March 6, 2015

"If you want to start taking classes at an Ivy League university unenrolled and undetected, says Guillaume Dumas, a 28-year-old Canadian, start with big lecture courses."

"If you must sit in on a smaller seminar class, it’s important to show up consistently starting with the first session, instead of halfway through the semester. Also, one of the best alibis is that you’re enrolled as a liberal-arts student. 'That's the kind of program that's filled with everything and that you expect people to be a bit weird, a bit confused about what they do,' he says. From 2008 to 2012, Dumas claims he did stints on a number of elite North American universities—Yale, Brown, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and McGill, to name a few—sitting in on classes, attending parties, and living near campus as if he were an enrolled student. This deception may sound like a lead-up to a true-crime story, but Dumas’s exploits appear to be harmless, done in a spirit of curiosity."

From an Atlantic article by Joe Pinsker titled "The Man Who Snuck Into the Ivy League Without Paying a Thing/Guillaume Dumas attended classes, made friends, and networked on some of America's most prestigious campuses—for free. What does this say about the value of a diploma?" I went to that article because Instapundit linked to it in a way that made me want to say exactly 1 thing, but now, I want to say 10 things, and the first one is the one that Instapundit, by quoting only the title, made me want to say.

1. What it says is the class sizes are too large.

2. Sitting in on large classes was, in fact, the (obvious) trick Dumas used.

3. For smaller classes, if my name were Dumas, I'd pick French Literature.



4. The author of the article stresses the lack of need for a degree, which is good news for Scott Walker. (I'm just dragging Scott Walker into whatever I can, because that's the thing now.)

5. The author of the article never addresses the ethics of stealing what others are paying for. He's presenting it as if the payment is for the "diploma" and not for all the services provided.

6. The author has interestingly misused the word "alibi." An alibi is a defense based on your being somewhere else, which is what "alibi" literally means in Latin. Dumas needed an explanation for why he was there, not for why he wasn't there.

7. Perhaps the author first learned the word "alibi" — as I did — from The Four Seasons: "Big girls don't cry/That's just an alibi." That's not right but it rhymes:



8. Speaking of the 1960s, there was a network sitcom about what Guillaume Dumas didn't actually invent. The sitcom was called "Hank":



9. Back in the days of "Hank," we used to call somebody who was doing that a "drop-in" — slang based on "drop-out."

10. You'd think the schools would do more to prevent theft of services from drop-ins, but when they are big and when they don't rely on high-level classroom discussion from prepared and qualified students, they are asking for it.

80 comments:

holdfast said...

The author of the article never addresses the ethics of stealing what others are paying for. He's presenting it as if the payment is for the "diploma" and not for all the services provided.

Flip that around - I think it quite nicely makes the point that in many cases, the credential is pretty much exactly what folks are paying for. At least Dumas had good attendance, unlike many of the folks I attended college with.

pm317 said...

Large classes teach you basics and nothing that would strengthen your resume. So be my guest, in my 101 Computing class.

buwaya said...

This is actually quite an ancient tradition. Many poor boys would attend lectures in European universities, tolerated by the professors. In my day anyone, even a non student, could ask to audit a class at the discretion of the professor.
This was when there were lax entrance requirements and students were expected to starve in garrets.

Jim Gust said...

Theft of services? When MIT and others are already giving away their lectures for free on the internet? I don't think anything is being lost, not even an opportunity cost.

Education wants to be free!

Mountain Maven said...

If he simply sat in on lectures and didn't do the reading, the assignments, study for and pass the exams, then all he did was pull off a stunt to gain his 15 minutes of fame.

MadisonMan said...

Whatever happened to taking attendance?

David said...

Let's see him start attending faculty meetings before we get too excited.

He could probably pull it off. It's really easy to walk into all kinds of places, if you can act as if you belong.

buwaya said...

Taking attendance is for children.
Treat university students as adults.

Emil Blatz said...

Dumas reminds us of comic great Marty Allen, no?

Nonapod said...

While not precisely what this guy was doing, the whole practice of auditing a course always seemed pretty neat to me.

Ann Althouse said...

"Theft of services? When MIT and others are already giving away their lectures for free on the internet? I don't think anything is being lost, not even an opportunity cost."

1. That's like saying if a concert is broadcast live on TV, it's okay to sneak into the auditorium.

2. Dumas participated in class and became part of what the other students paid attention to and had less opportunity to speak because of.

3. Not every class goes out on video.

clint said...

