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September 28, 2006
Why we do it
Stephen Karlson (Cold Spring Shops) discusses the college rankings, the arms race among universities, and the role of the "mid-majors". Here's a highlight of the long version:
The higher education premium is a premium to human capital formation, not an incentive to acquire a signal. "Nationally-competitive" is a statement about success in teaching, learning, and graduating. Why apologize for these things, or for paying a premium price for premium professors, or for charging a premium price for the opportunity to study with such professors and sharpen your brains with premium classmates?
His next post offers the short version. Remember folks, it's about quality. It's about the intellectual enterprise. The mid-majors can play that game too. To wit:
Short form, example 3, theory class. "Can we practice with some Jacobians?" Hal Varian and David Kreps leave the nastier bits out of their texts ...
I will add another example from here at WIU. In my advanced macro class sometime last year came the request, "Can you suggest more classic papers that we can read?"
Furthermore, my current intermediate macro class is asking some of the best questions I've ever fielded in that course (which I have taught quite a few times).
You get out what you put in. Higher education is not dispensed like water from a tap. You must be prepared to go to the well. We will show you the way.
Posted by William Polley at September 28, 2006 12:08 AM
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