From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Thu Nov 27 2003 - 21:12:33 MST
At 09:36 AM 27/11/03 -0700, you wrote:
>It wasn't until after I got an undergrad degree (B.Sc. EE) that I
>understood the true purpose of universities is not education but research.
>Professors have to teach undergrad courses (and often resent the fact) in
>order to support their true interest, their research. Once you understand
>this, a lot of related facts make sense.
Research is certainly one part of the reason for universities. And the
higher status the university has the more important research is to the
professors. But why do parents value going to one of these places high
enough to pay the incredible tab? If you are sending a son there, it is
the place he can make the social contacts that will let him do very high
status things like become president.
If you are sending a daughter there, she has a chance of marrying one of
those upward status sons and having very high status children with
excellent chances for survival
The fact that high status people have small numbers of children and that
you don't need super high status to survive now has not yet sunk into the
genes.
Give it another million years. :-)
But from a student's viewpoint, making those high social contacts are what
makes the long run difference be Princeton and State U. Pity I was
absolutely clueless about this fact when I could have done something with it.
Keith Henson
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