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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"Fit" is a thing but my hope is that our children aren't in need of a particular fit. We discourage SLACs.[/quote]

The college professors in our family have the exact opposite opinion. They discourage large schools and any school with a big graduate program. They want all the kids in the family to attend a school where the primary focus of fully tenured professors is undergraduate education.[/quote]

If I were looking for advice for success and happiness in life, I would not look to college professors.[/quote]

This is advice on what makes for a good a college education.[/quote]

"College education" is about a lot more than direct interface with one's instructors, and a lot of professors don't understand that. It leads them to overvalue LACs, especially the kind that (over) produce PhDs. I'm not saying LACs are bad, but let's keep things in proportion.[/quote]

You say that as if LACs don't have those other things as well. [/quote]

* Diverse peer groups?
* Huge sporting events? 
* Decent career offices and OCR?
* Well resourced libraries? 
* A wide variety of specialized majors? 
* State of the art labs?

All of the above items could be construed as part of a good college education. Many LACs have none of them and some have none of them. I'm not saying LACs are bad. But it's a trade-off that's not worth it for most.[/quote]
And this is where I don't agree. 
Diverse peer groups-many LACs lead in the most diverse colleges in the country. Pre-AA Pomona was the most diverse college in America with Amherst leading behind.
Huge Sporting Events-This is not what a college education is about. This is how state schools avoid bankruptcy lmao.

Career offices-Most LACs have had these since the early 2000s. They realized if they want to attract people to a liberal arts curriculum, they needed to give appropriate career services. CMC had the highest salary of any graduating economics major in the entire country just this year.
Libraries-Depends on the college. My alma mater has a massive one that rivals state universities. Also most libraries have shared book agreements, so you don't need a book to physically be in the catalog to find it (and many kids have stopped reading outside of the course syllabi)

Specialized majors- Depends on the LAC, but also you don't need to specialize as an undergrad and LACs have proven it. You are not a professional getting an undergraduate degree, and, in most careers, you should NOT specialize for a four year degree. Breadth is more important.
State of the art labs-My favorite point to argue! STEM facilities at LACs often give you better use of equipment and more exposure than large colleges. It's great that UT has some of the best labs in the world, but most of its undergrad STEM students will never touch it. Having shiny things around you that you never use isn't a "pro" for your education.[/quote]

This is 30 percent cherry picking (CMC does have a great career office, Bard and Juniata don't; most LACs don't have extensive OCR, only a few); 30 percent exaggeration (some LACs have okay libraries, but none has the Widener stacks) and 40 percent pure cope (no one needs football games! outdated equipment is good because no one uses it!)

LACs are a great choice for a significant minority of students, but the way you're promoting them beggars credulity.[/quote]
Did you just compare a LAC library with perhaps the largest university library in America, and then accuse PP of cherry picking. Also, sports still exist when you are in college, just go to an actual game.[/quote]

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