I would never go back to academia. Here's why.

[@corneliusnowicki5363]

Student at Oxford here. This is very much true in the UK too; it really feels like they are pampering us with extra events/free food etc, when in reality we are paying for a VERY expensive library card. Almost all of the actual learning has to be done independently

[@rstroh5391]

Yes, I noticed this as well. I avoided furthering higher education in my life until recently, when it seemed to make sense for income and professional opportunities. A total ripoff, which will take at least 5 years to pay for itself... 100%, I was told at the Masters level, I was responsible for my own learning.

[@arkytitan]

Because it's pretty much like a self-checkout in a supermarket. You get less employees because you get people to serve themselves.

[@you_are_all_lovely]

My contact time is 12 hours, everything else is independent study

[@arkytitan]

@@you_are_all_lovely 12 hours per what period?

[@D.von.N]

And then you have published research with marginal significance for findings to show to sponsors you are still worth of funding. Got disilusioned about my institution recently, exactly because I also do thinking for myself, not just learning. The research they have been publishing recently isn't really worth of paper it would be printed on.

[@HeatherFlyte]

Look at the massive industry that has built itself around academia as well - all in the hope of gamifying a student's education. They learn to get the highest grade, not by mastering the subject, but by hacking information input. Nuance, comprehension, and critical thinking have no place in this game. And students are pressured to win no matter what.

[@believeroflight9888]

you think academia is the only one ? Look at tech industry or any other industry , what are the major inventions in last two decades ? Nothing , all they are doing is just trying to make things have shorter lifespans to increase sales. My smart phones have no additional services which were not available a decade ago . The consumers are getting screwed at all fronts by the owners. The society is returning to its original form , lords and the peasants.

[@jeppeaim3039]

I'm a bit confused, can you help me understand what you mean by "hacking information input"?

[@HeatherFlyte]

@@jeppeaim3039 I think about it along the lines of trying to get as much information about a subject into your head before a test instead of full understanding. (The essential problem is how we test subject understanding) but treating learning like a regurgitation of material. It's a system students are subject to, and with the pressure to succeed, will (and maybe should) game in order to get the grade. It's Spark Notes versus reading a text.

[@Kantuva]

This is a complex situation The true way of "measuring if a student has learned the subject" is by a teacher specifically questioning the student, doing oral testing. The issue here is that doing *that* is by default not standarizable, which means that it is left to the judgement of the teacher, which opens liability to the school system(s) if the "customers" (parents of the kid) dont get what they want. And then it brings the second issue, and that is that cohorts of students today are infinitely larger than lets say, cohorts of students in the late 1800's. Therefore it is simply not possible timewise to have a teacher do oral testing in such a way. I have very much seen what you mention happen in my homecountry of Chile, where there is an anual test for University entry, and your future university and what you want to study depend on the score of this test. If you dont get a high enough score then you simply will not be able to study what you want that's it. So people go to specialized schools for which their only objective is to have the students hack information input to be able to answer the questions of the test. It is sheer paperclip maximizing. But at the same time, it is simply the outcome of all the pressures that go towards this. In a standarized test you are not being asked if you "know the subject". You are being asked to provide the answer to the question that the standarized test designers want, and it doesnt matter not one bit if you feel another question also answers the question asked within the context, it only matters the question that the designers wanted you to take... This same thing can be seen in "high level" university courses. Lets say to Doctors or Lawyers, both of which *must* cramp *huge* amounts of information in order to pass their courses. Anyhow, all of this is simply a consequence of the era we live in. “The great enemy of any attempt to change men's habits is inertia. Civilization is limited by inertia.” - Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda 1928

[@mysmartphonechannel]

At my work I am required to do regular trainings. So far that has been me binge watching online courses, memorising the key words and going to exams. It works, but the problem is of course if you need it 2 years later it's all gone. The best way to learn is slowly and with much hands on.

[@JoannaLovesHistoryBooks]

I agree that a lot of students are not being set up for success. A lot of my colleagues believe that our students are lazy and stupid. All of my students work full time outside of school. Many of them speak multiple languages. They're neither lazy nor stupid. They're overwhelmed. Your comments about not being encouraged or challenged to read remind me of a first-year student I taught who told me wanted to be a lawyer and prior to my class he had never once read a book from cover to cover. He didn't have the skills to really analyze what was happening in the books we read because he was learning how to do that in a university course rather than earlier in his life. He really did try! I think he has a lot of potential to improve! But he's starting so far behind because he wasn't challenged earlier.

[@JamesAdams-ev6fc]

I think that we faculty forget our own challenges when we were students. After you learn the basics of the field OF COURSE it is much easier than it is for them. Also, in these days, many more families are acquiring a college education than in the 1940s and 1950s, and given the cost nowadays, OF COURSE they are struggling.

[@useridcn]

Not all of them are lazy and stupid. Some of them certainly are.

[@Jesus_Loves_you2499]

@@JamesAdams-ev6fc ❤️i’m sorry for everything you’ve been through, God really wants to let you know that He loves you so much. He sent his one and only Son down, Jesus Christ, to die for you and i while we were still living in sin. With Him you can be made new, you are covered with the Precious Blood of Jesus. Following Him is not going to be easy, cutting off sin, changing ways that you live in sin and/or cutting off friends. Not living like the world can be hard in the beginning. But it really is worth it. Please start reading the Bible and pray to receive Him im in a way that is undeniable. Because He will make Himself known to you. i say this to you in love and compassion. Jesus loves you and start to live for Him. It will be the best opportunity of your life. Jesus Loves you and He can save you, He is God. He can deliver you from anxiety and depression. I Pray that you receive this message and start to live for Jesus. May you find Him and start to read The Bible! You can be made new because you can be covered in The Precious Blood Of Jesus Christ. ❤️ Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (LSB) (Bible translation) God Bless you. God Loves you and He wants you to go to heaven turn to Jesus Christ and repent of your sins. Repent meaning changing your way of thinking and actions by changing from your sinful ways. Sin is what separates us from God and it is missing the mark❤️

[@firezdog]

Absolutely - and when professors do try to challenge students they don’t challenge them in the right way. It’s like having someone come into the gym for the first time and expecting them to deadlift 200 lbs because anything less is not sufficiently rigorous.

