Can my working-class students avoid years of underemployment?… …As you learn quickly here in Vegas, the game isn’t rigged, but the odds don’t work in your favor. Source: Long Odds in the Game of Life – NYTimes.com I commented. I’m sorry, Brittany. I really am. It is rigged; big time. I’m a former math professor. […]
The Headline is Correct; But For the Wrong Reason
April 24, 2015 by
Why getting a four-year bachelor’s degree brings large benefits to those seen as marginal. Source: College for the Masses – NYTimes.com Here is my comment. “Back then, a high school education was the new ticket to the middle class. Today, a college education is.” This is patently not true. Study after study contradict this – […]
Demand for Skilled-Worker Visas Exceeds Annual Supply – WSJ
April 8, 2015 by
Demand for Skilled-Worker Visas Exceeds Annual Supply – WSJ. My comment and explanation: “In a nutshell, these two items explain this story. 1. Washington U. in St. Louis, “make it the normal ‘cookbook’ course..so we don’t have trouble [with students]…” (Chair of Math Dep’t speaking to me about a critical course for engineers); on another […]
Good News: Today’s Anxious Freshmen Declare Majors Far Faster Than Their Elders – WSJ
March 20, 2015 by
Today’s Anxious Freshmen Declare Majors Far Faster Than Their Elders – WSJ. But they need advice. I wrote. I am a former professor who taught at Washington University in St. Louis. With honest advice these earnest students will do well. Unfortunately, they cannot count on college officials to always give them that honest advice. In the words of David Riesman […]
Law Schools Keep at It – But That is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
March 18, 2015 by
Law Schools Face New Rules on Reporting Graduates’ Success – WSJ. I commented. The take away from this story – and from stories about college athletics – is not that Law Schools – or athletic departments – are corrupt. Colleges are corrupt. Very few people would buy a product from a corporation that has […]
Measuring Benefits of Smaller Amounts in Same Container
March 16, 2015 by
Is your degree worth it?: It depends what you study, not where | The Economist. There is a fallacy in these statistics. I commented. Just as consumers can be fooled into believing that today’s can of “whatever” contains the same amount as yesterday’s, so can “consumers” of today’s degrees be fooled into thinking they contain […]
February 28, 2015 by
I think this is a good piece. Note that she does realize that for-profits are not the only problem schools. A Strike Against Student Debt – NYTimes.com.
Rip Van Skillsgap on Paul Krugman’s Blog Is Wrong
February 24, 2015 by
Rip Van Skillsgap – NYTimes.com. “Please, Prof. Krugman, you are too important a voice not to pay attention to data that screams that there is a gigantic gap between what you think is an education, and what “customers” (once quaintly known as “students”) are actually getting – even in many so-called “elite” schools. There is […]
Why So Few Online Courses? Quotes From “The Economist” 3/28/2015 Edition on Universities
“…Since the value of a degree from a selective institution depends on its scarcity, good universities have little incentive to produce more graduates..” (From <http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647285-more-and-more-money-being-spent-higher-education-too-little-known-about-whether-it>) which may be why, even though “…Technology offers the promise of making education both cheaper and more effective, but universities resist adopting it…” (From <http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21646985-american-model-higher-education-spreading-it-good-producing-excellence>)