Fast Crimes at Lambda School
June 19, 2024 4:58 PM Subscribe
Fast Crimes at Lambda School is a long-form article about a sort of a spin on the notion of code bootcamps that was the darling of Silicon Valley for a time. It hinges on the idea of “ISAs” or agreements to pay a portion of your first year’s income rather than a fixed tuition. On the face of it, this seems like a great opportunity for the students, but, as you might expect, there were some drawbacks. The chief one appears to have been its being at least partly a scam.
I am quite troubled by the apparently-eternally-rising cost of universities. It would be nice if a solution presented itself. I guess this isn’t it, but I am confident someone will propose one in the comments.
I am quite troubled by the apparently-eternally-rising cost of universities. It would be nice if a solution presented itself. I guess this isn’t it, but I am confident someone will propose one in the comments.
I think your musing about universities is more topical an important. When uni became a requirement and glamor industry, they seemed to take on massive debt during a period of artificially suppressed interest by the national banks. How does a glamorous 20 million (mostly unused as I walk by huge windows) exercise spas contribute to the intelectual success of students. (I'm very pro athletics). Anyway the bill may come due and are schools in the category of too big to fail?
It would be nice if a solution presented itself.
How about boosting the community college system, make it more rigorous, more valuable to students, and cheaper/free.
posted by sammyo at 5:14 PM on June 19 [9 favorites]
It would be nice if a solution presented itself.
How about boosting the community college system, make it more rigorous, more valuable to students, and cheaper/free.
posted by sammyo at 5:14 PM on June 19 [9 favorites]
How about boosting the community college system, make it more rigorous, more valuable to students, and cheaper/free
New York is doing this [ny.gov]
posted by HearHere at 5:26 PM on June 19 [1 favorite]
New York is doing this [ny.gov]
posted by HearHere at 5:26 PM on June 19 [1 favorite]
Mod note: One comment removed. Please be considerate and respectful and help foster good discussion by focusing on the subject of the post and less about whether you personally like the format of the shared link.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:22 PM on June 19 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:22 PM on June 19 [2 favorites]
Chronicle of Higher Ed regularly places skyrocketing state university costs at the hands of 1)administrator salaries skyrocketing. 2)non-academic facilities and services like luxury dorms and gyms 3)decreasing state support. They spend lots of time arguing about which is worse and which can be improved at what kinds of institutions, but that's the widely agreed upon general shape of why public university costs have gone so stupidly high this century.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:03 PM on June 19 [15 favorites]
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:03 PM on June 19 [15 favorites]
From the article:
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:14 PM on June 19 [10 favorites]
Austen pitched investors that the real problem in higher education is how schools make money regardless of whether or not you get a job. If schools only got paid when a student makes money, there's "Incentive Alignment." VCs like Graham fell for it because if all you know is capitalism, everything looks like a free-market problem.BLEEEEEECH
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:14 PM on June 19 [10 favorites]
Rich entrepreneurs often don't understand, and often don't care to understand, the potential blast radiuses of their businesses failing.
I think there's often a belief that, well, startups fail, and that's just how it goes. But there's a big difference between three guys in a WeWork shutting down their GPT-enabled NFT sales analytics software business and this.
Speaking of coworking spaces, you also see this dynamic with a lot of the "landlord but a cool landlord" types of businesses. I remember stories in the wake of the "maker space" boom where craftspeople who had signed up to use spaces and maybe teach classes got 72 hours to move thousands of dollars in personal equipment—like huge letterpress equipment or CNC routers—before the owners padlocked the door. Same with restaurateurs in food halls, and even some unlucky Airbnb guests.
posted by smelendez at 7:27 PM on June 19 [18 favorites]
I think there's often a belief that, well, startups fail, and that's just how it goes. But there's a big difference between three guys in a WeWork shutting down their GPT-enabled NFT sales analytics software business and this.
Speaking of coworking spaces, you also see this dynamic with a lot of the "landlord but a cool landlord" types of businesses. I remember stories in the wake of the "maker space" boom where craftspeople who had signed up to use spaces and maybe teach classes got 72 hours to move thousands of dollars in personal equipment—like huge letterpress equipment or CNC routers—before the owners padlocked the door. Same with restaurateurs in food halls, and even some unlucky Airbnb guests.
posted by smelendez at 7:27 PM on June 19 [18 favorites]
Excellent burn here:
Following the leaks, the company lost control of the narrative and their cheerleaders turned on them, realizing Lambda School was just another Uber, an unethical, untenable, profit-driven startup who took a gambit evading the law, hoping to grow too big to fail before the law catches up. Except Uber was good at being bad, and Lambda School combined malfeasance with incompetence, burning up to $11.8 million per quarter on a business that didn't work.
posted by chavenet at 1:44 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]
Following the leaks, the company lost control of the narrative and their cheerleaders turned on them, realizing Lambda School was just another Uber, an unethical, untenable, profit-driven startup who took a gambit evading the law, hoping to grow too big to fail before the law catches up. Except Uber was good at being bad, and Lambda School combined malfeasance with incompetence, burning up to $11.8 million per quarter on a business that didn't work.
posted by chavenet at 1:44 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]
I feel like the solution to expensive private education is free public education.
posted by krisjohn at 2:40 AM on June 20 [5 favorites]
posted by krisjohn at 2:40 AM on June 20 [5 favorites]
regarding the post title: I see what you did there. *hat tip*
posted by hearthpig at 4:15 AM on June 20
posted by hearthpig at 4:15 AM on June 20
Super impressed with Vincent Woo's work here. In general and especially this spicy, spicy interview.
posted by daveliepmann at 4:55 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
posted by daveliepmann at 4:55 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
Early on, this very chilling line:
In an interview with Wired that year, Austen said his next target was nursing.