[@cosimo7770]

Sorry, but a first-year student, who has never once read a book from cover to cover, is lazy and stupid. Making excuses just makes him or her more lazy and more stupid.

[@karenryan490]

I’m 81yrs old and don’t have a degree, but you convinced me to pick up a book on stoic philosophy. I’m an avid reader and have been since I was 8 yrs old. Thank you sir💕

[@alihijazi4451]

That's incredible!! Keep it up! 💪

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

We are never too old to learn. I’m currently reading about the history of the Christian god. Not as a religious thing, but from an archeological perspective.

[@clamarroan]

​@@JeantheSecond-ip7qm Interesting! What sources are you reading?

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

@@clamarroan God an Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou.

[@clamarroan]

@@JeantheSecond-ip7qm Thank you

[@julienelson8162]

Another refugee from academia here . . . I absolutely agree with your position on the “college experience,” the bloated non-education related staff, the internal politics, and the lack of rewards related to solid teaching. I left, and ended up performing evaluation research for a major bank, documenting lending discrimination based on income or race. That research helped major banks develop outreach to “lending wastelands” in their markets. Those years of work was the most fulfilling period of my life. There IS a place for us in the outside world, and occasionally, that can be very rewarding. Bravo for your explanation. ❤

[@DrunkenUFOPilot]

Solving problems in the real world, making life and business better in some way, beats academia gloriously. I was in a Physics PhD program, passed the qualifier meaning I was ready to pick thesis advisors, but decided not to become a professor as a career goal. Instead, give me manufacturing, industrial R&D, hands-on problem solving. With a PhD and staying in the academic world, the goal is publishing papers, which is an okay thing to do, but just doesn't thrill me the way improving a product and making customers happy does.

[@Impaled_Onion-thatsmine]

You dont want someone telling you how to percieve reality and apparently kant was a terrible teacher who actually taught phenomological reduction and trancdental idealism

[@Hypercube_Infinity]

Lmao bet the banks took some huge losses off your work. Lending wasteland lmaoooooooo

[@b6d-o9r]

​@@Impaled_Onion-thatsminemy god, what are you talking about

[@Impaled_Onion-thatsmine]

@@b6d-o9r psychogenic control

[@menderthinks7368]

I didn't do the readings, or engage with any of my classes when I was at uni paying exorbitantly for it. As soon as I dropped out, I spent hours studying on my own, because it was suddenly easier again. Those 300+ student classes are utterly destructive. If you find something fascinating, there's no-one to talk to about it and ask questions. If you find something difficult, there are thirty students mobbing the lecturer immediately after class. It's easier to just disengage

[@doverbeachcomber]

Yes, it’s hard to see how the crowd-lecture experience is significantly better than a lecture seen or heard online. In both cases, you have little or no interaction with the lecturer, nor is there a built-in chance to engage with other students. I would guess that most pricey universities _really_ don’t want people to understand this.

[@MirzaAhmed89]

I blame the American education system in general. There is simply too much testing, even in college and grad school. Every week you are constantly worried about another midterm, another essay (which they never give you enough time to properly research), another worksheet or problem set, etc. Classes should be nothing more than one final exam, and optional lectures. If students are able to self-direct and plan their learning, why get in the way of it with mandatory lecture attendance, constant testing, constant intermediate deadlines, and so on. Give students a syllabus and a reading list and get out of the way.

[@davidcooper8241]

@@doverbeachcomber with some topics, i'm sure it would be possible for a student to self-educate via youtube in a way that does their topic justice. but for many disciplines the content simply doesn't exist online. not yet at least

[@torkakarshiro5170]

​@@MirzaAhmed89 As a teacher i am absolutely sure that one exam in the end of a semester is MUCH worse if your goal is not just passing the test but really LEARNING something.

[@tabularasa]

If you ever decide to go back to finish what you started, I recommend community college! I'm someone who dropped out and took a 12-year meandering path to complete my degree, with years-long breaks for work and military enlistment, but when I got serious about attending full time again, I went for what was local and cheap, and thst was the nearest community college that I could bicycle to. It ended up being the best decision, by accident. The teachers there were more engaged and dedicated to their students than any other place I attended (and I transferred through two other reputable big state schools eventually). Community college classes are naturally smaller, because the student body is smaller, so you never have to deal with feeling lost in a crowd in those 100-level courses. You can easily find more personal attention, and won't be inclined to disengage. The students are generally more engaged too, because they are often paying their own way, a semester at a time, they're a little bit older/wiser, trying to better their job prospects, very motivated to do well. I wish everyone knew about these things, and saved themselves money and struggle, by doing their first two years at the community college level. Wishing you well

[@yuliapodina7594]

I am 50+, and almost a year ago I was taking a history university course online. I was surprised that we were assigned to read specific fragments from 3-5 articles and all we had to do is to repeat the same point of view. No analysis, no competing two points of views, no synthesis, just read 20 pages and report. It was driving me insane. No wonder I quit.

[@PraveenSrJ01]

That is not fun at all

[@mickmcmenemy7701]

You had the life experience to notice the flaws, 18 year olds won't necessarily spot that they are been fleeced .

