Totally agree with you, esp. regarding university faculty, many of whom are simply in their position by virtue of their qualifications and ability to attract research funding; some of these have very poor people-relationship skills, very wanting teaching skills. This is an area that universities must interrogate deeply and find best ways to improve and make student-faculty experience richer. Universities are businesses; money drives decisions. Great points, Andy! 👍👍👍
It's faulty thinking to state that the system is not the people. People make the system and can change it, but they must act. People have to change the system to work for the benefit of all.
"they aggressively defend their reputation" I personally experienced this one over and over again. There is a very cult-like suppression of discussing the value and outcomes of graduate education. If you have any critique at all, even validated ones, you risk putting a target on yourself--exactly as you said.
What they don't want to tell you: What you think: Universities are a great place to learn and further knowledge and use that knowledge to either benefit the industry or academia What they are: An institution like any other whose only goal is to play on those hopes of what you think to milk every penny and time out of your life as they can to make themselves rich; with the added advantage of calling themselves non-profit to make more money
Speaking of younger colleges, I went to APUS for many years. It was the first ever university to be fully online... Which is extremely young for a college. However, the website worked, the professors worked, and while no one really became friends because this was over the internet we all learned stuff.
Went to a state school in New York for my undergrad. I was a biology major. For my chemistry and biology and physics classes, there was a 50-50 split, there were some really good professors that were good at being teachers. But, the other 50% were rubbish teachers. They were wicked smart, but they were really bad teachers. The politics of the thing was so annoying.
Thank you so much for everything. Your videos helped me a lot. I was so depressed to handle the situation. Finally, I gotta the courage to change the Professor.
All of his points are so very true. Two things saved me: One, I was a Teaching Assistant with a full tuition waiver so my grad degree was free. Two, I found very good employment in the private sector then later in academic admin, with high wages and good pensions. Bottom line, Andy is correct: Do your grad degrees for pure love, but don't bet that you'll get a career from it. And don't spend much money on it. Student debt is a black hole with very poor financial results.
What Universities Don't Want You To Know- that the university academic hierarchy exists and flows down from the top due to their relationships to the government. The government research grants are the toxicity source. So to change or overhaul the whole university academic system of "Publish or Perish", "Publications as means to attain tenure and professorship", etc...it has to start from the government itself.
As an academic, like yourself Andy, I always find your videos interesting. I would like to recommend to your subscribers, Bill Readings book 'The University in Ruins'. It was hugely influential on my own PhD thesis. It's about the neoliberal university. Witty and clever, and written by an academic...
It's not in their hands, these systems pushed by governments. They just response to systems designed for them, if people want Change, they should push it through the political systems
The classic theory of teaching in a university is that public school teachers are experts in teaching, but by the time a student gets to university they don’t need an expert teacher. They need a content expert. This idea is coming under attack in recent decades because first of all public school teachers are not great teachers. Students, in introductory university classes still need a lot of handholding. Also nowadays universities are concerned with student retention, especially in disciplines like physics were student numbers are critically low.
Yes, teachers at universities are a bit rubbish. Most university teachers have little formal training in instruction, and they're not incentivized to work on instructional skills. I've been to a few different R1 universities in the US for undergraduate and graduate degrees. These are the universities of the highest research caliber, so there's even less incentive to work on instructional skills. I'm finishing a PhD now at an R1 institution. Most of my instructors did not write learning objectives that fostered the development of metacognitive skills. The lack of clear objectives usually funneled down into unclear directions and purposes for formative and summative assignments. I more often than not could not identify analytic and thinking skills that the instructors were trying to teach us. There are mechanisms of learning and skill acquisition that have been studied ad nauseum in education and psychology. However, evidence-based teaching does not happen in larger institutions for the reasons described in this video. I've not been to a smaller institution or a liberal arts college, but I'd suspect they offer better undergraduate learning experiences. I'll probably send my children to one for their undergraduate experiences...
