Most intellectual colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan in CT

+1 for Wesleyan

Re: comments on SJW activity at SLACs. It’s not new. Back in the 90’s at Wes we called it “being PC.” I had a hard time with it back then, but it made me think. Intellectual debates happened at meals & in dorms, there was room to process, and I came to my own conclusions - which were sometimes different than the party line.

Fast forward 20-25 years, and I work with a fair number of younger colleagues. My older and contemporaneous colleagues who went to more “hard-core” technical schools complain that they don’t understand the younger crew, but I think that all of the SJW-style activity back in the day at Wes has been a great help in relating to & understanding my reports & mentees. My boss jokes that I am a “millennial-to-boomer translator.”

The saying “Everything old is new again” is often accurate. Overall, I think that it was good for me to hash out PC/SJW issues in my 20’s in an intellectually stimulating environment, as I am less likely to be flummoxed by the behavior of “kids these days” in my mid-late 40s.

Hah so true. Wes grad here. I totally get AOC etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

Nope, kiddo. Oxbridge is extraordinarily unique in the world of higher education. Always has been, always will be. The Ivies were modeled after Oxbridge and are the closest equivalent.

Beyond that the lists of top universities produced by various publications is pretty stable. Dominated by major American research universities. No evidence whatsoever in your completely unsubstantiated claim that the Republicans are out to destroy American higher education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

For undergrads, top foreign schools are certainly more intellectually demanding than US ones.

And the reason is that SJWs have taken over here with their bias, ignorance and bullying, which often prevents actual learning and growth.

I'd never in a million years send my kids to Oberlin or Midd.

OP’s question is intellectually challenging colleges, not whether you would send your kids there, whether your kids have the chops to get in there, whether you can afford the tuition there, whether your kids would “fit” in there...

Look up the recent trial against Oberlin.

Do you see much intellectual rigor among Oberlin administrators and faculty?

I see a bunch of bullies who have forgotten what intellectual rigor means.

If you are talking scandals, you there are other threads - u of md death scandal, Duke lacrosse scandal, Yale, Stanford admissions scandal... The list goes on and on... there’s a thread on McKenna, Midd, High Point...

Yawn. I remember you. The other scandals have nothing in common with the Oberlin scandal, which was a result of a closed mind, prejudiced pool of angry students with a cause whose actions were sanctioned by the college and a byproduct of the cult of victimization at all cost even at the cost of ignoring all evidence to the contrary. The Oberlin scandal was the consequence of an ideological outlook consumed by angry passions that didn't care about truth or facts, and the failure of a college to teach its students to be reasoned, intelligent human beings. That is the crisis in American higher education. Not the handful of coaches selling influence without the college's knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

Nope, kiddo. Oxbridge is extraordinarily unique in the world of higher education. Always has been, always will be. The Ivies were modeled after Oxbridge and are the closest equivalent.

Beyond that the lists of top universities produced by various publications is pretty stable. Dominated by major American research universities. No evidence whatsoever in your completely unsubstantiated claim that the Republicans are out to destroy American higher education.

DP but the GOP reps in certain states, like Wisconsin, have done everything they can to completely gut state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

The U.S. university "system" is a runaway train wreck of student debt, poor completion rates, administrative bloat, and costs that are far above any other system in the world.

I just don’t think of Chicago in the same league as Oxford. Or even HYPS. It’s a notch above UVA or UCBerkeley.

Oxford, Berkeley, and HYPS think of Chicago as a peer institution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

For undergrads, top foreign schools are certainly more intellectually demanding than US ones.

And the reason is that SJWs have taken over here with their bias, ignorance and bullying, which often prevents actual learning and growth.

I'd never in a million years send my kids to Oberlin or Midd.

OP’s question is intellectually challenging colleges, not whether you would send your kids there, whether your kids have the chops to get in there, whether you can afford the tuition there, whether your kids would “fit” in there...

Look up the recent trial against Oberlin.

Do you see much intellectual rigor among Oberlin administrators and faculty?

I see a bunch of bullies who have forgotten what intellectual rigor means.

