How I would set up a college

Parent Cafe
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<p>I would prepare them for the world of work and for a lifetime of inquiry. </p>

<p>Here’s my mythical course outline: </p>

<p>Give me $5,000.</p>

<p>Class meets Tuesdays from 9-10. My attendence policy would be that class meets Tuesdays from 9-10. You could miss something really, really important if you’re not there on Tuesdays from 9-10. I might bring in donuts, or give you $15,000. You should come. Really.</p>

<p>I will give you an assignment with the following words: “Here. Do this.”</p>

<p>After considerable work on your part, you might hit a roadblock in completing your assignment. You can come to me and say: “What do you think about this problem I have encountered?” and then we would engage in a focused, critical analysis of how to solve that problem. Impressed with your research, I will guide you with my years of experience. I will look you squarely in the eye and judge you. You will feel pressure. I will feel pressure.</p>

<p>There would be three grades: A, C, and E. There would be a general consensus as to which category you were in. We might talk about it, or we might not. To get the “A” you probably need to do a little bit more than I minimally require. You might have to excel, solve a problem, volunteer, take initiative, you might have to call someone, or drive to a museum, or something of that sort.</p>

<p>We would rarely disagree about how well you did your assignment. To paraphrase Bob Dole: you would know it, I would know it, and the American people would know it. It’s okay to get a C. You’re still learning. Yet, it is not an A. </p>

<p>You won’t get to grade me (ha!) yet you are free to give your $5,000 to someone else next term.</p>

<p>If you meet our very high standards, we will refund your costs at the end of your course of study. We find it comical that some institutions do that on the front end.</p>

<p>Any takers?</p>

2

<p>I’m kind of sad that no one wants to play… just my 2 cents about the disconnect between school and work life</p>

3

<p>thank god. you don’t have money to set up a college.</p>

4

<p>I can’t wait to hear your admissions process.
(I suspect it involves either a coin or a pair of dice…)</p>

5

<p>I say the more disconnect, the better!</p>

6

<p>I might, Asian75. I’m going to apply for a stimulus grant from the government.</p>

7

<p>Dad 'o 2, I’d do it the Canadian way: GPA/test score. We’d just go down the list til we filled the class.</p>

<p>I don’t care about your ECs or your trouble with math or your parents’ divorce any more than your employer will. Just do the work and you’ll be rewarded.</p>

<p>Sheesh, I thought curmudgeon would be on my side for sure :-)</p>

8

<p>simulus grant sounds awesome. I think you should set up college like the one in the movie “Accepted”. Don’t know if you’ve seen it</p>

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<p>Work = reward???</p>

<p>What planet do you work on? (Obviously not the one Dilbert & I inhabit.)</p>

10

<p>Well, I did not experience any disconnect, and I just went to state low ranked school. I enjoyed my classes a lot and feel that time that I spent there was very useful. D loves her classes and does not see any disconnect either. She is also at state school. H. is an engineer, you cannot be a one without college, unless you are ginius, none of us are. So, I do not follow here about diconnection at all.</p>

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<p>Loving and enjoying your classes would be quite beside the point at my school. In fact, you might dislike them quite a bit at the time.</p>

<p>I strongly suspect that you might like them a whole lot better in retrospect.</p>

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<p>I love Dilbert. There are always two jokes. Or at least one smile and then a joke.</p>

13

<p>Sounds like trade school to me, and trade school is fine if that’s what one wants.</p>

<p>But some people want to be educated, not just trained.</p>

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<p>Yes, but most people go to college so they can get a good job once they graduate, in other words they want to get trained not educated.</p>

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<p>But no sense encouragin’ them.</p>

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<p>Gosh, sounds kind of like grad school, actually…</p>

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<p>MSUDad,
I did not have to go to school. I went and got couple more degrees only because my various employers pay for it. If I hated my classes, I would have dropped whole idea even though it was free. School was very entertaining and very much useful, all the way thru MBA. If it is a torture, there is no reason to continue imo, got to look around and try something else, some other place…</p>

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<p>MSUdad: Too funny! </p>

<p>You are the best prof ever! I’ll be there at 8:45 every Tues. rain or shine. Do you need any help with anything? Like, I could make copies of handouts for the class. Or some coffee to go with those donuts? Or anything else? (I could come in at 8:00, or 7:30 if you really need a lot of help) :wink: </p>

<p>Now, about that $15,000. . .</p>