There's a chronic nursing shortage, exacerbated by nurses bearing the brunt of the damage caused to healthcare during the pandemic and leaving the profession, and nursing schools are literally begging for students. That was one big bullet dodged.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:32 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]
In an interview with Wired that year, Austen said his next target was nursing.
There's a chronic nursing shortage, exacerbated by nurses bearing the brunt of the damage caused to healthcare during the pandemic and leaving the profession, and nursing schools are literally begging for students. That was one big bullet dodged.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:32 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]
I obviously can't speak to all states, but as a 30 year community college instructor, I take some offense to the statement that community colleges need more rigor. The research that I'm aware of show that community college transfer students perform equal to, and often better than, native university students as they finish their degree work.
small classes, teachers who have terminal degrees(not T.A.s), and regular review of course objectives and outcomes makes for strong courses. One of the most common comments that I get from students who come to the community college after trying university first is that our courses are much more rigorous.
In my state, there's a statewide program for community colleges where our general education course have a common set of learning objectives that every school has to follow. Because of this, the 4 year schools accept our courses more readily - even though the 4 year schools have NO such agreement, nor do they have to follow that same common set of objectives. I'd argue that we need more rigor at the university level, not the community college level.
posted by jkosmicki at 5:52 AM on June 20 [17 favorites]
small classes, teachers who have terminal degrees(not T.A.s), and regular review of course objectives and outcomes makes for strong courses. One of the most common comments that I get from students who come to the community college after trying university first is that our courses are much more rigorous.
In my state, there's a statewide program for community colleges where our general education course have a common set of learning objectives that every school has to follow. Because of this, the 4 year schools accept our courses more readily - even though the 4 year schools have NO such agreement, nor do they have to follow that same common set of objectives. I'd argue that we need more rigor at the university level, not the community college level.
posted by jkosmicki at 5:52 AM on June 20 [17 favorites]
I feel like the solution to expensive private education is free public education.
Gough Whitlam agreed with you.
Then the late Eighties happened, the world lost its fucking mind, and we got the Dawkins reforms along with the rest of the conrat pathology that afflicts us all to this day.
posted by flabdablet at 6:53 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
Gough Whitlam agreed with you.
Then the late Eighties happened, the world lost its fucking mind, and we got the Dawkins reforms along with the rest of the conrat pathology that afflicts us all to this day.
posted by flabdablet at 6:53 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
small classes, teachers who have terminal degrees(not T.A.s), and regular review of course objectives and outcomes makes for strong courses. One of the most common comments that I get from students who come to the community college after trying university first is that our courses are much more rigorous.
I can certainly believe that, at least for my first couple of years of college, I would have been better served by that than by sitting in big lecture halls being taught by TAs who, at best, were still coming into basic teaching skills. Not all of my classes were like that, but enough were. And, based on my later exposure to CC classes and students, the student population would have been much more diverse and interesting to be around.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:58 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]
I can certainly believe that, at least for my first couple of years of college, I would have been better served by that than by sitting in big lecture halls being taught by TAs who, at best, were still coming into basic teaching skills. Not all of my classes were like that, but enough were. And, based on my later exposure to CC classes and students, the student population would have been much more diverse and interesting to be around.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:58 AM on June 20 [1 favorite]
Chronicle of Higher Ed regularly places skyrocketing state university costs at the hands of 1)administrator salaries skyrocketing. 2)non-academic facilities and services like luxury dorms and gyms 3)decreasing state support.
The number of administrators is increasing because the financial reporting, security, online classes administration, and just general reporting costs of universities are going up. I guess you could cut these costs, drop your online and internet/network security apparatus, and just hope for the best...but these aren't going to decrease. Or some single big firm will standardize and take it all over for every university. That's a legit way to cut costs. But is that a good idea? No, not really.
Non-academic facilities are increasing because colleges are fighting for the best students, which are also (generally) more financially well-off then your average student, so are they going to accept 1950s style cinderblock dorms with 2 to a room and shared bathroom facilities down the hall? Generally, no they are not. So if the university is super exclusive and students beg for placement, they can bank all that money, but every other university is competing and has to play that game, because all the university ranking statistics are based around graduation rates and educational options, so feel free to cut and watch your rankings fall. So those costs aren't going down.
Decreasing state support: Yep. Anyone see that changing? No? So those costs aren't going down either.
University is going to continue to get more expensive, and the split between haves and have nots will continue to grow.