If you are talking scandals, you there are other threads - u of md death scandal, Duke lacrosse scandal, Yale, Stanford admissions scandal... The list goes on and on... there’s a thread on McKenna, Midd, High Point...

Yawn. I remember you. The other scandals have nothing in common with the Oberlin scandal, which was a result of a closed mind, prejudiced pool of angry students with a cause whose actions were sanctioned by the college and a byproduct of the cult of victimization at all cost even at the cost of ignoring all evidence to the contrary. The Oberlin scandal was the consequence of an ideological outlook consumed by angry passions that didn't care about truth or facts, and the failure of a college to teach its students to be reasoned, intelligent human beings. That is the crisis in American higher education. Not the handful of coaches selling influence without the college's knowledge.

Learn how to read if u want to carry on. I read the first word out of ur keyboard and stopped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

For undergrads, top foreign schools are certainly more intellectually demanding than US ones.

And the reason is that SJWs have taken over here with their bias, ignorance and bullying, which often prevents actual learning and growth.

I'd never in a million years send my kids to Oberlin or Midd.

OP’s question is intellectually challenging colleges, not whether you would send your kids there, whether your kids have the chops to get in there, whether you can afford the tuition there, whether your kids would “fit” in there...

Look up the recent trial against Oberlin.

Do you see much intellectual rigor among Oberlin administrators and faculty?

I see a bunch of bullies who have forgotten what intellectual rigor means.

If you are talking scandals, you there are other threads - u of md death scandal, Duke lacrosse scandal, Yale, Stanford admissions scandal... The list goes on and on... there’s a thread on McKenna, Midd, High Point...

Yawn. I remember you. The other scandals have nothing in common with the Oberlin scandal, which was a result of a closed mind, prejudiced pool of angry students with a cause whose actions were sanctioned by the college and a byproduct of the cult of victimization at all cost even at the cost of ignoring all evidence to the contrary. The Oberlin scandal was the consequence of an ideological outlook consumed by angry passions that didn't care about truth or facts, and the failure of a college to teach its students to be reasoned, intelligent human beings. That is the crisis in American higher education. Not the handful of coaches selling influence without the college's knowledge.

+ 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

Not sure whether it’s Republicans or the holistic admissions that are doing the job. Oxford doesn’t give a damn about community service or sports achievements, just the pure brain power, and it shows.

[Anonymous]

Harvey Mudd? Tulane? Brandeis? Cornell? Boston?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

Not sure whether it’s Republicans or the holistic admissions that are doing the job. Oxford doesn’t give a damn about community service or sports achievements, just the pure brain power, and it shows.

Yup

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are schools where students are the most excited about learning for the sake of learning?

Are you contrasting that with schools where people are most excited about learning for the sake of preparing themselves for a successful career, or do you mean something else? I have a business degree and an engineering degree, so I don't have any familiarity with this "learning for the sake of learning" concept. All of us were just trying to get jobs.

Are you familiar with the concept of the life of the mind? Or that the unexamined life is not worth living?

Some people get excited about ideas, about knowledge, about expanding their mental abilities. Knowing more about history, about cultures, about science, about the way the world works. Pondering big questions about life-how did the earth happen, why are we here, how do events from one century relate to another. Discovering how math underpins things you'd never connect it to. Realizing how the body works, seeing the interconnectedness of things. Learning about cells and atoms and the building blocks of nature. Opening up another world by studying a foreign language and realizing there are different ways to conceptualize the same thing. It's amazing and thrilling to learn new things and to reflect on them can be quite fulfilling.

My grandfather went to work right after high school and had a fairly mind-numbing job his entire life. But he read like crazy, all the classics, plus the newspapers. His interior life, broadened and deepened by a life long quest for knowledge and learning, brought him fulfillment and meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are schools where students are the most excited about learning for the sake of learning?

Are you contrasting that with schools where people are most excited about learning for the sake of preparing themselves for a successful career, or do you mean something else? I have a business degree and an engineering degree, so I don't have any familiarity with this "learning for the sake of learning" concept. All of us were just trying to get jobs.

