Author Archives: Jonathan Edelstein

Reading Questions- 4/24 Jonathan Edelstein

Do you think college should cost a different amount for students pursuing a liberal arts degree. Is a liberal arts education worth less because the starting salary is generally lower?

Is class size more important in a liberal arts classroom than in a more technical class? Can online learning be used in the liberal arts?

Do you think a liberal arts education should place more emphasis on quantitative reasoning AND verbal reasoning, rather than most majors focusing on one or the other?

Eventually, one has to learn a trade. When do you think is the right time to end a focus on the liberal arts and focus specifically on a certain career? Are the liberal arts that one is exposed to in high school enough to be considered well rounded?

Should colleges “force” students to take a certain number of liberal arts classes? Can such mandatory classes actually make student better citizens, or do they infringe on the right of the student to study whatever he or she desires?

Why are the liberal arts so commonly degraded in terms of job prospects? Wouldn’t a liberal arts degree strongly position graduates for any writing based, analytical career? There seems to be a myriad of different career opportunities a liberal arts education prepares one for. Can this idea that a liberal arts degree is inferior to a technical degree when it comes to jobs be viewed as a kind of self-fulfilling myth?

Questions for 4/16 – Jonathan Edelstein

1. If you had to choose, which would you say is more morally questionable, affirmative action or legacy admissions? Should the SCOTUS also be hearing cases regarding legacy admissions, or are legacy admissions less reprehensible because there is no racial discrimination per se?

2. Some colleges have informal deals with elite prep schools and usually consistently accept a certain number of students. On the one hand, this lends some sort of predictably for the colleges regarding the incoming class, but is this kind of policy really a meritocracy? Should this kind of policy be legal because it’s not based on race?

3. How far should colleges go to make up for perceived inequalities, and who should be the one making these decisions? For instance, a recent study determined that children with divorced parents on average have lower grades. Should these students receive preferential treatment? What about students who live under constant bickering by parents? What about a student with a demonstrable low IQ score? Is there any way we can fairly decide where to set the line for helping students, or should we just come to the reality that life isn’t fair, and attempt to rectify these differences much earlier than college?

4. It has been proposed that colleges should consider income diversity as they do racial diversity. How can colleges “equally” consider different kinds of diversity? Isn’t a holistic diversity admissions process too subjective, and in the absence of transparent oversight, difficult to enforce?

5. I think everyone would agree that the issue of affirmative action is a complex one and that intellectually sound arguments can be made for and against it. Therefore, shouldn’t a ballot referendum have the power to decide the legality of affirmative action, as was attempted in Michigan? Shouldn’t the people have the power to decide to end a practice if that practice is perceived to be discriminatory, and stopping such a practice would not be discriminatory?

6. It has been suggested that affirmative action should be banned from school that are already considered diverse. What would happen if these schools become less diverse again in the future. Should those schools consistently be audited for diversity and allowed to use affirmative action again when they fail their diversity requirements?

April 10 Reading Questions – Jonathan Edelstein

Do you think MOOCS will internationalize the education system and create a winner takes all education system? Will this inadvertently harm the majority of teachers in favor of helping the students and a select few of extremely talented teachers?
The Economist notes, “Corporate-academic partnerships will form an increasing part of the university experience.” Do you think that a corporation singlehandedly would be able to make a successful, academically respected college? Currently, universities such as the University of Phoenix are not necessarily considered “prestigious.” Do you think successful branding will be able to change this in the future?
Anne Eisenberg of the New York Times notes that college instructors are beginning to rely on online proctoring services to maintain online academic integrity. One such service is ProctorU. Do you think that the main reason employers have been reluctant to fully accept online certificates is the perceived lackadaisical oversight during online exams, and will an increase in student surveillance during exams lend external perceived credibility to these programs?

4. In, “Catfished”, Rob Jenkins argues that students will not be able to be monitored effectively when they use MOOCs. Do you think the technology of ProctorU will be justas effective as a live proctor? Or will students always be able to cheat with relative ease in such a system?

5. In, “Innovations in Higher Education? Hah!” Ann Kirschner argues that colleges are too complacent in the face of emerging, potentially disruptive technologies. Colleges won’t really have a direct incentive to change. Do you think this is giving the independent MOOCS a major advantage in penetrating this market, and do you think by the time the colleges respond it will be too late?

6. Do you think MOOCs could significantly reduce the cost of college, while significantly improving the quality of education if implemented properly? Do you think that MOOCs will challenge primarily community colleges or can they even disrupt the elite college infrastructure?

Jonathan Edelstein Reading Questions for 4/3/2013

1. Do you think that it is possible for colleges to remain competitive in terms of resources and research

and still cut costs to allow the brightest students access?

2. Moody’s notes that more students are opting to, “enter the workforce without the benefit of a college

education.” Do you think such a move would weaken the global economic competitiveness of the United

States with that of other nations, especially because the bulk of our GDP consists or highly skilled

services?

3. To what extent should the government intervene and subsidize college education? Should college

education be viewed as a public good especially now that it is practically required for most entry level

jobs and therefore should it be completely subsidized by the tax payers, like the public school

system is ?

4. Why do you think that the seemingly corrupt, exorbitant administrative fees in many colleges, like the

University of Colorado, are seldom challenged by students? Do you think information flow may

be a problem?

5. Many sates are moving away from need based aid. What do you think is an equitable balance in

which a college can have the best students attend, but also have disadvantaged students attend?

Perhaps the disadvantage students have just as high a potential as the more qualified students, but

were merely disadvantaged in their education and time commitment available for education.

6. Is it even ethical for someone who is born more intelligent and is also wealthy enough to afford a

college education to be given an even larger economic advantage through merit aid?

General Interview Questions – Jonathan Edelstein

1) What do you think is more important in a college, economic diversity or racial and ethnic diversity? If both are important, why do many colleges currently favor racial diversity over economic diversity?

2 ) Regarding the above question, if colleges are to be viewed as businesses, then do you think it would make sense for them to target primarily wealthy students?3) Do you think college admissions should be more objective, relying more on test scores and grade point averages? Although it’s surely important to check student’s “personalities” through essays and extra-curricular activities, don’t you think that the current system is too subjective and conveniently allows colleges to accept students who do not academically qualify relative to their peers (legacy admissions) under the guise of those students having “superior” extra-curricular.

4) Do you think colleges are morally responsible for encouraging students to view their salary expectation upon graduation by major before allowing student to even submit an application fee?

5) If the Federal Government stopped handing out student loans or at least made it more difficult to obtain such loans, do you think college costs will necessarily decrease because of the decreased demand or will this just encourage colleges to target wealthier students? Also, do you think such a policy would be beneficial to many Americans, because there would be a lower number of degree holders, making corporations more willing to hire lower-skilled workers without a college diploma, causing college prices to drop further for those that can still afford college or can afford to take out private loans?

6) Many colleges claim that they are “need blind”. Do you think that there should be some external agency verifying the veracity of those college’s claims? Assuming tuition of $50000 per year, the college has $200000 to lose over a student’s total time at college (4 years) so colleges would have a major incentive to not comply with their “need blind” claims.