"...I always resist the “classics is impractical” line that people love to come up with when they are critical of the higher study of these fields. You can study accounting. It's authentically practical in one way. But when your father dies, your accounting degree is not going to help you at all to process that … Continue reading Daniel Mendelsohn on the Odyssey
Tag: college
Schools of Virtue
"Marion Turner, professor of English literature at Oxford University, put it frankly: “I’m not trained to teach students how to be good people, and that’s not my job.”It’s a fair point. It is very pleasant to make a list of intellectual virtues, but why should we believe that academics can teach students courage, humility or … Continue reading Schools of Virtue
Calling Bullshit
"Our learning objectives are straightforward. After taking the course, you should be able to:* Remain vigilant for bullshit contaminating your information diet.* Recognize said bullshit whenever and wherever you encounter it.* Figure out for yourself precisely why a particular bit of bullshit is bullshit.* Provide a statistician or fellow scientist with a technical explanation of … Continue reading Calling Bullshit
College Return-on-Investment (ROI)
Open Question: Is a college education worth the expense, including tuition, opportunity costs, debt obligation, etc.? "Using data from the expanded College Scorecard, this report ranks 4,500 colleges and universities by return on investment. A First Try at ROI: Ranking 4,500 Colleges finds that bachelor’s degrees from private colleges, on average, have higher ROI than degrees from … Continue reading College Return-on-Investment (ROI)
How Heterosexual Couples Met (1940-2019)
Michael Rosenfeld, et al. "Disintermediating Your Friends."
Goodhart’s Law & The Ivy League
"Two years ago I was at an event in Boston and I happened to sit at a dinner table across from a guy widely recognized to be one of the most brilliant people in the world. We talked mostly about AI but at one point the conversation turned to hiring, and he told me that for … Continue reading Goodhart’s Law & The Ivy League
Facebook & Russian Placed Ads During the 2016 Election
"Explore the Facebook ads purchased by Russia-linked agents to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This tool unravels the contradictory messages used to target people across the political spectrum, discourage voter turnout and increase hostility." —https://fathom.info/fakebook/
The Case Against Education | RadioWest
"Bryan Caplan says our higher education system is a waste of time and money. Caplan is a Princeton-educated, tenured professor of economics at George Mason University. He argues though that while a degree has become indispensable for competing in the job market, college isn’t actually teaching applicable skills or even teaching people how to learn. … Continue reading The Case Against Education | RadioWest
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