[@mikewilder6728]

It's pure brainwashing, it's pure propaganda. Nothing else.

[@jacobgeis3576]

After a stint in academia, I can echo there's a lot of truth in this and other videos you made. My field is veterinary medicine, and I was in practice before teaching (and now, I'm practicing again). My biggest goal was to prepare students for the mental processes required to adequately diagnose animals and select appropriate treatments. I kept running into roadblocks due to the paradigm instilled in them through years of "success" in school settings. They could quickly memorize information and highlight key points, but to take the next step and translate that into critical and creative thinking was a struggle. This led to frustration on their part, because they had been trained regurgitate and not ruminate. It was a rocky journey, but we got through it and I believe many of them will become exceptional veterinarians because of their desire and tenacity. But, it was disheartening to see how their bachelor's degrees failed them in the most critical aspect of higher education--learning how to use what God put between their ears.

[@robertmarmaduke186]

Had a son bright as a new penny, put him through U pre-vet, in his dream. He was selected to run the primate lab, and mingle with the PhDs. You can imagine the rest. CCSS dropped 14 years ago. That means every US public school student today has never known the pasture, only the paddock. Draft animals, easily replaced.

[@aieverythingsfine]

Bro just want to say thank you for trying to help. Its so heartening to have people like you about. Top man

[@Skyking6976]

I guess the logical concern would be is that true of medical students? Are they given diluted classes? If so, how are they able to pass medical school?

[@ach2lieber]

ChatGPT can regurgitate a diagnosis.

[@drew8235]

It has literally nothing to do with God, but yes, it seems that critical thinking is in short supply these days.

[@justinstark5732]

As an engineering student the expectations part for like the complete reverse. Most the professors are really more interested in their research than teaching, same problem you mentioned about grad students and we're just kind of expected to learn most everything and adapt to new software almost entirely on our own. Like I feel I'm more paying for a structured timeline to do my own learning and a degree that proves I did that. Many of my class mates who end up doing just fine skip most lectures because they're largely useless

[@sillymatilda]

I saw your comment, and it's right on the money how I felt about going through my engineering degree too. Only had a handfull of profs that gave a shit and actually were helpful and insightful in their teachings. Instead of just having too find youtube lectures/study previous years midterms...

[@Breezy-jq6hq]

A lot of universities put a ton of pressure on faculty to get grant money and run a robust research lab. And if they don't they can be out or not get promotions. Teaching inevitably falls by the wayside.

[@skyinsession]

my experience in US education, both as a student and as a teacher, is that it takes so much agency away from the students, and it makes it easy, and boring and students are smart enough to realize they dont have to try and so they dont. everyone passes, everyone graduates, as long as you show up half the time and sort of do something, it's good enough. i eventually found art, and it was the only type of class where i was allowed to challenge myself, make my own decisions, and succeed or fail based on my own work. no other class i took gave me that agency and engagement, gave me the experience of doing something for myself and seeing the results of my effort. we rob students of ever learning that they can make their own decisions and challenge themselves beyond the outlines of a multiple choice test.

[@randk2370]

Insightful take. I'm wondering what was your major as a student and what do you teach now? Because as a current Soc and Psych double major, I feel a lot of my major classes give me great autonomy to explore things I'm passionate about if it's within the scope of the class. Although, when I take quantification or natural sciences classes, I do feel there is no space for autonomy or creativity which made me really frustrated (but, at the same time, I don't know if there is another way to teach them than that..).

[@skyinsession]

@@randk2370 i studied studio art, but had to take a lot of 'required' classes and art history and the contrast was very apparent. maybe it is just the difference between the types of class, but there must be a way for students in all areas to feel like they are genuinely involved in their own education, that there are real stakes and real rewards. but of course, these schools would have to be putting education first and you know that cant happen.

[@MrSqueakers]

Americans are micromanagers

[@coltonhurley4804]

23 year old university student here. I agree with your sentiments and observations, and I think the surge of inspiration many people feel when facing a challenge is necessary for education. There is truthfully one class I've taken in my university career where I've felt challenged, and the rest have been a bit below my intellectual capabilities - neither of which are to say I'm a whiz student by any means - but I felt really good doing the work for that one class! Doing the work for the majority of these classes feels dull and honestly more dutiful than it is inspiring or enriching. People like challenges, and we like the assumption that we're capable of more. Thanks for sharing this

[@RowanSharkey-im5sq]

Three things struck me as a philosophy undergraduate. First, there was a lack of contact hours. My course only had eight contact hours in total. Four hours were devoted to lectures, and four hours were devoted to seminars. Discussion is an essential part of philosophy, and yet, for each module, we were discussing an important philosophical text for only fifty minutes in a seminar. This was very disappointing. Second, philosophy programmes are not selective enough. Many students on the course did not want to complete the required readings, and many would surf the internet during seminars. Third, in the last and most important year of my studies, graduate students, fresh from completing their Ph.D.s, were leading some of my modules. While I have been taught by some very good graduate students in the past, many lack teaching experience and familiarity with the subject matter. Given the importance of the final year of one’s studies, I was shocked by this.

[@maxmishcon7372]

I study Education with Psychology as an undergrad currently and all 3 of these are identical to my experience too. I often also feel like one of the only students in a cohort of 75 that actually wants to engage with the topics in seminars too, can be really frustrating.

[@useridcn]

This is very shocking... I thought professors in philosophy know what they are doing...

