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Laurainarizona

Wherein my parents and I debate universities' place in society

• Me: I had a conversation with that Dean from Northwestern yesterday. I told her she should put all of the professors' lectures online.
• Dad: I think that's a terrible idea.
• Me: What?? WHY? The public should have equal access to that knowledge.
• Dad: There are costs associated with that. It's proprietary information and it's theirs to do with as they please. How do you suggest the universities pay for themselves?
• Me: If you want to think about it in mercenary terms - which I think is wrong - you could view them as advertisements.
• Mom: Doesn't MIT put all of its lectures online?
• Everyone: [Some discussion ensues about this subject. Various opinions are floated. No one bothers to check.]
• Me: But if universities are to receive tax-free status, they should provide a certain benefit to the community.
• Dad: They are providing a benefit - they're teaching students.
• Me: Why should a thousand really rich Princeton students benefit and no one else?
• Dad: Why are you so big on other people providing things free of charge? Somebody's got to pay for it.
• Me: Someone is paying the taxes that those universities aren't paying!
• Dad: I'm paying those taxes!
• Me: You and I agree that the universities are for the public good?
• Dad: No. It's for *a* public good, but it doesn't belong to the public.
• Me: Ugh. This conversation is imminently frustrating.
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• Interesting that none of the colleges mentioned here are actually public. Northwestern, MIT and Princeton are all private universities.
• Also, not all Princeton students are rich. My sister is getting her doctorate at Princeton and my family is far from rich. She got there by busting her ass and earning it. What you seem to be saying here is that you want the same benefits that Princeton and Northwestern students work hard to earn for nothing.