I took a few CC courses - they were all fine, generally similar to university, but the difference is that CC aren't as selective (vast majority don't have entry requirements) so the courses aren't going to be as hard because if they were, then you'd be failing (not only literally but failing their futures) a large number of people.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:49 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]
The number of administrators is increasing because the financial reporting, security, online classes administration, and just general reporting costs of universities are going up. I guess you could cut these costs, drop your online and internet/network security apparatus, and just hope for the best...but these aren't going to decrease. Or some single big firm will standardize and take it all over for every university. That's a legit way to cut costs. But is that a good idea? No, not really.
Non-academic facilities are increasing because colleges are fighting for the best students, which are also (generally) more financially well-off then your average student, so are they going to accept 1950s style cinderblock dorms with 2 to a room and shared bathroom facilities down the hall? Generally, no they are not. So if the university is super exclusive and students beg for placement, they can bank all that money, but every other university is competing and has to play that game, because all the university ranking statistics are based around graduation rates and educational options, so feel free to cut and watch your rankings fall. So those costs aren't going down.
Decreasing state support: Yep. Anyone see that changing? No? So those costs aren't going down either.
University is going to continue to get more expensive, and the split between haves and have nots will continue to grow.
I took a few CC courses - they were all fine, generally similar to university, but the difference is that CC aren't as selective (vast majority don't have entry requirements) so the courses aren't going to be as hard because if they were, then you'd be failing (not only literally but failing their futures) a large number of people.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:49 AM on June 20 [3 favorites]
> The number of administrators is increasing because the financial reporting, security…
Perhaps. But that doesn’t explain the divergence between administrator salaries and faculty salaries. Also, a lot of the administrative work can be and is computerized. A lot of the teaching work which requires face-to-face interaction, can not.
I think if the system were working fairly, there might be a slightly higher number of administrators, but they would not be getting pay raises that dramatically outpace faculty.
Something else is going on.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 10:27 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
Perhaps. But that doesn’t explain the divergence between administrator salaries and faculty salaries. Also, a lot of the administrative work can be and is computerized. A lot of the teaching work which requires face-to-face interaction, can not.
I think if the system were working fairly, there might be a slightly higher number of administrators, but they would not be getting pay raises that dramatically outpace faculty.
Something else is going on.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 10:27 AM on June 20 [2 favorites]
Administrators have a lot more influence over administrator salaries than teachers do over teacher salaries.
posted by caphector at 12:31 PM on June 20
posted by caphector at 12:31 PM on June 20
If a university was required to non-faculty positions and salaries to the point that the ratio of aggregate faculty pay to aggregate non-faculty pay of (say) 1974 ... it could do so. All that is lacking is the will to require it.
posted by MattD at 1:24 PM on June 20
posted by MattD at 1:24 PM on June 20
Just finished the article, BTW, and one of the things that I got out of it was The Narcissist's Prayer:
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:59 PM on June 20 [3 favorites]
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:59 PM on June 20 [3 favorites]
Perhaps. But that doesn’t explain the divergence between administrator salaries and faculty salaries. Also, a lot of the administrative work can be and is computerized. A lot of the teaching work which requires face-to-face interaction, can not.
I honestly think that statement is far too generic to be useful. Some administrative work can be computerized, but then you need an administrator to verify that it's done and done properly. Some of the administrative support staff is paid far less than faculty. Some are paid more. it depends on the college within the university as well, and the number of people who have that degree. History, for example, is way over-subscribed.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:16 PM on June 20
I honestly think that statement is far too generic to be useful. Some administrative work can be computerized, but then you need an administrator to verify that it's done and done properly. Some of the administrative support staff is paid far less than faculty. Some are paid more. it depends on the college within the university as well, and the number of people who have that degree. History, for example, is way over-subscribed.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:16 PM on June 20
I feel like the solution to expensive private education is free public education.
Not wrong, but poorly framed (at least for the US). If you want the powers fighting education tooth and nail to change tack, you need to take a page out of the hard-right playbook and turn it into a nationalistic call-to-arms.
- How are we gonna beat the Commi...er...China if we don't out engineer them!
- If you aren't more educated than the average Commi...er...Russian, they've won!
- You don't want to poors and the brown people rioting in your neighborhood and defunding police? Put them in school!
You just need better propaganda and the message that makes them say "I can hurt someone I don't like by educating everyone? It's a MORAL IMPERATIVE!".
posted by kjs3 at 5:03 PM on June 21
Not wrong, but poorly framed (at least for the US). If you want the powers fighting education tooth and nail to change tack, you need to take a page out of the hard-right playbook and turn it into a nationalistic call-to-arms.
- How are we gonna beat the Commi...er...China if we don't out engineer them!
- If you aren't more educated than the average Commi...er...Russian, they've won!
- You don't want to poors and the brown people rioting in your neighborhood and defunding police? Put them in school!
You just need better propaganda and the message that makes them say "I can hurt someone I don't like by educating everyone? It's a MORAL IMPERATIVE!".
posted by kjs3 at 5:03 PM on June 21
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posted by dumbland at 5:08 PM on June 19 [27 favorites]