"it is universities themselves that have undermined the worth of the education..."

[sakky]

<p>

If this were true then why didn’t they use a non-fictional example? Do you know something about Harvard’s CS program? Does the author of this article know something they held out on saying? Please, give me actual evidence, not something you noticed in a movie or conclusions made about a list Playboy makes.</p>

<p>Are you just trying to play devil’s advocate or do you actually believe that it’s appropriate to use “The Social Network” as evidence of deteriorating educational standards?

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<p>It is appropriate to use ‘The Social Network’ not because anybody takes it to be a documentary, but simply as a frame around which to build the discussion. After all, many people have seen The Social Network, and those who haven’t can rent it at any time. By the same token, it is entirely appropriate to foster a discussion about organized crime by talking about the Godfather movies, not because anybody actually believes that those movies are documentaries, but that at least people have seen those movies and can then base their discussion around them. </p>

<p>To use a nonfictional example would be extraordinarily difficult because few if any people would understand what you are talking about. After all, only a handful of people actually know the true Zuckerburg. Starting a discussion about his real life would be exceedingly difficult because nobody would have anything to say because they wouldn’t understand the subject matter. </p>

<p>

What the author wrote about Zuckerberg was not well-thought. She seems unaware that you have to spend a lot of time programming just to learn it, and even more to create a functioning networking site. Did she know that he has been programming since well before college, making him skilled in the subject? Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that he did well in his CS classes.</p>

<p>She asks, “Why pay to be at Harvard if [spending time in your dorm programming is] what you’re going to do?” He’s applying what he has learned to the world even before graduation. Isn’t that what college is about?</p>

<p>Lastly, she thinks the time he spent was a waste of time. Perhaps college was at least partially a waste, considering that he dropped out. But all the hours he spent programming did yield results.

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<p>I’m not sure I understand this point, as if anything, you seem to be supporting the author’s arguments. After all, you said yourself that Zuck was a well-established programmer even before he entered Harvard. So then what exactly did the Harvard educational experience add to his skillset? Not much, it would seem. Let’s face it - if Zuck had never entered Harvard (or any other college for that matter), he would still be a cracker-jack programmer. </p>

<p>On the other hand, what Zuck did apparently gain from Harvard was the inspiration (or perhaps even the stolen idea) for creating Facebook in the first place. But that again seems to reinforce the author’s central point, as those activities were not part of the Harvard educational experience, strictly defined, but were rather part of the Harvard extracurricular milieu. In other words, colleges - at least the top ones - are more valuable for their social environment rather than the education per se. </p>

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But that likely does not tell us what we want to know, for it includes a selection bias term. (sakky probably knows that I based that on Angrist and Pischke.)

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<p>Econometrics is actually mostly harmful, no matter what A&P would have you believe. </p>

<p>But to continue the A&P train of thought, that’s when you would start looking for good instruments in order to apply a Heckman correction. Or maybe try a matching model.</p>