[@egotisticEgg]

Fellow humanities major here, and the lack of time and enthusiasm for discussion made it very difficult to care about my classes. You cannot discuss a book when you cram thirty students into a classroom and spend half of the allotted hour and a half of class time doing the necessary lectures

[@Impaled_Onion-thatsmine]

​​​​​​@@useridcnan actual philosopher professor would triple your tuition i had one of those for symbolic logic before transferring to university he looked like Sean Connery as a philosophy tenure they literally hire clueless people because who wants to pay that much for a degree practically every faculty thinks is useless, it's all independent self study, you're learning serious content after finishing the credit system outside the institution....there are some good one's our favorite existialist dramatists - the issue would be they use to actually fix them up and train them to be autists - i had one of those they are terrible

[@johngoldsworthy7135]

Undergrads shouldn’t be in seminars. Grads do seminars not undergrads. Undergrads should be listening to lectures and interject with questions. Grad seminars are for overall discussions

[@MrFrussel]

A few years ago, I met a colleague, with whom I held conversations with about philosophy, politics, and all the other cool stuff. I wasn't well-read, but he obviously was. For the past decade I really wanted to start reading more literature and philosophy, but always couldn't muster up the 'courage' to actually do it. Until I met this colleague, I asked him what books he would suggest me reading. At first it was Murakami, then Dostoevsky, after that Marquez, Camus, and before I knew it I was going through literature at a pace I never imagined myself going through. To this day, I'm extremely grateful I met him, and it's awesome that we became good friends as well. One important thing I learned while reading, was that you don't have to understand everything on a first read. That it's okay to read a paragraph or a sentence as many times as you need, because that process of trying to understand new concepts or ways of viewing life is invaluable. That realization also helps me get through hard books, because I don't care how much time it takes to get through it, when I know it will give me insights that will last my whole life.

[@raegannack1412]

I’m college educated, but never got into reading as much as I have in the past year. You inspired me to read Ursula Le Guin, and through you I found Harold Bloom and have been so enriched by the western canon. You’re doing good work and it’s reaching people probably on a more personal level through video format! I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your content!

[@RebekahMaxner]

The Dispossessed!

[@cocdcy]

I have saved so many quotes from Ursula Le Guin but I haven’t gotten around to reading anything by her. I’m a little afraid 😅😂

[@EintheCorgie]

@@cocdcy I read the Earthsea books as a kid (10-12 years old). She will make you think, but I believe her work is pretty accessible. One of my all time favorite short stories is "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". That's a fantastic place to start. 🙂

[@kelleyrc5671]

@@EintheCorgiemy very favourite as well 😊

[@iMystic418]

I have a lot of personal interests that I want to pursue. And I believed that being in academia would provide an avenue for pursuing those interests. But in reality, I have found that being in academia has forced me into a position of providing a service that students don't want (I work in teaching mathematics) and that detracts from my freedom to pursue my personal academic curiosities (applying my philosophical perspective in mathematics and category theory to broader fields beyond undergraduate mathematics) because I MUST teach undergraduate math courses that are accessible to a broad collection of students, so that they can succeed in an environment where mathematics is not their primary interest. The pressure to simplify and water down the material is a pressure from administrators that want to provide degrees as a product students can purchase rather than a measure of how developed and well rounded students have become. It's frustrating and has made me seriously reconsider my purpose and place in modern academia.

[@jimmytwo-times5769]

When you can’t find purpose in your job find it elsewhere. This will allow you to see what’s truly important to you and then make a pivot if you need your career and passion to align.

[@iMystic418]

@jimmytwo-times5769 Already ahead of you there. The issue is figuring out how to pivot into my new passions that fulfill, while continuing to pay the bills.

[@Zenoithegreek]

I sent my daughter at the age of 17, from India to the USA, with the belief that she would get a quality and rigorous education. She went on to get a Master’s at Columbia University. She told me it was a total waste of time, total garbage, she learned nothing, felt no challenge and got a 4.0 GPA, while ill equipped for life. Worse we have a debt of $120,000. She was infuriated that she was being taught by teaching assistants who often knew just about as much as she did. I am deeply disappointed with the total commodification of education in the USA. A college education is not worth much now and more and more youngsters are turning their back to a college education.

[@mannagarwal5390]

College didn't keep up with time.

[@sweatshirt4974]

Congrats you and thousands upon thousands of international students and parents have fallen for the trap. These US universities are taking advantage of international students and realize they are a massive source of profit and financial gain. The government is happy about it as well since it helps to artificially pad the US’ population statistics (a large influx of young people, even though not as many people are actually having children here). Let me say though, I do not mind international students at all. I think the influx of international just happens to be correlated to the decreasing quality of American education, not the causation.

[@AFMz941]

I just wanna know what major she was because if she was in the sciences then it would make no sense to not have learned anything

[@ChuckHolland-i4b]

I'm so sorry about that. How disappointing.

[@WiggaMachiavelli]

Your comment presents an interesting irony. That your Indian daughter could even aspire to attend a university overseas (absent some truly exceptional genius on her part) is a possibility created by the very commodification of education that you rightly bemoan. Solving this problem in America does not improve educational opportunities in that country for Indian or other foreign students - quite the opposite. Do you understand this?

[@tranquil2706]

As a retired professor, I agree with you completely. I went as a student to a college that was rigorously devoted to learning and intellectual growth. I would say that over the many years of teaching, that became secondary to cushy dorms, gym workouts, and of course spectator sports. There’s nothing wrong with these things, but they have become the cart before the horse.

[@TxBerg]

Kudos for giving a sober analysis! I’m about to return to academia for a phd after teaching at a high school level for the last 15 years. I share your concerns. However, I do think that the only way to make a change is from within. And so, while I respect your opinion and decision, I think there still is hope. Keep up the good work on this channel!

[@helpfulcommenter]

Oh please make a youtube channel so we can track your slow metamorphosis from optimistic excited early PhD "changing things from within" student to aggravated cynic ogre.

