What Scala?

[superdan]

Sean Kelly Wrote:

> Walter Bright wrote:
> > Nick Sabalausky wrote:
> >> Well, when it comes to college, what you're paying for are the classes 
> >> and the degree (and, of course, books/room/board). So I'm certainly 
> >> going to measure it's worth with that in mind. Having a dinner with 
> >> Carl Segan, as great as he was, is hardly worth $100,000, unless 
> >> you're filthy stinking rich. 
> > 
> > You could view it as paying for classes and a degree, and some colleges 
> > certainly operate it that way. I look at it as more of paying for the 
> > environment, much like I'd pay entry to a nice buffet filled with 
> > delicious treats to choose from <g>.
> 
> I think you really are paying for the degree--the environment is just a 
> perk, assuming you're lucky enough to be at a school that has such an 
> environment.
> 
> The first university I attended (I went to three altogether) was a 
> highly regarded school, particularly for their engineering program.  One 
> evening I was at a party and brought up some marginally intellectual 
> topic in conversation.  Someone standing nearby turned to me and said 
> "dude shut up, we're not in class."  That sadly typified the environment 
> at that particular university.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I transferred 
> away not long after.
> 
> The second university was closer to home, smaller, and had a more 
> study-oriented environment overall.  But it was also less challenging, 
> and didn't offer a single evening class.  I got a job in R&D while 
> looking for a job one summer and after a semester or two of juggling a 
> full-time job and day classes with an hour commute between the two I 
> couldn't take it any more and dropped out.  It was a decent school 
> overall, but certainly didn't have the kind of environment you're 
> talking about.
> 
> Finally, I decided to go back to school and finish my degree maybe six 
> years ago, and basically had to start from scratch.  I went to a local 
> community college to cover the distributional requirements and then 
> transferred to a state university.  A large segment of the students 
> commuted and many of them worked, which may help explain why most of 
> them seemed there for the degree rather than the education.  But many of 
> the professors were excellent and as I was some 15 years older than most 
> of the students I didn't really care about the student environment 
> anyway--I spent most of my time talking to the teachers instead.
> 
> I'm not sure if my experiences are typical, but I can say with 
> confidence that I've never been in an environment like you've described. 
>   If I had I probably would have enjoyed school a lot more, and may not 
> have taken 18 years to finish my undergrad degree :-)  I'm still 
> thinking about going back for my masters and possibly a phd, but 
> certainly not because of any fond memories I have of my time in college.

sup dawgz. good thread. my 2c follow. secondary education here sucks goat balls. dee told me in japan kids take exams since they was in da womb. my hardest exam in highschool was to break the nose of a moron before he broke mine. in us they let you take it too easy and assert yer shit and all dat shit. we have debate fucking class but no serious math n shit. my fist is debate. teach me fucking hard science thats wut school is 4. and if yer poor forget goin' to a decent college. teacher @ motherfucking comm college in east baltimore knew less pascal than me. and i fucking hate pascal.