"10. You'd think the schools would do more to prevent theft of services from drop-ins, but when they are big and when they don't rely on high-level classroom discussion from prepared and qualified students, they are asking for it."

Why?

Nothing that happens in the classroom is either (a) the product being sold or (b) relevant to the job performance of the instructor.

The school is selling credentials, and hiring the professor to bring in grant money.

The classroom experience is of about equal importance to the parties in the dorms. Expect the administration to care equally about "townie" drop-ins at parties as at lectures.

Ann Althouse said...

"While not precisely what this guy was doing, the whole practice of auditing a course always seemed pretty neat to me."

There are procedures for auditing. If you want to audit, go in honestly.

At Wisconsin, if you're a senior citizen, you can audit free.

pm317 said...

In the Grad school, I had all the credits I needed for my graduation except for one course and had to wait for it come next Fall. I requested permission to sit in on a class in the Spring (didn't have money to fully enroll for the semester) and class was small like 10 students or less. The instructor agreed but then as I started attending the course, I was treated as a second class citizen in the class -- no handouts when everyone else got one, no encouragement and such. I kind of felt left out and left after about a couple of weeks. There were other kind of vibes too from him as in he didn't like foreign students. Now, I have been on the other side as a prof teaching UG and grad course, big and small, basics and advanced. I would never do what that guy did to a student who is interested in learning.

BarrySanders20 said...

"Dumas. It's pronounced Doo-mahs, not Dum-ass."

Shawshank Redemption.

I was friends with a kid in high school who did this. He was not accepted, but moved to Ithica anyway and sat in on classes at Cornell for two semesters in 1986-87. Did not audit, just went for the experience. And he did all of the reading and participated in class. Saved his wealthy folks a lot of dough that first year by doing it that way. Not sure what ever came of him.

chuck said...

IIRC, Steve Jobs sat in on some classes at Reed after he dropped out, including a calligraphy class that led to the Mac having multiple typefaces and proportionally spaced fonts.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Regarding #6 and the necessity for an excuse for being there: My father and his brother were Marines in the Korean War. Whenever they were caught somewhere they weren't supposed to be, they'd respond to "Hey! What are you two doing there?" with "Everybody's got to be SOMEWHERE."
This wit was not usually a big hit with the MPs.

pm317 said...

How many would be interested in doing what this guy did and consistently and for what purpose, if you can't get that piece of paper that says you were there legitimately. I would not call it a theft of service. I think it fine. Let us not go all Les Miserable over it.

B said...

I've sat in on a few classes. If you're just there to listen and there's space, most professors don't care. A small minority of professors will call you out and say you need to officially audit the class.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

In terms of ethics it is completely unethical. In terms of why the schools don't do more to stop it, it would cost more to stop it than to allow it.

In terms of the education he got, I expect it was worth every penny, but not much more. It never mentions him doing homework, or even buying textbooks. I would assume he got no feedback from quizzes, tests, papers, or other assignments. That's where most of the learning comes from, when you try to apply what you hear in the lecture to solve some problem or analyze some situation.

So he comes out with no practical knowledge, great social skills, and no ethics.

He has a great political career ahead of him.

B said...

Audit fees vary widely.

Some private universities charge the same price as if you're enrolled for a grade. That's absolutely absurd.

There's 0% chance the learning value of that course is a couple thousand dollars when there's MIT's opencourseware. The only reason to pay $5,000/class is if it gets you closer to a prestigious piece of parchment with your name on it.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Steve Jobs famously did this at Reed College, after deciding he didn't want his parents scrimping to pay his tuition.

If I watch a street performer in Harvard Square, and don't throw any money into the hat, that's not theft.

Is it all that different if I walk into a Harvard classroom? Many of the buildings are open to the public. They can lock me out of Harvard Yard, which they did during the Occupy movement in fall 2011. So they do know how.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Attending parties? With...young women? No angle there, nothing worth pursuing for a reporter--we like Dumas, after all.
A former lacross player who was kicked out of one school, say, doing the same thing Dumas did with other Ivies--I'm sure that'd garner the same reaction. No doubt.

B said...

Dumas participated in class and became part of what the other students paid attention to and had less opportunity to speak because of.

I don't care if the inane comments are coming from a paying student or this guy. Those obnoxious comments ruin my learning experience regardless.

Dumas is probably less likely to chime in the professor with drivel because he might get kicked out. A paying student feels entitled to interrupt.

Peter said...

"The author of the article never addresses the ethics of stealing what others are paying for."

