A Large Regular: college

"The real reason we should take from seeing the corruption of the college admissions process is not to care much where people went to college." - Paul Graham

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"Academic politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small." - Henry Kissinger

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." - Carl Jung

"Every battle is won before it's ever fought." - Sun Tzu

"For myself, I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else." - Winston Churchill

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Top 5 - Changes to Colleges and Universities

If I were put in charge - here's my Top 5 Changes I'd make to higher ed.

1. Get rid of any classes that need to have either "Science" or "Studies" added to the course title. It's not "Political Science" - it's "Politics." You don't say "History Science." And any course that adds "Studies" is not really giving you an education for the most part it's giving you an indoctrination instead.

2. If a person goes to a college or university for a minimum of three-years and four years after leaving college that person is not making at least triple the poverty line ($12,760 - so $38,280 total) then that person gets to declare Education Bankruptcy and wipe out any student debt. The college or university would have to then cover that debt out of their endowment fund. Only colleges or universities with a big enough endowment would be eligible for federal student aid. The goal is for the university to want to give the students something tangibly valuable for society not just a degree that's not worth the paper its printed on in the real world.

3. Any revenue associated with college sports would be taxable. No reason why those big TV contracts aren't taxable. If that opens up the athletes getting paid as employees - fantastic!

4. I would make four-years served in the US military with an honorable discharge equal to a liberal arts degree for all Federal employment opportunities with the edge given to those who served for any job where the candidates are otherwise equal. The person coming out of the military probably has more practical skills and a better ability to follow instruction - why not reward them?

5. With the idea of Education Bankruptcy from above in mind - there's a whole group of people where many if not most have at least triple the poverty level in guaranteed income. These are retirees. Why not craft programs for these folks. Many retirees have free time and interests they would have loved to pursue - perhaps archaeology, geology, history of the American Revolution, etc. Why not come up and market Associate Degrees that would be of interest to retirees?

Thursday, July 09, 2020

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Out of curiosity when will the American Psychological Association recognize chronic virtue signalling as a mental health disorder?... Interesting - without fanfare Trump cuts Chinese nationals from US colleges... Summertime drinking tip - hard apple cider (any brand) with a shot of cranberry vodka over ice makes a delicious hot summer day treat... And when those students return home to China they may find the Chinese economy a "shaky situation." Been saying this for a while now but US firms would be smart to decouple now before it's too late... With the Ivy Leagues announcing no fall sports this year - is it too late for Ivy League football players to enter the transfer portal? Betting college football over/unders this year is going to be tough or impossible because of all the cancelled games... Florida prisoner ripped off Lowe's to build a house while still incarcerated. Kind of an impressive caper given the circumstances...

Thursday, June 04, 2020

The Coming Disruption to College

Interesting article forecasting the future of colleges and universities. I disagree with the last part of the article but many good points were raised.

However, I think two potential outcomes may have been overlooked.

Personally I would not be surprised to see many colleges and universities "go out of business" and be converted to condos / office space. Think Thornton Melon in Back to School. There would be a certain something for adults to live on the old college campus. Maybe even have intramural sports.

Is it also not inconceivable that many States facing large budget deficits would consider selling their State Universities. I've already seen some people say that New York should sell all of the SUNY campuses and get out of the college business altogether. Historically State Universities were the cost effective option for many students but with many "name" universities being forced into lower cost distance learning that could spell the death of "commuter schools." The justification for States to be in the college business may have just evaporated over months of lock-down.

I also can't help but keep thinking about this quote from Naval Ravikant on education, "If the primary purpose of school was education, the Internet should obsolete it. But school is mainly about credentialing." Not as many will be willing to go into life-long debt anymore for those credentials - especially liberal arts credentials.

One thing is for certain - college education just changed forever. There's no going back to the pre-Wuhan Virus days.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Wuhan Virus Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations about the Wuhan Corona Virus.

I'm definitely down with referring to the crisis as the Wuhan virus but only because Xi Disease never seemed to get any traction. People should be reminded that this crisis originated in China... Not sure how I feel about colleges cancelling in-person classes in favor of distance learning. People aged 10-19 and 20-29 have a very low mortality from the Wuhan virus whereas parents who are by definition much older have a much higher incidence of death. What's the real harm in letting kids continue with their classes together and keep those who may have been exposed away from parents who have a greater chance of dying?... People who say that using the term Wuhan virus is racist are nothing more than useful idiots. Useful to the Communist Chinese. Was it racist for the flu of 1918 to be called the Spanish Flu? Should everyone have to learn a new term for the West Nile virus? No - don't fall for these dumb claims of racism... So if colleges like NYU are asking kids not to return to campus after Spring Break but instead telecommute their classes from home will there be a tuition reimbursement to the parents since room and board are no longer being provided by the college? No? Didn't think so... Personally I'm not worried about the Wuhan virus because I've marked the entrance to my dwelling in lamb's blood so that the Angel of Death will pass over me...

Friday, August 31, 2018

Jesus' First Miracle

Supposedly archaeologists have unearthed the site of Jesus' first miracle.

This reminded me of a story from college.

It was a Friday afternoon and my fraternity was having a "social" at one of the sororities. There was a problem with their tap to the keg so me and a buddy agreed to walk back to our house to get one of ours.

We filled a red solo cup for the short walk home. When we arrived there were three young men in white dress shirts and solid ties waiting for us.

"Jesus wouldn't be happy with what you are doing" one of them said nodding at our Solo cups full of beer.

"Oh really?" said I. "What was Jesus' first miracle?" The man who had spoken knew he was beat. "That's right" said I. "Now get the fuck off my lawn."

They left without a word. My friend was impressed but puzzled. "What was Jesus' first miracle?" he asked.

"Turning water into wine for a party." We grabbed one of our taps, went back to the party and had a great time.

Haven't thought of that story in years.