tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3522311.post6133098806828832812..comments2024-03-12T03:23:42.976-04:00Comments on NeuroDojo: Deserving cheap degreesZen Faulkeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07811309183398223358noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3522311.post-9125572602283836782011-03-22T05:23:49.951-04:002011-03-22T05:23:49.951-04:00There's a slight flaw in this analysis that I ...There's a slight flaw in this analysis that I also made and didn't realize until I tried explaining the situation to a friend. When Gov. Perry says, "Texans deserve college graduation for their hard-earned tax dollars, not just college enrollment," he does not mean that a college student deserves a degree merely for paying tuition. He means that Texans who have their pay taxed by the state deserve to have that tax money spent productively -- in this case, on universities that provide good education (which in turn produces more skilled workers to bolster the state's economy; which in turn improves everyone's financial situation, including the original taxpayers; which in turn justifies said taxation in a Conservative-friendly way).<br /><br />The problem with conflating "provides a good education" with "produces lots of graduates" is left as an exercise to the reader.Jeff Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02505316906423031421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3522311.post-15523914177369363782011-02-12T05:46:33.818-05:002011-02-12T05:46:33.818-05:00We have a similar funding structure in Finland: in...We have a similar funding structure in Finland: institutions receive a set amount of money per each awarded degree. In the absence of tuition fees, you can imagine<br /><br />Where has this led us? A large number of institutions offering courses on popular subjects like media studies, in the hopes of attracting more undergrads and eventually being able to award more degrees. This in turn results in flooding the graduate market with unemployable young people with useless degreees. How many Archeology or Media Studies graduates do you think a country of 5 million people can usefully employ? And yet we pump out thousands of them every year.<br /><br />Good luck Texas, if they decide to go down this route.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com