[@nextpage3535]

Wow! I never expected to see this much pain/sorrow and (com)passion. I'm Estonian and I have absolutely no personal knowledge of what's going on in universities over there ... but the WAY you talk shows your honesty and even though you stay entirely logical and rational -- I would say, sadness and disappoint. It was a powerful talk. I hope everything will work out for you.

[@jayarrington240]

Hey Jared. Thanks for your posts. I have been following a lot of your Codex posts, to learn more about literature. I'm 60, retired now for the last 5 years or so and in my retirement have focused my energies on writing and reading and learning about literature. I'm deep into that whole experience and loving it. I have gone to your posts, and a few other podcasting 'Literatos' on the web to get some background on writers I like, and literature movements and the history of literature and language. I had originally hoped to audit some classes in the universities in my town, but found them wanting, or not inviting, unless you've paid up and so I've gone to people like yourself for that learning. Just wanted you to know, you still have students and that this choice to share your knowledge and experience here, has been great for those of us out here, who want it. Hope you're able to continue. Thanks again.

[@Rachel-xr9gy]

This is a very interesting topic. I actually question students’ capability these days because the education is so poor before even getting to college. If they are given anything difficult, the level of complaining is nuts, and the professors give in to it instead of maintaining their expectations. I think most students are not there to actually learn, but to just get a degree. As a side note, in all my years of school (middle school, high school, college) I was never required to read a single classic novel.

[@catharineerwin4007]

Wow, that’s unimaginable to me 😵‍💫. I read most of the books people consider classics - from childhood to adolescence to adult. A lot of those books are now on the banned books list 🤦‍♀️🙄🤨. What a travesty.

[@accreditedbythenicemaninth6495]

Of course we’re there for the degree. I studied engineering and there were tons of classes that were of no interest to me at all except they were needed to fulfill general requirements.

[@PrettyIntrovert_9]

Having a degree is a basic requirement these days.

[@jktekkerz8735]

Great video and a great channel. I used to teach at University and various Colleges in the UK about 20 years ago. I witnessed an increasing emphasis on administration and bureaucracy at the expense of standards of teaching and education. It was the source of a great deal of stress and anxiety among colleagues and fellow Lecturers. Many were depressed and moved away from teaching, migrating into other professions and some leaving the country altogether in disgust at what was happening. It was clear to me then that if I wanted to continue to teach I would have to do so ‘privately’ or away from Academia altogether. It is amazing how many people it is possible to enrich, enlighten, inspire and nurture through spontaneous encounters. I now try to utilise every opportunity of interaction with the most unexpected and possibly ‘unlikely’ people to encourage them to explore learning, knowledge and wisdom for its own sake and for their own benefit and personal development. And not for the benefit of the Accounts Office at some ‘College’ or other. Just writing this narrative piece in response to your video has already inspired me to start working on a new piece of music: ‘Requiem for Acacondemnia’. I can hear the opening bars already.

[@irinaskuld]

It's refreshing to find people with similar stories and insights. I've been struggling with feelings of depression, anxiety and self-loathing ever since I finished my PhD in humanities (medieval history) and wasn't capable of grabbing a post-doc. Main reasons besides a terrible academic market even in Europe being my poor networking skills and the somewhat lacking prestige of my alma mater (Eastern Europe). Despite constantly taking part in conferences, writing, scholarships abroad, actually contributing to a new field (metal music studies). It just didn't work out so I ended up creating a channel as well hoping to reach out and keep me motivated to still do research. So thank you for the video and all the best.

[@murmeli2966]

I agree 100% with everything you said. I have a master‘s degree from a swiss university and felt that the education was severely lacking. I also would have loved to go into academia but the people I knew that did that were all unhappy. It’s so sad because academia would be a dream job if it was actually about academia. I also think that education is so elitist and exclusive to those who can afford it and that’s just wrong. Your channel is open to everyone and I‘m glad it exists.

[@BAndrewBurns]

Great points Jared. Never forget that universities are a business with an educational slant. Tuition is so high simply because the government is backing the student loans, thus admins are increasing the cost knowing that they will get the money. I agree that colleges are heading into trouble, but a lot of them do not even realize it yet.

[@AndrewWilson-ol6jb]

One other thing I noticed is that the classic works in my field were essentially absent from my education. In a history program we never discussed Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Hobbes, and Gibbon, and barely touched Plutarch and Polybius. I don't think we read any historians with a real impact on the field and it was almost all articles that had been written in the last 30 years. Now I feel like I'm playing catch up even though I already have my degree.

[@Jepicosity]

I'm a senior undergrad in an English program, and I've experienced the same thing. My professors are always referencing these classics, expecting students to be familiar with them, but they're never covered or actually discussed in classes. It's like the professors learned it all and forgot that it needed to be taught, creating a massive literary gap. Don't even get me started on grammar or technical language either. I wouldn't be surprised if most literature professors wouldn't be able to speak accurately or articulately about any of it.

[@linusverclyte4988]

The main advantage of an academic education in history, philosophy, literature etcetera is that by the end of it you should have acquired broad, summarized, reliable knowledge about the subject (along with some specialized expertise) and have learned how that knowledge was acquired and how to do research yourself and think critically. Historiography or the history of how history was written is not usually the main focus of a program in history let alone a detailed study of works of the major historians of the past. I don't see how that would be possible in the limited time available. Do you think you would know more about history if you had classes devoted to that instead of other subjects? Gibbon's 'The decline and fall of the Roman Empire' consists of 6 volumes and thousands of pages: how long would it take to read and discuss even a portion of that in class? Not to mention it was written in the 18th century and its main thesis (Christianity as the main cause for the decline and fall of Rome) is pretty much universally rejected today. In my view you're not catching up: your intellectual journey has just begun. With the major advantage of having a sound base of knowledge with which to evaluate and appreciate the works you mentioned. Which is something most people lack. Of course academic programs aim to produce academics which may not be ideal or even what most people who enter them expected and wanted but I do think they have value none-the-less. Self-study without any formal education to start from is not all it's cracked up to be. Professors are worth listening to.