Perhaps, but the long-term trend is that education is becoming cheap; it's just credentialing that remains costly.

"You'd think the schools would do more to prevent theft of services from drop-ins"

Why? If the marginal cost to the school is near zero and the thief wouldn't or couldn't pay anyway, what are they losing?

Freeman Hunt said...

If I were a professor and a student showed up because he actually wanted to learn what I was teaching and was not there for the degree, I think I'd thank God for him.

TreeJoe said...

Let me step back from some of the particulars here like claiming to be a liberal arts student.

I see nothing unethical with going into an open class, sitting down, and participating or offering to make contributions. Tuition largely pays for administration, grounds/facilities, campus programs, and lastly for faculty teaching (Yes, landscaping Harvard is costly). And of course for the administration of testing, tracking of results, and issuing of credits and diplomas.

While it may be fair that he took some time away from other students if he talked a fair bit in class, I still see this as passing an ethics litmus test.

Ethics being defined as, "the moral correctness of specified conduct."....if I step into a harvard class, as anyone is free to do, and do not interrupt the class nor offer more than modest contributions (which may or may not enhance the class for others), am I taking away from others? If I am not asked to leave, why is my being there unethical?

If I was actually taking something from others, fine. But this is the not even the equivalent of watching a baseball game from a rooftop overlooking the stadium. It's less than that.

traditionalguy said...

You good talkers could sell your lectures on The Great Courses. Yours could even have Bob Wright in it as your straight man.

Let's see about a course title. Riots and Unions in Wisconsin Politics... President Walkers Ascent to Power.

Sigivald said...

The author of the article never addresses the ethics of stealing what others are paying for. He's presenting it as if the payment is for the "diploma" and not for all the services provided.

So, he's ... presenting it exactly like every student, in practice, believes it to work.

You're paying for credits to get that piece of paper, not "to learn things", for the most part.

(Less so, perhaps, in the hard sciences, though even then - learning some engineering won't help you much without the paper to prove it, in terms of job prospects.)

Bricap said...

Could he have gotten the same education for only $1.50 in late charges frm his public library?

traditionalguy said...

Or you can just work for free on iTunesU.

buwaya said...

"Could he have gotten the same education for only $1.50 in late charges from his public library?"

In a lot of subjects, knowing what they really do in UC Liberal Arts (I have paid the UC quite a lot of money, and I know what I was paying for) very likely he would have done better at the library.

On the other hand, the other students, with whom to socialize, learn from and get acculturated with, are not in the library. Only homeless people and little kids are at the library.

Wilbur said...

I believe it's "That's NOT just an alibi".

God, I remember that show "Hank". When you're 10 years old in 1964, you think most sitcoms are funny. Hopefully, you can still differentiate between The Dick Van Dyke Shows and the Gilligan's Islands of the TV world.

I remember liking the opening theme song to "Hank", but the show itself was pretty one-note.

traditionalguy said...

Alibi is a big Perry Mason word. Hamilton Burgher hated them.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jr565 said...

Another way to learn a lot without attending college is to visit he college bookstore. Did the class you're interestes and then find out what books are being used. And buy those books or. get them from the library.
If it's the same material do you really need the lecture?

Wilbur said...

I just watched the video, and they do indeed sing
"That's just an alibi". My apologies.

I could have sworn on the record they threw a "not" in there.

bleh said...

If he didn't have to write papers or take exams, then he wasted his time. Classroom lectures are just to supplement the real learning, in my experience.

Smilin' Jack said...

6. The author has interestingly misused the word "alibi." An alibi is a defense based on your being somewhere else, which is what "alibi" literally means in Latin. Dumas needed an explanation for why he was there, not for why he wasn't there.

He has to be somewhere, doesn't he? He has an alibi for why he wasn't elsewhere.

Mary Beth said...

I'll be that person. Sneaked, not snuck.

My spell checker doesn't like "snuck" either. It suggests snick, suck, snack, stuck and shuck.

n.n said...

Without consent, it is theft.

Skyler said...

What is the point of sitting in lectures? You might as well watch youtube lectures. The only thing of value that you get from paying tuition is the paper to hang on the wall, and that is a substantial value. Without that paper from one of three schools you can't be on the Supreme Court, for example.

A university education is less and less about knowledge and only about credentials. You can learn as much or more on line or from books. Who care if you sat in a lecture hall?

Gabriel said...

@buwaya puti:Taking attendance is for children.
Treat university students as adults.


