tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post147496004756843753..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Corrosive collegeBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-12787443995288865472012-05-26T12:48:31.352+01:002012-05-26T12:48:31.352+01:00@nydwracu -"College should begin in the mid-t...@nydwracu -"College should begin in the mid-teens, when humans, at least in our society, tend to start wanting the sort of freedom it provides."<br /><br />They may WANT freedom, but that is exactly what they should NOT get!<br /><br />(As a general rule.)Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-6800640653026900312012-05-26T10:44:29.295+01:002012-05-26T10:44:29.295+01:00College should begin in the mid-teens, when humans...College should begin in the mid-teens, when humans, at least in our society, tend to start wanting the sort of freedom it provides. (And what society keeps its members as children until 18 anyway?) I started college at 15, and I really don't know how most people handle the ridiculous totalitarian nightmare that is high school for <i>four</i> years when I could barely put up with it for two, not to mention the parental panopticon.nydwracuhttp://nydwracu.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-31064651746729998122012-05-25T17:33:59.982+01:002012-05-25T17:33:59.982+01:00This is pretty comprehensively right, including th...This is pretty comprehensively right, including the bit about age.<br /><br />Regrettably I know this from my own experience. Although I don't think it was my university's intention to turn a cheerful atheist into a demotivated Christian. But that's what having a look inside their looking glass ended up doing.Rydernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-68296999992756343912012-05-25T15:19:26.501+01:002012-05-25T15:19:26.501+01:00There's a further element of the poor concepti...There's a further element of the poor conception and execution of college: by being so radically divorced from the practical contexts in which learning tends to occur, students probably walk away knowing less than they would've if they had just gotten a lower job in their field and worked their way up to it.<br /><br />I have, for instance, learned more about applied statistics in the past year then I did the previous six years in college, with an army of Ph.D's at my disposal, simply because my job requires that I know certain things, and the things I need to know are things my peers in college were expected to be too stupid to grasp (e.g., structural equation modeling). That evaluation was probably correct, but that only proves that college was a waste of time and money for me.<br /><br />So in an ideal world, college would not only be radically smaller and more austere, it would be paired up with practical work -- internship placements, etc., that extend through the whole of collegiate life. Such a thing would, in a sense, not be so different than a guild system. But we must never, ever admit this, for fear of acknowledging that perhaps those benighted Middle Age crazies were actually brighter than we are!<br /><br />Add in the monumental opportunity costs (i.e., $40,000 of debt for four or more years of non-work during which time a person could've earned $120,000 from slightly lower-paying work) and, well, no wonder nothing short of a monstrous governmental effort to support and sustain colleges despite the obvious harms they inflict is keeping them in business.Prophhttp://www.orthosphere.org/noreply@blogger.com