[@leannichleirigh2607]

I did history and taught it as a grad student. The texts you mention (apart from Gibbon) are all part of either the Classics programme or Ancient History. They’re not looked at in History programmes in Europe at all.

[@polargary]

I'm starting my masters in English soon and I've noticed getting people to study Classics actually drives would be students away. Like me, if I didn't study contemporary poetry and modernist stuff I would have never went and read Homer or Dante. If I had the read Homer first, I would have dropped out. Thats another major thing, is that making people study the Classics in an already small and dying major like English Literature would make it even smaller and less people would study it. Getting people to study what they like is what gets people into the subject area. ​@@Jepicosity

[@marilynmelzian7370]

I have had that experience too as a teacher. I teach in a seminary in Old Testament as an adjunct. I am expected to construct my course using resources written as recently as possible. I must confess that I am subversive in that I add some really old, as in ancient and medieval, texts.😊

[@fkib8718]

I have a PhD and it has convinced me higher education can be a complete scam; people find me negative when I tell them to relax about pushing themselves to elite college..Academia experience is very useful for one to get over it and deconstruct the mysticism

[@robhassett2813]

Love what you said, and hate how correct you are. Expectations, and universities/colleges as we knew them, are for the most part dead and gone. People are coming to you on KZbin because they've been starved for real, difficult, and meaningful education. Keep up the great work!

[@timdemoss]

this was phenomenal Jared. Your videos have encouraged me to put Boethius on my soon-to-be-read list. (We were assigned him in college but had a hurricane that cancelled school that week, and I don’t think I did the optional reading…excited to finally go back to it.) thank you!

[@lirgamingthings6035]

Thank you for your channel, I would’ve never gotten back into reading and writing if it weren’t for you!

[@_jared]

I really appreciate you saying that! And I'm glad I could be of use.

[@brianh4625]

I feel this. I’m a tenured professor of philosophy looking for an off-ramp. My university is becoming a degree mill, focused on degree production rather than the process that culminates in a degree. One reason for this is market pressure from students; another reason is the influence of state politics (I work at a public university). There’s so much to be said on this topic, and I’m glad Jared dedicates time on his channel to these problems in higher education.

[@VintageSoloHarmony]

Hi Brian. I was tenured 40 yrs now retired. My advice is to focus on writing and teaching and to ignore that big picture. You can’t fix the world but you can fix a few students and write some good papers. There was a KZbin vid with 3.5 mill views about a spine doctor who quit cos he couldn’t address the outside causes of spine disease. Same point, I said he should get back in the game after a break.

[@brianh4625]

@@VintageSoloHarmony I appreciate your advice. I just wish the incentive structure wasn’t one that punishes professors for maintaining reasonable standards in the classroom.

[@VintageSoloHarmony]

@@brianh4625 Hi Brian. Around 1995 there was a news article about a math prof who failed more than 90% of the class. Big row, he said the students just couldn’t do it. He kept his job of course. I say don’t worry, make it hard but too hard.

[@2Gales]

@@VintageSoloHarmonyThere is no bottom today. Can your students even write at the elementary level? Read? If your answer is yes, your school is in a very small elite.

[@donteatthedaisies]

It's refreshing to hear someone speak honestly on this topic. I left the adjunct life mostly for selfish reasons because I could see that it was exploitative and there were no opportunities for advancement -- even though I really loved teaching. Now I work in an academic library and I see the problems you discuss becoming worse, particularly with the pandemic-accelerated shift to online learning and now the incursion of AI-generated text, which many students are using as a crutch instead of learning to write and think independently. University leadership responds by willfully ignoring the problem and telling faculty to "embrace it" and "adapt." Colleges and universities are businesses that often put profit before values, unfortunately.

[@meizheng2077]

Thank you Jared for sharing this. I have seen academics who do not care for the students and continue to perpeptuate complacency with repeating previous semester's content rather than improve upon it when it is clear that some parts need more work to explain concepts better to students. Some people will say that it is 'above their pay grade' or that 'we would be over-providing' if they created more supportive and detailed explanations and progressive question sets. Rather than correcting the deep-seated maths anxiety and trauma that some student have already from highschool, this struggle with understanding and appreciating maths is perpeptuated while student fees rack up. Students are not set up for success and growth, but rather, are trapped in a spiral of worry about their grades, student fees, job prospects and facade.

[@rykerwells8286]

The quality of content that you put out is incredibly underrated. I was one of those students that struggled with reading, writing, doing math, etc and was told that this was and issue. Because of this everything was brought down a level in my mind until I reached high school. Your channel helped me discover a deep love for writing and reading.This discovery has shown me for the first time what those two subjects have to offer, the challenges that it poses to my mind and the benefit of overcoming those challenges. I appreciate your recent work on youtube and substack that advocates for a system that can better challenge the youth of today and hopefully create a generation great thinkers.

