Comments on: College Transparency: Uncharted Territory

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:22:29 +0000

Great article, Stacy. I’ve often used the comparison of govt subsidizing high education with govt subsidizing of health care to explain the high costs.

By: RanDomino

RanDomino — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:41:57 +0000

In an Anarchist society, centers of learning would be sponsored collaboratively by communities for their members and guests. There would be little (if any) distinction between students and teachers; some people might know more about certain topics, that's all. There would be no bureaucracy or administration whatsoever. Admissions would be by invitation. It would not be so much a 'campus' as a 'district'. Grades and diplomas are anachronisms today and unthinkable in the Anarchist university. If you leave as a better person and had a good time, then it was a success. Of course, this also requires the reworking of the rest of society, as the current purpose of the university system is to get more qualified for higher-paying jobs, which makes no sense in an Anarchist gift-economy.

By: Roderick Long

Roderick Long — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:33:36 +0000

An enormous amount of what college administrations do actually interferes with education rather than facilitating it -- meaning that a lot of administrative expenses are a deadweight loss. A more attractive model is the old University of Bologna, run by students and professors together with no administrative third-wheel: http://libertariannation.org/a/f13l3.html

By: Carlyle

Carlyle — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:10:52 +0000

I believe educational value can be quantified, but only in a subjective manner. For example, students would rate their past semester’s classes on a scale of 1-100, as well as numerous other aspects of campus life. They could then attach reasons as to why they chose such scores. Scores with ridiculous reasons that are not supported (great teacher with a failing grade, for example, or LOL THAT TEACHER WAS SO HAWT) would be thrown out. This would enable people to see colleges based on how the students that attend perceive the college, and quantify the value of the education (as well as other aspects of the college, such as food) based on the average of all students, and, potentially, based on other things such as race, income, etc. to see how people of their general socioeconomic “class” or lifestyle view the college.

Tying this is monetary value could be interesting, though. Perhaps students could also input how much they would be willing to pay for each class and meal, etc. (when given knowledge such as the cost of meals per day and teacher salary and other things to understand why it doesn’t cost $15 per year) and prices could be set and adjusted based on that.

By: Guy

Guy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:15:57 +0000

How does one quantify educational value?