Universities do not treat them as adults.

I took attendance defensively--it didn't count against the student in any way when they didn't attend. But it was very, very informative context when meeting with the administrators to whom they complained about the course and the instructor.

Students will not show up to class, they will not do their work, they will do badly and fail, and then blame the instructors, and many administrators take their claims at face value--and of coure the student's parents, whom they ALWAYS involve, take the student's claims at face value.

In a university where students are adults, such as upper division course, I would not bother with attendance.

James said...

So, this guy seems to believe that he did not steal since what people pay for is a /credential/: that is, they are paying for a prestigious school to /say/ he is educated.


What he took were the lectures and the networking opportunities. If that is stealing, then learning is a commodity like anything else and the schools are obligated to take steps to positively /ensure/ the students learn commensurate with the money they pay. But if what they are paying for is the credential, then the value of the credential is proportional to the perceived difficulty in obtaining the final certificate...so it is in the school's interest to provide as little assistance as possible to keep the classes full. But the actual education itself is beside the point.

Roger Sweeny said...

10. You'd think the schools would do more to prevent theft of services from drop-ins ...

No, I wouldn't. They know it will never be a significant problem. From David Foster Wallace's Everything and More (that I'm reading now partially because you mentioned it), "One thing is certain, though. It is a total myth that man is by nature curious and truth-hungry and wants, above all things, to know."

On the other hand, if you have been told year after year that you will have no good opportunities unless you have a college diploma, you will sure want one of those.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

n.n said...

Without consent, it is theft.

What if the college was too drunk to consent?

Birches said...

If he simply sat in on lectures and didn't do the reading, the assignments, study for and pass the exams, then all he did was pull off a stunt to gain his 15 minutes of fame.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Sitting in on large lecture classes is a lot like listening to a TED Talk. You have no idea if you really have a grasp of the material if you never take a test or have your research paper evaluated.

I say no harm, no foul.

Shanna said...

education is becoming cheap; it's just credentialing that remains costly.

Indeed. If this happened too much (to the extent where there was no where to sit for paying students or other issues arose) the schools would crack down. Otherwise, I don't think there is much of a problem for the school, (except as mentioned possibly from a safety perspective - I could see a serial killer type doing something like this - but I don't know that a regular student is that much safer than someone who audits).

Fernandinande said...

1. What it says is the class sizes are too large.

Too large for what? To large to prevent people from "learning for free"? (insert "Simpsons" ref).

5. The author of the article never addresses the ethics of stealing what others are paying for.

His acquiring knowledge doesn't stop anyone from doing the same. He also paid taxes (I assume) that support the college.

6. The author has interestingly misused the word "alibi."

Alibi: 2. An explanation offered to avoid blame or justify action; an excuse.

10. You'd think the schools would do more to prevent theft of services from drop-ins,

See above about taxes. If there's any theft, it's the schools engaging in theft of money.

Fernandinande said...

At Wisconsin, if you're a senior citizen, you can audit free.

That's age discrimination against those who are most likely to put their knowledge to good use - so it's dumb; not theft if you're old, huh?

BarrySanders20 said...
"Dumas. It's pronounced Doo-mahs, not Dum-ass."


Balzac!

Levi Starks said...

Just think of what a hero he would be if he were in the US illegally.
If we cannot demand identification to vote, I see no compelling reason to require it to occupy an otherwise empty seat at a state, or federally funded private college.

m stone said...

Freeman Hunt said...
If I were a professor and a student showed up because he actually wanted to learn what I was teaching and was not there for the degree, I think I'd thank God for him.


There's truth there. Some of us taught--and teach--for that very reason. I'd have taught my last six years without pay just for the satisfaction of serving those few students.

By the way, the good students usually are the ones that nod intelligently. If one nods three times rapidly, it generally means "talk faster."

m stone said...

That's age discrimination against those who are most likely to put their knowledge to good use.

The real discrimination is dismissing what some older people like Althouse have to impart because of their age.

Rocketeer said...

Students have been properly vetted by the admissions office.

Sure, "vetted."

"Check cleared. He's good!"

phantommut said...

I think the question of whether he decreased the value of the education (as opposed to the credential) has to be separated from the moral question of honesty or dishonesty.

If he was an active participant in the classes and provided insight (or even simply acted as a "straight man" against whom others could shine -- no small service, as noted in a previous post) then he took nothing from his "honest" peers and in fact added value to their educational experience.