[@justinw1563]

I agree with you 100% Jared. I've always been somewhat interested in philosophy on a very surface level but when I came across your channel a while back, you got me excited to dig a little deeper into it. I'm still a slow reader mind you, but you've really helped me to not just give up on a text because its a little challenging or it is taking a long time to get through. Keep up the great work! 🙂

[@PavelisLord]

I really like your videos! You're saying the quiet parts out loud and I really appreciate it. I think there's a big psychological element to with insecurities, and how students that are oftentimes challenged appropriately don't know how to overcome how those texts make them feel. For example, you assigned them something challenging or really long and they start to feel insecure and unable to do it before they even have a chance to try. Then they displace that anger and frustration that is really targeted at themselves, toward their instructors and teachers. All the sudden, we turn into the bad guys because we're trying to push them and the teachers that constantly lower their standards are the good guys because they're trying to make class or the material "more accessible." Good teachers bring their students up to the level of the text, not constantly lower the quality of the text to "engage" the students.

[@BradMangas]

Thanks Jared. Over the past many months I have been watching and enjoying your videos, you have provided an extra spark in my desire to read philosophy. I have been interested for a few years, but it now is more than just an interest. I believe it is something that can enrich my life in many ways. Last month after I finished reading Meditations for the second time I went straight to Letters From A Stoic. I seem to be reading these works with a different level of awareness. I can't say it is from just watching your videos, but I do believe it has definitely helped. Take care fella.

[@jamesmorgan5671]

Throughout public schools in the United States, teachers are actively discouraged from requiring students to read full book-length works. The main reason for this is the misuse of standardized tests to evaluate schools and teachers, which makes those tests so high stakes that anything that won't show short-term gains is removed from the curriculum. There are no novels on the SAT, only excerpts, so get rid of novels and teach them how to read excerpts. Of course this backfires, as kids don't build the stamina or sense of accomplishment that comes from reading a book-length work, and hobble into college handicapped.

[@friedawells6860]

I am Canadian not American. In my province, we have a reading exam similar to the SAT at the end of highschool. I took it in 2016. I remember being coached by my teachers to prepare mainly for the "question style." There were a lot of weird "tips" that we were given out such as reading all the questions before reading the passage or only reading the portions of the passage that relate to the questions. I ignored all the "tips" completely! I always read the whole exerpt before looking at the questions, and *I got 98/100 on the exam.* I believe that I did so well because I loved reading and had already read many classic novels before my senior year of high school. Therefore, I think these exams are actually doing a good job of assessing reading ability. The problem is that the education system believes that students are incapable of being good readers and reading difficult novels! All of this "teaching for the exam" is just a last ditch effort to make it appear that students have been educated properly when they in fact have not been. I think the exams are crucial because they at least provide some objective metric of how children are doing.

[@danielperales3958]

@@friedawells6860 There's a point in where u really are as good as it can get. It happened to me when I first took the TOEFL test, there were a lot of tips as well and they often said you needed a lot of time of preparation... I only decided to do my job of practicing the language and everything, and when i received my score I got a very decent B2 level, even when I only practiced for like 3 weeks and I was like 15 or sth lol. Now that I look back at TOEFL test I wonder how easy would it be if we really treated the test as it was supposed and instead of just practicing the courses and all that shit we instead devoted our time to actually learn the language!!! Really nowadays culture of digested courses are fucking up with our own perception of what we are capable to do. The sanest and most intelligent folks I've met in my life NEVER in their life got an language score and they are really good in at least three different languages (one of the fellers is fluent in bahasa indonesia, english and spanish, knows some kanjis and tried to learn tagalog) and these ppl were always trying, learning and working hard by their own and getting the assessment with natives (thru discord). These days you better be self taught on whatever think you wanna try. Also, your comment it's very useful to me, back when I was a kid I used to read a lot and I really need to go back to my prime it seems XD as I'm having SAT really soon (november/30), what would you recommend? lol idkkkk

[@halofan117halofan6]

I am in the uk and damn lol, I never really saw uni as an experience for me personally. I am not one to really party, uni to me is soley education and getting my degree and seeing where I come out at the other side. I LITERALLY am basically studying ALL the time

[@MiloMay]

What are you studying?

[@halofan117halofan6]

@@MiloMay biotech

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

I mean different people have different interests and priorities… just make damn sure you graduated at the top if you sacrifice other opportunities.

[@AweSean-wv3xo]

@@halofan117halofan6 That's why you're studying lol, I do EEE at a UK uni aswell and I study pretty much all the time.

[@christopherzhou5361]

@@AweSean-wv3xoYou are definitely a student, there is no question.

[@debbiephillips6809]

This content is so relevant. I left my university job to work at my local public school. I teach Reading now. Thank you for your videos.

[@work-in-progress]

Thank you so much for talking about this. Our world has plenty of vices to depress over, but somehow this is one of the top contenders for me. I deeply wish I could go back to my childhood when I passionately studied for endless hours. Now university isn't about education but maxing out the stats in this popularity contest the world has become. Just became a lawyer now, a bit of course work yet to complete but I despise the system. I'm grateful for not being in debt, but can't bear what's happening with my friends who do. I'm rekindling my love for reading from your recommendations. Thank you for everything ❤️

[@ac3414]

I have been a homeschool Mom since 2018 or 2013 if you count pre-"school" age. I teach through literature, discussion and now that my daughter is in 6th grade, I am introducing writing. It was very comforting to hear you describe the way you teach college level courses in the same way.

[@juleshappy741]

Lots of good insights here. I work at a university and am in a grad program there. Thank you for this video.

[@thegentletraveller7278]

Thank You for existing and in a small (very important) part, making the difference!!!!! ❤

[@nat4465]

This encouraged me as a stay at home homeschooling mom to continue reading long books and classics with my kids instead of just small excerpts. I want them to feel that they are capable from a young age to finish books and not feel so intimidated. It wasn’t until I stopped going to college and learning on my own that actually have felt the accomplishment of finishing a long book and really analyzing and enjoying the process.

