My Danish students don't goof off as much, and they sure have their beer binges on Fridays. The American exchange students seem to goof off more. The Danish students study for free, the Americans pay a tidy sum.
Anthony On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 12:18 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > David B. Shemano wrote: > > A couple of months ago Michael Perelman complained (in generalities of > course) about the quality and interests of his Chico State students, many of > whom were obviously not going to college for the academic experience. I was > going to point out, (but did not at the time), that his frustration is a > product of our societal decision to subsidize higher education, which has > the necessary (and presumably intended) effect of encouraging many students > to go to college who would not go if the opportunity costs were experienced > more directly. While it is impossible to dispute that certain individuals > benefit from education subsidies, there is also the reality that many young > people who would be better off immediately entering the workforce or > marrying instead go to college, saddle themselves with significant > indebtedness, learn little of value because they are unprepared or not up to > the demands, and then enter the workforce in no better shape than if they > had skipped the college experience. Furthermore, as Michael has experienced > at Chico State, the presence of these "students" is a distraction for the > students who are willing and capable.< > > For what it's worth, the students at Loyola Marymount University (a > private university) are not that much better than those at the > California State Universities. There are no subsidies from the > government except for guaranteeing payment of student debt to the > lenders. The problem is that most members of both groups of students > come from the California public school system, which has been > systematically starved since the 1970s, falling lower and lower in > quality and fighting Alabama schools for the title of "worst." > > This reminds me of an old flick that Milton Friedman produced ("Free > to Lose"? "Fleas are Loose"? I forget the title) where he showed > students playing Frisbee at some state school and other students > studying hard at Dartmouth. He indicated that the reason why the > former were goofing off (Frisbee-playing isn't productive??) and the > latter where grinding their noses was because the students at the > state schools were only there because of government subsidies while > those at Dartmouth were paying full freight (David's point exactly). > > Of course, MF's film, like all his work, was fiction. The comparison > was not based on a significant statistical sample (even though MF had > studied statistics at one point). Among other things, the students at > Dartmouth goof off as much as those at state schools, producing lots > of beer busts and such dreck as the "Dartmouth Review." (Who says > these students there don't play Frisbee? No-one who's been there > during warm weather.) Instead of the state subsidizing their stay in > Club Dart, it's their parents. Usually it's a much larger subsidy than > the state provides. > > Having gone to a (different) Ivy League school, I noticed that a lot > of students did not work hard at all, because they _felt entitled_. > They had been told over and over again that they were born to be > members of the ruling class. Looking at their parents, the main lesson > they got was that connections (networking) was more important than any > hard work. (That's not a wrong message: some lazy, drunk, and dyslexic > frat-boy from my _alma mater_ used his father's connections to rise > all the way to running the White House! Can you believe it?? Truth is > always stranger than fiction.) > > The students at the state schools, on the other hand, often see going > to college as a major step forward and try to make the best of it. > However, having a job on the side often makes that difficult, as not > having any connections within the power elite. > -- > Jim Devine / "If heart-aches were commercials, we'd all be on TV." -- John > Prine > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Professor of Indian Studies and Research Director Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 24, 3 DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Email:[email protected] Ph: +45 3815 2572 Fax: +45 3815 2500 http://uk.cbs.dk/arc www.cbs.dk/india xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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