In a basic growth model, some finite resource is consumed at a rate such that the resource is eventually depleted. When that happens the growth that was dependent on that resource stops and the system begins to collapse. If it happens that the resource is renewable eventually the rate of consumption matches the rate of [...]
Each year brings to the business world a new swarm of buzzwords. Many are last year’s buzzwords, humming the same tune at a different pitch, fighting to find new life in the buzzword-eat-buzzword business world. Others are new arrivals from beyond the information horizon. I caught one of the new ones in my net earlier [...]
From the genius of David Burge comes an enhancement to my modest proposal for gently deflating the higher education bubble: In the name of Consumer Protection, recent college graduates should have the ability to return the diploma and not make any reference to receiving education from the college in exchange for a 100% refund of [...]
A colleague of mine is of the opinion that “we won’t have truly evolved as a species until we stop doing things simply because we can. Perhaps it is more like we won’t know we have truly evolved as a species until we stop doing things because we can.” I counter with the opinion that [...]
Earlier I proposed the idea of repossessing credentials for students who default on student loans. This past week, an improvement to this proposal has come to light. The idea is described by Michael Simkovi in an excellent Social Science Research Network paper titled “Risk Based Student Loans.” Without risk-based pricing of student loans, there may [...]
A question came up in conversation yesterday whether or not universities and colleges “should” provide a broad based liberal education and mandate certain courses. The libertarian (lower case “L”) part of my conscience hollered “No!” It implies students are incapable of determining their own futures and deciding for themselves what is of interest. Establishing class [...]
Interesting article: A Boom Time for Education Start-Ups The dollar amounts mentioned in this article are impressive. The growth even more so. But what is particularly interesting is the formula. Start with a large bowl of fresh Internet Add 10 years of Moore’s Law seasoned hardware advances (broadband, wifi, “stuff in the cloud”) Add millions [...]
“Ignorance of a law is no excuse,” a judge might admonish, “for having broken a law.” But apparently, ignorance of the contractual agreements one signs is an excuse for not fulfilling the terms of the contract. For those of us paying taxes, the various financial bailouts of the past several years have left us paying [...]