Interest Surges in Top Colleges, While Struggling Ones Scrape for Applicants

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Jun 8, 2016
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In my academic career (both in graduate school and now as a Professor) I have been around a lot of Chinese graduate students. In a classroom setting they are outstanding compared to their US counterparts. They are a joy to have in class. Their fundamental knowledge of Math is typically superior as their education system is highly influenced by the Russian system which is very rigorous and they work extremely hard. However when it comes to research, which requires a degree of creativity, I have found that they are not any better than US students.
 
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May 4, 2016
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I have always considered it part of my job as a parent to raise my children with a healthy degree of cynicism. So when they are presented with new ideas they can look at them critically and determine their own value. That said one of the major benefits hopefully of a college education is the opportunity to experience new ideas and meet and interact with people unlike themselves. Btw what is considered a radical idea is different for everyone.
 
Dec 2, 2013
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Texas
DD came home for the weekend last night. We ordered some pizza on the way from DD2 softball game, which was a total JV facepalm and I found myself yelling at the umpires. I'll start a thread on that too. As we were standing around the kitchen eating some pizza, DD immediately got into her conversations with her friends. One topic was minimum wage. Most of the ppl in the apartment were some frat boys and of course they were imbibing. Het school is known for its high academia and quirkiness. Total anima nerd school. Their chess team has a bigger budget than the softball team!

DD says that guys don't understand basis economics around raising minimum wage. Btw, we have never had a discussion on this topic in our household. Of course, the guys were saying heck yeah raise the minimum wage! She said they didn't understand that if you raise the minimum there are will have to be consequences and I won't go into all the details since some will want to get politics involved when it is really all about simple economics. But what I will say, I was proud that she was able to back up her debate with logical thought patterns that led to logical outcomes, whereas her friends looked like chickens watching a card trick.

As I go back to my Freshman (Spring 1989)year at Sam Houston in my American History class I learned something that was very valuable and something that I can apply to my life today. Dr. Olsen was a very popular professor that had to have his classes in the auditorium instead of a normal classroom...he was that popular. He had a Hook for hand which added to interest. One section of the class which was not in the book and he tested us on was how economics differed with different political parties. What happens to Taxes, Govt Spending, money expansion/contraction, Inflations, Interest rates, etc when a republican or democrat are voted into office. He basically used up/down arrows. He created 20 questions that tested our knowledge in this area, and for me it was the beginning of my understanding of how this works in real life. I didn't appreciate it then, but as I aged it became valuable knowledge. Another class that I really liked was Geography (Weather & Climate) with Dr. "Killer" Tiller. Omg, many other professors are coming to mind that I really enjoyed that made a difference in my life. Dr. Gerling (Spanish), Mr. Levantino(Accounting), Dr. Muecke (Business calc), Biology prof (had a cowboy mullet), Mrs. Stibbs-Hotness! (Eng I, II), Dr. Harley Rex (Hist of Rock and Roll), Poly Sci (can't remember his name but he had a mini pony tail and we did a field trip to the local water treatment plant). Damn! College was the best 6 years of my life!
 
Jun 7, 2016
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"Personally the only thing I try to “indoctrinate “ my students in is (currently) continuum mechanics, finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics.."
Yes, and you are fortunate that social sciences have not yet made serious inroads to the hard sciences. (although Dr. Abbott @ Uchicago may say different) But the news is littered with stories of indoctrination rather than learning coming out of the colleges. And no that does not mean that every prof is this way (please be less binary than your colleagues in your criticism of my post).
Lastly, do not question my parenting skills. I can document a fine job of raising two hard working, kind and successful children. And can claim that without some of the dubious antics you've admitted to on this site. So take a hard look in the mirror before you cast shade my way.
 
Jun 8, 2016
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I can document a fine job of raising two hard working, kind and successful children. And can claim that without some of the dubious antics you've admitted to on this site. So take a hard look in the mirror before you cast shade my way.
If you have done a good job raising them than you should have no worries..even if they turn into bleeding heart liberals.

I suck as a sports parent..I’ve never said otherwise so if that was somehow supposed to offend me it didn’t. I’m working on it so that I can someday be as perfect at it as you.
 
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Dec 11, 2010
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In my academic career (both in graduate school and now as a Professor) I have been around a lot of Chinese graduate students. In a classroom setting they are outstanding compared to their US counterparts. They are a joy to have in class. Their fundamental knowledge of Math is typically superior as their education system is highly influenced by the Russian system which is very rigorous and they work extremely hard. However when it comes to research, which requires a degree of creativity, I have found that they are not any better than US students.
I just want to say....... This is really interesting.

Makes me wonder if creativity is as important as hard knowledge. Makes me wonder if there is an inverse relationship situation going on. Makes me wonder if we should somehow steal/adopt some of the stuff the Russians are doing.

I read a recent article by a local guy that travelled to China. He wrote about how they were going somewhere on an early Sunday morning and there was a large line to get into a building. He asked what the building was and why they were lined up. His guide told him it was a library and they were waiting for it to open.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I just want to say....... This is really interesting.

Makes me wonder if creativity is as important as hard knowledge. Makes me wonder if there is an inverse relationship situation going on. Makes me wonder if we should somehow steal/adopt some of the stuff the Russians are doing.

I read a recent article by a local guy that travelled to China. He wrote about how they were going somewhere on an early Sunday morning and there was a large line to get into a building. He asked what the building was and why they were lined up. His guide told him it was a library and they were waiting for it to open.
Creativity is a weird thing..it comes and goes for even the most creative people.

I am not saying the Chinese are bad at innovation just that for all their mastery of the fundamentals they are not any better than the top US students....IMO of course.
 
Jun 7, 2016
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" I suck as a sports parent "

You may want to expand your self-evaluation and as it seems to me that you are struggling in many areas to just meet the criteria of being a decent person.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
" I suck as a sports parent "

You may want to expand your self-evaluation and as it seems to me that you are struggling in many areas to just meet the criteria of being a decent person.
That is a fair assessment..do you think listening to Hannity will help? I draw the line at being called a murderer..I haven’t done that yet.

I feel like you know me pretty well..Lianne is that you?
 
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Apr 20, 2015
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Its funny that every generation has felt their children are being indoctrinated. My views on pretty much everything are extremely different than my parents and I'm sure they feel I drank the kool-aid. Yet I'm happy, healthy successful and so far raising 2 pretty great kids. Every person will find what works for them as a belief system. A little of this, a little of that. College opened my mind to a whole lot of different view points and possibilities. I certainly didn't swallow every one whole but was able to discover what made sense to me. I hope my kids have the opportunity to do the same.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

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