Thanks Andy. Does studying at top ranked Universities advantageous than low ranked Unis? Perhaps a video that expands more on that subject would really help!
Some careers like becoming a Lawyer like to be from certain universities but that is becoming less common I think. Very low ranking universities should be avoided - but the middle ground is just as good for some courses.
Thanks for this. It is all true. I had a very rewarding career and used my spare cash to study degrees in the evening, just for the joy of learning. The teaching, as you quite rightly say, is very poor. But the intellectual stimulation was invaluable!
Related university is a business and they're just protecting their rep, I know a few people and heard a few more stories about people who were encouraged by their universities to drop out or take a break when they were going through health crisis, physical and mental. To some extent, it makes sense, universities aren't daycares. Plus, universities are terrified of someone dying or having a serious accident or mental break on campus because it will stain their reputation. But part of selling a university to prospective students is the lure of building social circles. But when you're at your lowest, they will absolutely try to get rid of you. People should be told that before they go anywhere. How many young adults would want to fly off to the other side of the country, or even leave their country if they knew that if something happened to them they'll be far away from their support systems and the new ones they built won't last?
No it's because administrations exploded 100x bigger than they were 30 years ago. You had more faculty than administrators back then, now you have far far far more administrators than faculty. Because it's incestuous and there's 200 people applying for every assistant professorship, and most don't get it so they end up working on campus somewhere as a wagie
From experience I would be very careful and deeply investigate the school you are considering. For example FAU in Boca Raton Florida is garbage! I went from making straight A's to D's and F's. The teachers had been there 20 to 30 yrs teaching the same worthless information. I wasted 2 years when I could of already graduated and been in Graduate school. I graduated in 1997 so thank God the tuition was covered by my student loans. Aviod Psychology as a major unless you are determined to be a Clinical Psychologist. My B.A. in Psychology let's me make $15 an hour as a mental health tech. McDonald's pays $16 an hour to start. I would avoid college and learn how to start a weekly webmaster. Selling t-shirts and coffee mugs. $5 per subscriber times 1000 is $5000 a month and you're the boss. Working for others is a one way ticket to the nuthouse. All I can say is I lived very well for free going to school and I never paid back a cent and never intended to. The US Government arrested me and violated all my rights and cost me a small fortune. That's OK...
I live in France, education here is a disaster, as the world burns, education scientists fight over grants and place their cronies to take over over research departments, disgraceful. They do not do statics and their research is always super bias. They pick teachers and make programs (curriculum is a dangerous no-no word in France) for primary and secondary education then they complain about how bad the students are terrible at writing and spelling. The failure rate is made-up has nothing to do with student capabilities in primary and secondary schools, at university fail rate is 50 % and a third of students are stuck in first year. At university teacher and professors are tyrannical and often do not take into account what people can do, success is entirely dependent on being friends with faculty otherwise doing anything is like fighting against the current. They are so incompetent that they do not even give a reading list before the beginning of the semester, you have to read 5 to 10 books on different subjects, plus what your own research entails and of course any work you have to do to actually be able to live. It is a complicated headache to solve without help you are just done, better leave and find a job. Having subsidized schools does not help, rather it makes impossible to fire anyone and the selection process is so bias that only people who are perfectly aligned can have a chance to get hired.
I am a forensic science graduate. Being unemployed for several months and now I am doing a PhD in chemistry 😅. Truth hurts but I like all you videos.
So you want to have a PhD and unemployed! That's great plan 👍 👌
I'm a forensic science final stage phd student and I'm just winging it until I plunge into the abyss
I am currently an MA student and you stating those facts definitely make me worry and cautious about what is to come.
Totally agree with you, esp. regarding university faculty, many of whom are simply in their position by virtue of their qualifications and ability to attract research funding; some of these have very poor people-relationship skills, very wanting teaching skills. This is an area that universities must interrogate deeply and find best ways to improve and make student-faculty experience richer. Universities are businesses; money drives decisions. Great points, Andy! 👍👍👍
Faculty can be okay. It's administrators who want to take you for as much as possible while pretending they are not and are on your side.
