Universities As Brand Names

A thinking mind is vulnerable to be hit at times by a ``motion,`` an impulse that sparks a frenzy to render that ambiguous substance which has accumulated over a period of time. Sometimes such pebbles in the pond hit often, and many ripples are articulated in a short span, while sometimes the inspiration to liberate stagnation is more limited, coming less often. Whatever be the frequency or the magnitude of these ``motions,`` they have within them the potential for novel brilliance, for only virgin musings of the mind can bear such fruit...

Good education gives words to this motion. Good education liberates the mind and increases the frequency of this motion. And, ultimately, good education augments the magnitudes of the motion.

I would disagree. I think the American model of a liberal arts education is unparalleled in the world even today, though some pathblazing colleges have adopted this system outside North America. I`d like to see anyone challenge me and tell me that the liberal arts system, currently employed by most of America`s best universities (including Harvard, MIT, Yale that are mentioned in replies here) far outperforms the old British and Austrian post WWII systems still in use over the world.

Bush Jr. is an embarassment to Yale - but do understand that top-grade universities reserve a few spots each year for douches like him. This is how they maintain their connections to the ruling class, and to the silver-pocketed.

Not only does a liberal arts system instill critical thinking and cross-disciplinary skills, it also makes you a feeling, rather than simply a thinking, number-crunching machine. Which is what most universities not using a liberal arts system outside North America end up doing.

Bat,

Thanks! Keep us in the loop :)

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Ref 12-Head #26

[I am an Indian Muslim .Since my birth , I always lived under non
muslim rulers.]

Thank Allah for your lucky stars. Would you have wanted to be an East Pakistani from 1947 thru 1972? Would you like to be a Bangladeshi under Zia-ur-Rahman, Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia, etc.? Jyoti Basu starts looking good when you compare him to those turkeys.

[Like good old foreign rule with brand name religion and institution
such as st Xaviers,St Paul ,St James ,Don Bosco to go with it ...]

Again, that led you to your grad school and to the West as an honorable professional. You avoided enrolling in flight school! Aren`t you the lucky one!

i hope the writer wont mind my going on a tangent..

Saminasha to answer your question, for one they actually know my name! I mean when i was in a class of 100 students in Intro to accounting, i was just another number..there was no personal contact with the prof or a sense of ``belonging`` (for lack of a better word) I think to a very large extent its also the material being covered. Marxism, feminism, sociology are way more intense for me than learning how to crunch numbers and since the socialscience professors are engaged in research themselves, they offer alot of neat views. ALso they invite criticism, questioning, personal views (my first prof told me how social science borrows from feminism in that the ``personal`` becomes an important voice eg using ``I`` in research papers is ok etc) and are more accessible somehow. In business subjects, its all about logic and rationality and following steps, comprehending . Somehow socialscience subjects allow for more opinion, and introspection even, you look around and you can see stuff happening around the world that you study about - how great is that?!
But my biggest points would be - the emphases on approachability of prof, critical thinking, how they dont talk down, and they actually care about what you have to say.

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Bat,

Could you elaborate? How do your social science profs. engage you as compared to your business teachers? Any observations on methodology would be helpful.

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Anila,

Having studied at a North American University, i would have to agree with alot of what you say..indeed ``Research`` is what sets universities apart and makes one better than the other; tenure decisions are based on how many papers/books a professor has published more so than on how they teach.
Yet, research is a very important part of the university. I think the level of research a univ conducts has a link to its goals etc. Having said that, I do find it strange that Professors are not required to have a BEd or other training in the field of education itself - and yet theyre teaching at such high levels of academia

Indeed there is this ``brand``ness attached to universities. Obviously if you go to an Ivy league school, there`s nothing more ``impressive`` and if your school is God forbid a liberal arts college or univ, then youre way down there. Nonetheless these IvyLeague schools arent as bad as you paint them out to be..

Personally, when i was enrolled in a business degree, none of my professors ``engaged`` me and now that im in the education/social science faculty, most of my teachers have some sort of education-related background, i find it does make a difference.
thats a personal view though..

Part of the Pakistani mindset is that a degree entitles you to a job or a position - Consequently a degree from a prestigious institution should guarntee you a better job or a better position - Normally this is held true in countries dominated by the government culture ie ROI is never computed in evaluating an individual`s worth - rather it is
connections, impressions etc etc etc.....

In a free market economy results matter - and results matter on a ongoing basis - one is assessed based on one`s recent contributions to the bottom line not what one has accomplished in academia.... - Consequently there is great upward mobility for those who produce results .... On an average basis, the caliber of a Standford graduate is generally better ( not necessarily all the time ) than that of state uniuversity graduate... since the standford graduate had a more rigorous ciricullum, more facilities & resources and intense competition and a network of better accomplished individuals...... - Nonetheless once they enter industry they are on par ( a stanford vs a non stanford) in terms of resource availability and consequently it is up to their individual drive and resourcefulness and attitude ( thiis drives the above two) to succeed in their professional endeavors....

Therefore with an experienced individual accomplishments ( and to a certain degree networks) matter far more than academic accomplishments..... There is no value add in hiring a Stanford graduate if he produces less tha a state university graduate even if he is a fellow alumnus ..... People and companies are always attracted to star performers not star graduates.... and the two do not necessarily correlate.....

The bottom line to professional success is always a ``value add`` proposition - if one adds greater value to the tangible bottom line of an organization than he/she takes in -she/he will rise far ... if not you will end up in the garbage heap reardless of where you graduate from..... so the moral of the story is that better institutions give you a leg up competitively when entering the work force but the rest is up to you......

#12 tahmed32
#18 sac,

i dont have twins!!
was trying to see if that sort of query would put anila zanuib to the test.
guess she doesn`t care too much about the validity of her arguments, hence no replies were made.
so apparently all she cared about was putting her views forth and bas, running away.