The Education Bubble: The High Cost of Higher Education

This has come up a lot recently, so I think its worth discussing in some depth. There is a notion that the next big economic bubble to burst will be in higher education.

To adequately discuss the issue, I think its important to first talk delineate the difference between the common conceptions of what higher education is and what it does and the reality on the ground. For the purposes of this post I'll try to define everything operationally. When I talk about "success" and "outcomes" I'm talking principally in financial terms. The picture is obviously much more complicated than just finances, but its much more difficult to quantify quality of life than dollars.

The Education Bubble

There is a notion out there that the next economic bubble to burst will be in education.  The longer I stay in grad school, the more obvious this becomes.  Heck, the SUNY system (including Stony Brook) provide a pretty good case study in where things are starting to go wrong.   Its sort of terrifying actually.  I have a lot to say about all of this, though no time to organize my thoughts presently.  With any luck, I'll be able to write something substantial in the next week or so.

I stumbled upon a Frontline documentary that provides some perspective on where higher education is, and where it might be going.  The issues we're facing are actually much larger and much more pervasive than just the rise of for profit universities, but the documentary is still worth checking out.  This sort of thing is one of the reasons why the "How Research Works" posts are becoming increasingly cynical.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Stony Brook Zombies

Yes.  The undergrads are actually playing a huge game of Humans vs. Zombies this week.  From what I've been able to ascertain its a giant game of tag involving teams, nerf weapons, and clandestine operations.

Grad School vs A Real Job

One reason intrepid young overachievers decide to go to grad school is because they are told how different it is than a "real job." The implication is that grad school is a much more intellectually stimulating and free environment than any position you might acquire out in the world.  The workload certainly isn't the same (grad students are hardly ever not working), the stress isn't the same (grad students are hardly ever not stressing), and the pay certainly isn't the same (grad students are hardly ever not poor).  I've spent all week sitting at a desk staring at an Excel spreadsheet.  Seems to me this is exactly like a real job.  Maybe I'm just bitter.

The Black Hole

When I teach, I sometimes feel like I'm talking to an empty room.  An empty room full of 100 students.  I'm not sure if students are just conditioned to be passive or if I lull them to sleep, but it can be very difficult to get them to give any feedback.

 I feel bad.  You'd think a decent teacher (and I consider myself slightly better than mediocre) would be able to keep students engaged, but I've seen students fall asleep in even the most dynamic lectures.  To cope with this, I've decided to just amuse myself while I'm talking.  If students aren't going to be responsive to the material I'm teaching, at least I'll keep myself amused.

Seminar Blues

I gave a talk last week about my research.  It seemed relatively well received at the time, and the majority of the feedback I've received has been very positive.  Since then, I've heard that a faculty member, with whom I thought I had a good relationship, threw me under the bus while discussing the talk with my advisor.  Apparently this person took exception to how I framed some of my review of the literature and concluded that, for this reason, my hypotheses must be unsubstantiated and/or incorrect.  If this were an accurate criticism I wouldn't mind so much, nor would I mind so much if s/he had leveled this criticism to me in person rather than by proxy through my adviser.

Communication in academic departments is fantastically complicated.  On paper, there really aren't a lot of rules for who should communicate what to who (and how).  Furthermore, the rules that do exist are generally completely ignored.  This results in a huge amount of stress, especially on grad students who are under a tremendous amount of pressure but whose concerns are most often pushed aside or outright ignored in favor of those of more senior personal in the department.

Luckily my situation is a relative non-issue.  The complaint was dismissed by my advisor and I'll face absolutely no consequences.  I'm mostly just annoyed that the complaint even reached my advisor at all.  Usual (unofficial) protocol is that problems (especially relatively minor problems) are leveled at the student first, with the students advisor being left out unless the situation is serious.  My advisor controls a large part of my future, so I'm really not happy that I was heavily criticized in front of her without an opportunity to defend myself.  Not only is this a breach of protocol, but its unconstructive.

Numbers

Grad school is so much fun, sometimes I get e-mail that looks like this:

To:     xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.edu
From: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.edu

Subject: FFA ROI (Please Analyze Over the Weekend)

161.02,188.96,192.9,191.31
161.01,189.99,192.67,191.62
161.38,188.9,191.85,190.49
160.27,187.87,192.07,191.57
160.89,188.03,193.29,191.12
160.98,188.72,193.01,190.23
160.16,188.54,192.54,190.48
159.99,187.7,191.35,190.26
161.39,189.84,192.46,191.19
161.3,189.15,191.92,191.25
161.56,189.65,192.14,190.51
160.61,187.81,191.75,189.57
160.49,188.6,192.19,189.97
161.62,188.14,192.29,189.83
161.14,187.48,191.34,191.17
160.94,188.27,192.29,190.67
161.63,190.16,191.53,190.81
161.31,189.38,191.57,190.51
160.8,188.73,192.34,190.69
160.65,188.41,192.99,191.31
160.35,189.32,192.13,189.96
160.61,188.35,191.87,190.01
160.93,188.29,191.24,190.27
161.04,188.78,192.83,191.2
161.8,189.76,191.97,191.24
161.8,189.7,191.44,190.38
161.4,188.07,191.9,190.59
160.39,187.1,192.67,191.5