Bragging about it though (which is really the only way to think about him taking his story to The Atlantic does diminish the value of the credential (whether the credential is overvalued or not is yet another question) and that's pretty clearly wrong.

jimbino said...

I had no problem "dropping in" to classes at UT Austin in 1978-82 as an "auditor" in the Department of Engineering, where I assumed control of a graduate research project, in the graduate Economics Department, where I ended up teaching some of the classes laden with heavy math, and in the Business School, where I daily challenged the Marxist prof vociferously. Apart from being blackballed by the Marxist, I had an entirely positive experience and finally enrolled in, and graduated from, the Law School.

Gabriel said...

As was pointed out earlier, learning is free, credentialing is expensive.

They don't teach anything at Harvard that is not available elsewhere.

What they DO provide at Harvard that is not available elsewhere is a Harvard diploma and the opportunity to network with Harvard faculty and students, who are most likely people worth knowing or they wouldn't have got there.

This guy stole nothing from Harvard.

Carl Pham said...

Class sizes aren't too big. They're still too small. There's no real difference between teaching 400 and teaching 40,000, except that you need much better class information management tools -- which, as it happens, Silicon Valley has provided (or could provide). Technology should be used to leverage the rare good lecturers so that they can be absorbed by many thousands, far more than fit in the typical lecture hall.

The other end of learning -- tutoring -- best happens one to one, or perhaps one to four or five, like in the English system. It also involves a different skill set than top notch lecturing.

The in-between class size, of 10 to 50, is the worst of both worlds. Big enough that the individual tutorial connection can't be established with every student, small enough that it represents a tremendous waste of lecturing talent (or a lot of lecturing nontalent forced to do a crappy job for which it isn't naturally suited).

Of course, smaller class size keeps a lot more teachers of medicore talent employed, so there's that.

Michael said...

There is nothing inherently wrong with big lecture courses - either to convey a lot of background information in entry-level classes, or to make top-level professors available to a hundred rather than a dozen students. I got a lot out of Vincent Scully's history of art and Jonathan Spence's history of China lectures at Yale long ago (I think I was actually taking one course but not the other.)

richard mcenroe said...

I'm impressed by the airtight security on these campuses.

Still when it comes time for The Revolution to round up all the "intellectuals" and send them to work the fields with the masses they admire, it will be a great time-saver.

richard mcenroe said...

Michael-- you attend lectures by Vin Scully? Did he explain to you the sheer genius of Maury Wills's base-stealing technique?

Laslo Spatula said...

I would like to sit in on the meetings of Sorority Girls. Bubble baths, pillow fights: I am ready.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I would like to sit in on the meetings of Sorority Girls. Bubble baths, pillow fights: I am ready."

And the painting of toenails. Cannot forget the painting of toenails. I bet the girls gently blow on each others' feet to help them dry.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"And the painting of toenails. Cannot forget the painting of toenails."

I bet they are fresh from the bubble-bath and are wrapped only in towels.

The towels do not make their asses look fat. Nor do the soon-to-be-donned nighties. I hope.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Nor do the soon-to-be-donned nighties."

One cannot be sure if the matching panties are opaque, because you cannot see pubic hair, or sheer, because there is no pubic hair there to be seen.

The Sorority Life is rich with Mystery. And occasionally the smell of coconut oil. With aloe.

I am Laslo.

RecChief said...

He's presenting it as if the payment is for the "diploma" and not for all the services provided.

Strikes me that a diploma nowadays is little more than a license to look for a job. And advanced degrees such as Masters aren't what they used to be either. Just look at the present Administration for an illustration of my point.

Laslo Spatula said...

"The Sorority Life is rich with Mystery"

Sometimes we can play 'Special Nighttime Visitor', where they are the sorority girls and I am Ted Bundy. Hijinks ensue!

It is OK: I am using a Nerf bat.


I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Sometimes we can play 'Special Nighttime Visitor'"

I encourage them to 'fight back' with their teeny-tiny little fists and teeny-tiny little feet: it is absolutely adorable, like wittle kittens wrestling with a ball of pink yarn.

Rabbit kick! Rabbit Kick!

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Sometimes we can play 'Special Nighttime Visitor'"

Once I have them tied up I ask each one to tell the naughtiest thing she has ever done: the winner gets her feet tickled mercilessly.

I laugh until I cry.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Sometimes we can play 'Special Nighttime Visitor'"

Some sorority girls love the nipple clamps; some don't.

Remember that when playing 'Special Nighttime Visitor' there are different levels of comfort.

