good academic history, and/or 3) you can't otherwise afford it. I think the idea that someone can get straight C's in highschool and get $50k a year to study art in college is not a good use of my tax dollars. I also don't think it's a good idea to give someone like me a free college education. I make $400k a year.…

> I think the idea that someone can get straight C's in highschool and get $50k a year to study art in college is not a good use of my tax dollars. Why Art is not a good use of tax dollars? Who decides what is good or bad to study? Should only be the free market? I believe a cost of $50k/year/student is not optimal. I also think cost for education per student/year is much cheaper in Europe. > I also don't think it's…

Being not American, and given that if we assume that school are business like any others I would be curious to know why the university fees has inflated so much over the last decades. Shouldn't we expect price decreasing due to competition? Any law or anything else explaining this?

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#54

Post by flashyfaffe2 »

Tuxer wrote: post #39
flashyfaffe2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not radical changes but just expect some common sense being applied. Over the last decade housing prices has doubled and the city receives a small percentage for each transactions. However this money did benefit only for the whole community but rather for clientlism. Debt has been getting higher and so the taxes. Driving has been made impossible and restaurants are too expensing for the similar service and quality yo…

> Driving has been made impossible Sorry you can't drive a 2-ton vehicle through one of the most dense cities in the world, that also has a very extensive public transportation system.

Now you can't even drive a simple scooter :)

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#56

Post by flashyfaffe2 »

koalaman wrote: post #17
flashyfaffe2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not radical changes but just expect some common sense being applied. Over the last decade housing prices has doubled and the city receives a small percentage for each transactions. However this money did benefit only for the whole community but rather for clientlism. Debt has been getting higher and so the taxes. Driving has been made impossible and restaurants are too expensing for the similar service and quality yo…

Couldn't help to respond to this just to provide a contradictory opinion on Parisian restaurants and nightlife. I personally am a big fan of the quality of food, service, and fun to be had in Parisian establishments and I find them to be significantly better value than London and New York (where I live).

Funny to hear different contradictory views I might be bias like everyone. No misunderstanding, I do love Paris and restaurants are great there but I chose them cautiously now. Traffic are awful mainly to restrictions put in place. Last point to be challenged ( or everyone agrees): no one has contest the cleanest of the streets yet:)

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#57

Post by billfruit »

I have always wondered at the popularity of the first name Cedric, because the name was newly coined(in the early 1800s) by Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe, for the character Cedric of Rotherwood, a Saxon chief, and is not a historically relevant name.

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#58

Post by adev_ »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #41
syrusakbary wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, I think free college for everyone is a terrible idea. Most people consider that heresy. A terrible idea from what perspective? I'd love to hear more! (I'm on the other side of the spectrum)

I'm not opposed to free college if 1) you're studying something with a proven ROI, and/or 2) you have a good academic history, and/or 3) you can't otherwise afford it. I think the idea that someone can get straight C's in highschool and get $50k a year to study art in college is not a good use of my tax dollars. I also don't think it's a good idea to give someone like me a free college education. I make $400k a year.…

And I'm totally opposed to paid-for-degree American style College. It is a stupid system that favorise social jails and reward people based on their parent's income, not based on their work.

Education is the cement of the society, allowing anyone to have a chance to succeed in life whatever their social origin.

This is the European model. And when I see the current status of USA/UK student debt and USA Universities entrance fees: I tend to think it is a much more sane model than the American one.... even when I see my taxe bill.

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#59

Post by dodobirdlord »

flashyfaffe2 wrote: post #53
syrusakbary wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the idea that someone can get straight C's in highschool and get $50k a year to study art in college is not a good use of my tax dollars. Why Art is not a good use of tax dollars? Who decides what is good or bad to study? Should only be the free market? I believe a cost of $50k/year/student is not optimal. I also think cost for education per student/year is much cheaper in Europe. > I also don't think it's…

Being not American, and given that if we assume that school are business like any others I would be curious to know why the university fees has inflated so much over the last decades. Shouldn't we expect price decreasing due to competition? Any law or anything else explaining this?

Federal student loan guarantees and subsidies complicate the economics. Lenders are prepared to provide larger and riskier loans than the marker would otherwise support. Universities can handle only a limited number of students, so they have no incentive to lower prices until it would result in a marginal slot going unfilled.

Re: Cédric Villani: mathematician challenging to be Paris mayor

#60

Post by carlob »

baby wrote: post #40
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"dommageable" is "damaging", for anyone who couldn't guess. Can you go into detail about what his party has voted for that's so bad for higher education and research? I consider myself pretty academia-friendly, and there's a lot of things I'd vote for that most people would consider damaging to higher education and research. For example, I think free college for everyone is a terrible idea. Most people consider that…

This is interesting because paid education has been pretty bad for mathematics in the US as opposed to France which sees a continuous stream of brilliant and successful mathematicians.

It probably should be pointed out that most French-educated famous mathematicians actually came out of schools that pay you to be a student from the undergraduate level (actually third year out of high school).
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