Are you familiar with the concept of the life of the mind? Or that the unexamined life is not worth living?

Some people get excited about ideas, about knowledge, about expanding their mental abilities. Knowing more about history, about cultures, about science, about the way the world works. Pondering big questions about life-how did the earth happen, why are we here, how do events from one century relate to another. Discovering how math underpins things you'd never connect it to. Realizing how the body works, seeing the interconnectedness of things. Learning about cells and atoms and the building blocks of nature. Opening up another world by studying a foreign language and realizing there are different ways to conceptualize the same thing. It's amazing and thrilling to learn new things and to reflect on them can be quite fulfilling.

My grandfather went to work right after high school and had a fairly mind-numbing job his entire life. But he read like crazy, all the classics, plus the newspapers. His interior life, broadened and deepened by a life long quest for knowledge and learning, brought him fulfillment and meaning.

St. John’s College. Not for everyone, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore & U Chicago are pressure cooker.

They’re not pressure cooker if you have a good brain.

UChicago certainly is. The quarter system there can be brutal. It’s a no time to think scenario — even/especially if you’re smart and intellectually ambitious. Adm acknowledges this and is considering a switch to semesters.

Bottom line re this topic is that, if you have an intellectually-oriented kid, any good university with faculty doing interesting work in your kid’s area(s) of interest will be a stimulating environment for the undergrad years. And if you don’t have an intellectual kid, odds are that no college (or curriculum) is going to make him/her a convert unless that kid has previously been deprived of opportunities for intellectual exploration. If you have a kid that could go either way (e.g. intellectual or, say, partier or jock) then it’s really a fit question wrt which environment/cohort will bring out (or suppress) various aspects of th3 kid’s personality.

It’s not. But you do drop in to say that every time there’s a U Chicago post - nonstop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swarthmore & U Chicago are pressure cooker.

They’re not pressure cooker if you have a good brain.

UChicago certainly is. The quarter system there can be brutal. It’s a no time to think scenario — even/especially if you’re smart and intellectually ambitious. Adm acknowledges this and is considering a switch to semesters.

Bottom line re this topic is that, if you have an intellectually-oriented kid, any good university with faculty doing interesting work in your kid’s area(s) of interest will be a stimulating environment for the undergrad years. And if you don’t have an intellectual kid, odds are that no college (or curriculum) is going to make him/her a convert unless that kid has previously been deprived of opportunities for intellectual exploration. If you have a kid that could go either way (e.g. intellectual or, say, partier or jock) then it’s really a fit question wrt which environment/cohort will bring out (or suppress) various aspects of th3 kid’s personality.

It’s not. But you do drop in to say that every time there’s a U Chicago post - nonstop.

https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2019/3/18/university-convenes-calendar-committee-discuss-pos/

Dean Boyer “said his affinity [for the semester system] ‘has to do with my sense of the relentless nature of the quarter system...and that the semester system would afford our students a better educational learning environment.’”

YMMV. But note my qualifier — it’s intellectually ambitious kids who are most likely to experience UChicago’s quarter system this way. There’s a difference between approaching a class with the goal of getting a good grade vs the goal of exploring/understanding a topic or set of readings/questions. OP’s inquiry suggested s/he might have a kid who was prone to the latter approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago and also Oxford. My DC just spent a year there and it was a truly unique intellectual experience all around - nothing like it in the states.

Get ready for more statements like this: that Oxford or other foreign universities are better than the US.

Republicans aim to destroy our university system, the best in the world and the driver of the US tech economy. And it’s working.

Nope, kiddo. Oxbridge is extraordinarily unique in the world of higher education. Always has been, always will be. The Ivies were modeled after Oxbridge and are the closest equivalent.

Beyond that the lists of top universities produced by various publications is pretty stable. Dominated by major American research universities. No evidence whatsoever in your completely unsubstantiated claim that the Republicans are out to destroy American higher education.

Anyone who uses the phrase “extraordinarily unique” is not someone whom you should trust to evaluate what constitutes an excellent education.