I am Laslo.

sinz52 said...

Gee, and I always thought I was the only one who remembered the TV show "Hank."

Evidently others do too--it's 8.1 on imdb.

Laslo Spatula said...

"...where they are the sorority girls and I am Ted Bundy"

At the end of the evening we play 'Electric Chair Lap Dance.'

Of course, the 'Electric Chair Lap Dances' only make me stronger: this is the way of 'Special Nighttime Visitor'.

I'm a maniac, maniac on the floor.


I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"...where they are the sorority girls and I am Ted Bundy"

As 'Special Nighttime Visitor' it will take more than a roomful of Sorority Girls to subdue me; it will also require Cheerleaders.

But you already knew that.

I am Laslo.

Zach said...

Oh come on. He's not stealing the credential? Then why is he stealing lectures from Harvard? There weren't any other colleges in the Boston area?

And yes, he is stealing. A spot in college is like a plane ticket. The marginal cost is low, but the average cost is high. Harvard has an annual budget of $3.7 billion, for an undergraduate population of about 7000. That's not completely fair, because Harvard does a lot more than teach undergraduates, but choose whatever number you want and the point still stands.

Saint Croix said...

That was an important bit in The Graduate. He was sitting in classes in Berkeley. "They don't seem to mind."

And his landlord was suspicious. "Are you one of those agitators? Those outside agitators?"

Here is Benjamin, stalking Elaine as nicely as possible. You can see her agitation. Pauline Kael was always hating on Katharine Ross, and pretty much wrecked her career, I think. And yet I think Kael was wrong. Maybe in other movies Ross wasn't very good. But in The Graduate she's as strong as the leads, I think.

Saint Croix said...

There are procedures for auditing. If you want to audit, go in honestly.

I sat in a law school class, without following any procedures. I was a scofflaw, even in law school. Just sat in the class. And it was a small class, so I wasn't hiding. I might have asked the professor if it was cool. I think he was flattered that I wanted to sit in without any credit or reward, just for the pleasure of learning. But I soon bailed, I think because my work load became too heavy.

It might be more fun if you're an auditing criminal, always on the verge of getting caught. You feel like you're stealing something, it's exciting, so you pay attention and get a good education.

I often thought if we had to pay our tuition money per class, and we had to pay the cash to the professor as we walked in, we would be so pissed off at the lack of value received there would be an open revolt. A lot of education only works because our parents or the government is paying for it. If it came out of our pocket, and we actually saw the cash exchange hands, we would have zero patience for the horseshit. I actually developed a healthy disdain for the horseshit anyway, but I would have been far more agitated if I was paying cash every class.

Saint Croix said...

I think a class in film school ran about $200 a class. I had one class, a Hitchcock class taught by a guy who had worked with Hitchcock. It was a seminar. We spent 90% of the class watching a Hitchcock movie, and 10% of the class talking about it. I was two or three classes in before I realized I knew more about Hitchcock than the damn professor. And it was too late to drop the class. So I'm sitting there going, "It cost $2 to rent the movie. I'm paying $198 for this 20-minute conversation, every time I come in here." And that was annoying enough. But if I actually had to fork over the cash, if he sat there with a big pile of cash while he made some stupid, ill-informed comment about how he doesn't understand Notorious, there would have been felonies. Open revolt, man. Pigs up against the wall.

Bob R said...

This is more evidence that straight lectures are one of the least valuable parts of higher education. Testing and grading are of far more value. (I'm pretty sure he didn't get that for free.)

However, despite all the evidence against them, lectures don't die. Video lectures have been around for decades, some with very high production values, on-location pictures, things that can't be brought to the classroom. Videos are more convenient, can be edited to get rid of mistakes, can be rewatched, can be cast with people aren't old, fat, and bald. Yet lectures have not been replaced.

Here is a link to a pdf file by T.W. Korner with some good comments on why mathematics lectures work. It's very discipline specific, but there are probably other areas that fit. (Basically, anything that you can actually "do" in real time.) But he still doesn't make the case for why live lectures work better than video. I think there is something deeper in human psychology that we really can't quantify involved here.

Bob R said...

On the ethics of his actions, it's clear that many (maybe most) people simply have no sense of guilt over taking non-rivalrous goods. They will feel guilt about overcoming efforts to exclude them (hacking into a database or eluding security guards at a concert) but next to none if you make it easy. Arguments about this don't seem to hit people at a gut level.

Brown Hornet said...

So a Dumas fights right in on an ivy league campus?