Comments on: A Student’s Unlovely View of UC Berkeley http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:09:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Dale http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/#comment-29822 Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:10:09 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/#comment-29822 Economics at Berkeley?? "You knew I was a snake when you picked me up" said the snake to the frog. Economics at Berkeley?? “You knew I was a snake when you picked me up” said the snake to the frog.

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/#comment-29732 Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:14:19 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/#comment-29732 Yeah, there are two kinds of education: education that tries to make everyone the same -- assembly-line education -- and education that doesn't. Practically all discussion of education improvement among Berkeley professors is about how to do a better job of making everyone the same. How to raise lecture attendance, how to raise test performance, how to reduce plagiarism and cheating, etc. I have never heard this goal questioned. Yeah, there are two kinds of education: education that tries to make everyone the same — assembly-line education — and education that doesn’t. Practically all discussion of education improvement among Berkeley professors is about how to do a better job of making everyone the same. How to raise lecture attendance, how to raise test performance, how to reduce plagiarism and cheating, etc. I have never heard this goal questioned.

]]> by: Avinash http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/#comment-29729 Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:34:04 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2007/07/23/an-undergraduates-unlovely-view-of-uc-berkeley/#comment-29729 Hardly surprising. I've been at Cal for 3 years and can't say the university helped me at all. The only thing they emphasize at orientation is take requirements, buy your textbooks on time, go to office hours, study aimlessly for hours. Not that any of these things are bad, but it's all about learning to conform and it blows. No one tells you who to go to when you make mistakes, so you're pretty much left to fend for yourself when things go downhill. It's hard to feel connected to this place when you feel like you're being treated like disposables. The only great benefit is that I've been able to connect with all sorts of people I'd never get the chance to in another place. That's the real tangible benefit I'll get from graduating from here. Plus all this disgust at the system has slowly led me down another path that might make me happier in the long-run. But there is no love lost between Cal undergrads and their school. Adapt or die. Hardly surprising. I’ve been at Cal for 3 years and can’t say the university helped me at all. The only thing they emphasize at orientation is take requirements, buy your textbooks on time, go to office hours, study aimlessly for hours. Not that any of these things are bad, but it’s all about learning to conform and it blows. No one tells you who to go to when you make mistakes, so you’re pretty much left to fend for yourself when things go downhill. It’s hard to feel connected to this place when you feel like you’re being treated like disposables.

The only great benefit is that I’ve been able to connect with all sorts of people I’d never get the chance to in another place. That’s the real tangible benefit I’ll get from graduating from here. Plus all this disgust at the system has slowly led me down another path that might make me happier in the long-run. But there is no love lost between Cal undergrads and their school. Adapt or die.

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