tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post5196908173369789160..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Whither the Ivy LeagueStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-88180298121403035372014-07-24T06:08:16.539-07:002014-07-24T06:08:16.539-07:00Sadly one is paying for the name and the professor...Sadly one is paying for the name and the professors who teach at ivy league schools only to get a TA.Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-82539048247273015112014-07-23T15:22:50.220-07:002014-07-23T15:22:50.220-07:00What an excellent, informative post! It's pac...What an excellent, informative post! It's packed with good facts and observations.<br /><br />A couple of points:<br /><br />-- it's long been known that the generalist undergrad education at Harvard is mediocre at best. Parents who send their children through that program are buying prestige and social access they hope will help their kids become winners. The ticket into Harvard's law or business schools is a nice bonus. And like a conspicuous-consumption lifestyle, some of the glitz rubs off on the parents. Once, at a tony sailing club, a woman found a way during an unrelated conversation to tell me told me she had "very high-powered children". I gathered that helps her hold her own head a little higher, and insulates her from being looked down on. Not coincidently, the next words out of her mouth were to gratuitously criticize the outfit of a another woman walking by where we were sitting.<br /><br />-- the homogeneity of the families who send their kids to elite schools would, for that customer base, be a feature not a bug. It ensures meeting the "right" people, while not having to mix with the unwashed.Lastangonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-42193238289514654372014-07-23T15:02:20.069-07:002014-07-23T15:02:20.069-07:00I recall a story from way back about a guy who wan...I recall a story from way back about a guy who wanted to be an automotive engineer was given a job as a mechanic. Complaining about this, he was told that this way he'd learn how what he did as an engineer would affect those who had to fix what went wrong.<br /><br />I knew a Porsche mechanic who said that his idea of Hell was having to do a valve-adjustment on a Porsche 914-6 in the desert without a lift.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-19987642170446853042014-07-23T14:14:57.123-07:002014-07-23T14:14:57.123-07:00Dennis: "Engineers not working with the peopl...Dennis: "Engineers not working with the people who have to get the job done is not unusual."<br /><br />True. I believe that in Germany, one still has to spend time as an apprentice before entering engineering school...this was certainly true in the past there. Gerhard Neumann, who grew up in Germany and eventually ran GE's entire jet engine business (which he played a major role in creating) went through this sequence, and wrote very positively about it in his interesting autobiography:<br /><br />http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/39199.html<br />PhDavid Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-82359310888947085432014-07-23T13:46:19.228-07:002014-07-23T13:46:19.228-07:00David Foster,
Engineers not working with the peop...David Foster,<br /><br />Engineers not working with the people who have to get the job done is not unusual. One of the reasons that the DoN started the Engineers at Sea program was to give them the idea of what the organizational users have to deal with in tight working conditions under combat situations.<br />I had acted as a mediator between engineers and those who had to put the engineer's ideas into action. Logistics and Configuration management sometimes got lost as well.Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-40463396501945941522014-07-23T12:54:57.348-07:002014-07-23T12:54:57.348-07:00"Whether or not students in Shanghai or Singa..."Whether or not students in Shanghai or Singapore can have a conversation with a plumber—a Deresiewicz criterion—they are doing just fine overall."<br /><br />I don't know about the students in Shanghai or Singapore, but a woman who is CEO of a large food-processing company in the UK recently wrote that recent engineering graduates hired by her firm are very reluctant to work closely with the people on the plant floor, and that this is imposing serious problems with their productivity and quality improvement efforts. David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-70691604505050488882014-07-23T12:12:54.721-07:002014-07-23T12:12:54.721-07:00"The mindlessness of the academy has often be..."The mindlessness of the academy has often been documented. One does not feel quite right trashing leftist professors who cannot, truth be told, defend themselves in the arena of ideas." Still, it MUST be done (for their own good, they need to learn this).Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-13355863873057052892014-07-23T10:39:50.024-07:002014-07-23T10:39:50.024-07:00Just to back up what Soviet of Washington stated: ...Just to back up what Soviet of Washington stated: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate<br /><br />http://blog.ivywise.com/blog-0/bid/157096/Best-Colleges-for-STEM-Campus-Culture-and-More<br /><br />Having worked with Rose Hulman graduates they are among the best engineers I have had the pleasure to associate with.<br /><br />NOTE how many of these colleges are NOT Ivy league colleges.Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-53434169624764068302014-07-23T10:01:12.592-07:002014-07-23T10:01:12.592-07:00Since I work for a major multinational with operat...Since I work for a major multinational with operations in both Shanghai and Singapore (that I work with on a regular basis), let me say that for all the chattering class hand-wringing, non-Ivy American STEM graduates are holding their own just fine. Its our 'elite' Ivy graduate wannabe overlords that can't match up.Soviet of Washingtonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-49543582617926791162014-07-23T07:40:44.754-07:002014-07-23T07:40:44.754-07:00Stuart, being a plumber, working in the highest me...Stuart, being a plumber, working in the highest median wage area in my country, I can categorically state that the rich Asians, not only can converse with me, but most times are the most polite and trusting of my abilities, of any of my customers.Leo Gnoreply@blogger.com