It's faulty thinking to state that the system is not the people. People make the system and can change it, but they must act. People have to change the system to work for the benefit of all.
You are like a Sensei to us 1st year PhD students.
finally, you mention about oppressive system!
"they aggressively defend their reputation"
I personally experienced this one over and over again. There is a very cult-like suppression of discussing the value and outcomes of graduate education. If you have any critique at all, even validated ones, you risk putting a target on yourself--exactly as you said.
What they don't want to tell you:
What you think: Universities are a great place to learn and further knowledge and use that knowledge to either benefit the industry or academia
What they are: An institution like any other whose only goal is to play on those hopes of what you think to milk every penny and time out of your life as they can to make themselves rich; with the added advantage of calling themselves non-profit to make more money
Speaking of younger colleges, I went to APUS for many years. It was the first ever university to be fully online... Which is extremely young for a college. However, the website worked, the professors worked, and while no one really became friends because this was over the internet we all learned stuff.
You have such a wealth of knowledge. Thank you for sharing it!
My pleasure!
Went to a state school in New York for my undergrad. I was a biology major. For my chemistry and biology and physics classes, there was a 50-50 split, there were some really good professors that were good at being teachers. But, the other 50% were rubbish teachers. They were wicked smart, but they were really bad teachers. The politics of the thing was so annoying.
I'm a brazilian postdoc working at the USA. your videos are very helpful for me.
Thank you so much for everything. Your videos helped me a lot. I was so depressed to handle the situation. Finally, I gotta the courage to change the Professor.
Omg the second point...these Univ teachers are just sad!! I'm suffering under one..😭
All of his points are so very true. Two things saved me: One, I was a Teaching Assistant with a full tuition waiver so my grad degree was free.
Two, I found very good employment in the private sector then later in academic admin, with high wages and good pensions. Bottom line, Andy is correct: Do your grad degrees for pure love, but don't bet that you'll get a career from it. And don't spend much money on it. Student debt is a black hole with very poor financial results.
Thank you for your good job. It is so true. People need to know before decide on PhD or postdoc. I wish I knew more few years ago
What Universities Don't Want You To Know- that the university academic hierarchy exists and flows down from the top due to their relationships to the government. The government research grants are the toxicity source. So to change or overhaul the whole university academic system of "Publish or Perish", "Publications as means to attain tenure and professorship", etc...it has to start from the government itself.
As an academic, like yourself Andy, I always find your videos interesting. I would like to recommend to your subscribers, Bill Readings book 'The University in Ruins'. It was hugely influential on my own PhD thesis. It's about the neoliberal university. Witty and clever, and written by an academic...
It's true. Universities should think about more than money. The future of the humanity is in their hands.
It's not in their hands, these systems pushed by governments. They just response to systems designed for them, if people want Change, they should push it through the political systems
The classic theory of teaching in a university is that public school teachers are experts in teaching, but by the time a student gets to university they don’t need an expert teacher. They need a content expert. This idea is coming under attack in recent decades because first of all public school teachers are not great teachers. Students, in introductory university classes still need a lot of handholding. Also nowadays universities are concerned with student retention, especially in disciplines like physics were student numbers are critically low.
The purpose of university is to absorb research money.....spot on!
Because the true output of a government, any government in the world is basic science.
Yes, teachers at universities are a bit rubbish. Most university teachers have little formal training in instruction, and they're not incentivized to work on instructional skills. I've been to a few different R1 universities in the US for undergraduate and graduate degrees. These are the universities of the highest research caliber, so there's even less incentive to work on instructional skills. I'm finishing a PhD now at an R1 institution. Most of my instructors did not write learning objectives that fostered the development of metacognitive skills. The lack of clear objectives usually funneled down into unclear directions and purposes for formative and summative assignments. I more often than not could not identify analytic and thinking skills that the instructors were trying to teach us. There are mechanisms of learning and skill acquisition that have been studied ad nauseum in education and psychology. However, evidence-based teaching does not happen in larger institutions for the reasons described in this video. I've not been to a smaller institution or a liberal arts college, but I'd suspect they offer better undergraduate learning experiences. I'll probably send my children to one for their undergraduate experiences...
Great points!
Thanks Andy.
Does studying at top ranked Universities advantageous than low ranked Unis?
Perhaps a video that expands more on that subject would really help!
Some careers like becoming a Lawyer like to be from certain universities but that is becoming less common I think. Very low ranking universities should be avoided - but the middle ground is just as good for some courses.
Nothing like the truth, thank you
Superb👌
Thanks for this. It is all true. I had a very rewarding career and used my spare cash to study degrees in the evening, just for the joy of learning.
The teaching, as you quite rightly say, is very poor. But the intellectual stimulation was invaluable!
A lot of these things are widely known.
Thank you very much.
Related university is a business and they're just protecting their rep, I know a few people and heard a few more stories about people who were encouraged by their universities to drop out or take a break when they were going through health crisis, physical and mental. To some extent, it makes sense, universities aren't daycares. Plus, universities are terrified of someone dying or having a serious accident or mental break on campus because it will stain their reputation. But part of selling a university to prospective students is the lure of building social circles. But when you're at your lowest, they will absolutely try to get rid of you. People should be told that before they go anywhere. How many young adults would want to fly off to the other side of the country, or even leave their country if they knew that if something happened to them they'll be far away from their support systems and the new ones they built won't last?
I loved this vid, thanks bro, Great info!
Glad it was helpful!
Opportunity cost is the most important variable in the equation...the prime years of your life...is it worth it?
No it's because administrations exploded 100x bigger than they were 30 years ago. You had more faculty than administrators back then, now you have far far far more administrators than faculty. Because it's incestuous and there's 200 people applying for every assistant professorship, and most don't get it so they end up working on campus somewhere as a wagie
Excelente análisis sobre como funcionan las universidades.
From experience I would be very careful and deeply investigate the school you are considering. For example FAU in Boca Raton Florida is garbage! I went from making straight A's to D's and F's. The teachers had been there 20 to 30 yrs teaching the same worthless information. I wasted 2 years when I could of already graduated and been in Graduate school. I graduated in 1997 so thank God the tuition was covered by my student loans. Aviod Psychology as a major unless you are determined to be a Clinical Psychologist. My B.A. in Psychology let's me make $15 an hour as a mental health tech. McDonald's pays $16 an hour to start. I would avoid college and learn how to start a weekly webmaster. Selling t-shirts and coffee mugs. $5 per subscriber times 1000 is $5000 a month and you're the boss. Working for others is a one way ticket to the nuthouse. All I can say is I lived very well for free going to school and I never paid back a cent and never intended to. The US Government arrested me and violated all my rights and cost me a small fortune. That's OK...
This hits hard on my face!!
3:20 yum yum yum 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👏
I live in France, education here is a disaster, as the world burns, education scientists fight over grants and place their cronies to take over over research departments, disgraceful. They do not do statics and their research is always super bias. They pick teachers and make programs (curriculum is a dangerous no-no word in France) for primary and secondary education then they complain about how bad the students are terrible at writing and spelling. The failure rate is made-up has nothing to do with student capabilities in primary and secondary schools, at university fail rate is 50 % and a third of students are stuck in first year. At university teacher and professors are tyrannical and often do not take into account what people can do, success is entirely dependent on being friends with faculty otherwise doing anything is like fighting against the current. They are so incompetent that they do not even give a reading list before the beginning of the semester, you have to read 5 to 10 books on different subjects, plus what your own research entails and of course any work you have to do to actually be able to live. It is a complicated headache to solve without help you are just done, better leave and find a job.
Having subsidized schools does not help, rather it makes impossible to fire anyone and the selection process is so bias that only people who are perfectly aligned can have a chance to get hired.
🐬