[@HighDesertJade]

I’m still grieving my academic career, three years post-dissertations defense. I strongly agree with your critique of the US university system. I’m very glad I stumbled upon your channel; it’s the medicine I needed tonight.

[@shesheartfocused]

Another aspect of American academia is that it’s designed for people who can devote all of their time to school, which is an absolute privilege. There’s not as much consideration or support for those who work while attending school. I was certainly not prepared for 500 pages of reading per week when I began my Master’s degree while also working full time.

[@Garglicious]

Sorry to ask but my friend just finished her residency & is planning on doing her job now and getting a partime Phd from Ohio university.. isn't partime Phd available in the US in general or is restrictive?

[@shesheartfocused]

@@Garglicious I’m not able to speak about that experience as I am only working on a Masters and not a Ph.D. But I hope your friend has a wonderful time in their studies!

[@chriskucia8348]

And even if you can pull it off, your competition for grades has an order of magnitude more time to devote to their studies if they're not working.

[@SinghRohit007]

@Garglicious - no, I saw part time phd opportunities in EU but not in Europe.

[@2Gales]

Higher education takes time, opportunity cost. A. Degree can be earned in 4 years full time, or 8 half time, or 12 years at 1/3… True, not everyone can afford that, but there is public funding, grants, assistance. Still, I agree higher education is not for everyone, and that’s ok. That’s why it’s called higher education. I couldn’t afford it, worked full time from age 16 until 26, saved money, then quit my job, went to college. I have been a college professor for 25 years, desperately forced to lower standards every year.

[@Patsfan2938]

I stumbled upon your channel one day looking into my newfound Philosophy interest. You have for sure influenced me to want to begin reading The Republic as daunting as it may seem. Your video on how to read hard books was great. Thank you, sir. Keep up the good work.

[@SaleemRanaAuthor]

Having read philosophy books since I left college in 1989, everything you say here is spot on. At first, they seem daunting, but you get used to it and find yourself in a world of wonder. The fact that you prefer to do your own thing here on KZbin rather than be part of a predatory money-making system that doesn't deliver on its promises is something I admire.

[@highspiritsfarm781]

I've only watched a couple of your videos...as an educator I am really enjoying your content. My goal for others? To share and foster a love of exploration and learning that cant be just 'googled'..but experienced...enjoyed... Keep up the good work. Thank you.

[@PsychOnlineAldrian]

I'm a full time prof at a JC and a writer. Just wanted to drop in and say thank you for sharing your thoughts on the regular. It's a joy to listen to someone so passionate about the betterment of people's lives through the work of the mind.

[@Cubsオンライン]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I am watching this video in Japan. Your insight is certainly being conveyed to broader audiences, world wide!

[@herdumptrucks]

Me watching this while preparing to go into academia 👁👄👁

[@kai1799]

Me watching this, in academia T^T

[@herdumptrucks]

@@kai1799 oof

[@dayshawna]

me watching this, struggling in academia and taking another break from it.

[@Garglicious]

Atleast you'll know the cons already and be well prepared :)

[@chairconseg2061]

X2

[@Gwion-x8w]

Well done, spoken with clarity and eloquence, and the cat sealed the deal. I support you whole heartedly.

[@leenewton885]

Jared I have watched your videos on and off for a couple of years. I have taught at all levels of education and as a 53 year old man I have found joy in teaching at what you would label Kindergarten level as it fits in with my family commitments here in the UK. I enjoy being at the ‘chalk face’ but I have also become disillusioned by the decay in education and its constant ‘rebranding’. Style over substance. I have turned to your channel in an effort to scratch an intellectual itch. I am revisiting my brief foray into Philosophy from about 25 years ago. I am really enjoying it and with the summer break heading my way - I’m looking forward to being able to commit some time to it. Thank you for your honest and approachable manner - I’m sure academia has made a mistake in allowing you to move on. But then - I’m doing my most enjoyable work after ‘moving’ on from other things. Maybe this is your true calling?

[@cherubxingyu]

Aw... I love reading the comments here. That word " intellectual itch" resonates with me so much.

[@Paigedh1776]

Jared, this is an excellent video and I appreciate the integrity and thought behind your work. It’s bold to follow a path like this, and allowing us to see you pursue this “project” has been so enlightening and inspiring. I was a middle school teacher, and I’ve found that institutions get in the way of and prevent unfettered honesty and connection between student and teacher. I also think that watching a thoughtful intellect on KZbin is less stressful and imposing and more accessible for the average “smart book curious” than university. I’m following your career with great interest and many well wishes. ❤

[@louisirving588]

Thanks for your point of view. I'm a faculty member at a university in Japan, but originally from the UK. I think you miss a big point about why universities are failing students -- ranking tables. Ranking highly lets you charge those big tuition fees, and attract applicants. The way to achieve the high rank is for your tenured faculty to focus all their time on research -- to the exclusion of all else. This is why they hire adjuncts and have students teach classes (that doesn't happen here, or in the UK when I lived there). It's easier for administrators to "add value" by building a big new building, rather than working to improve education -- which many of the students don't care about anyway. The ultimate problem is the commercialization of academia. It's become a product.

[@paulfleckney4322]

100% this is happening in Australia too. Thanks Jared, you have neatly articulated many of my thoughts on this issue. Have worked as a casual/ adjunct tutor in the social sciences at an Australian university for the last 10 years and can attest to all of the phenomena you mention - shrinking reading lists, ever increasing administrator to academic ratios, student experience supplanting educational quality, ballooning tuition fees and a focus on helping students pass their assignments over expanding their minds or building skills.

[@HerrOwens]

I teach a humanities course at a state college. For me it's the most important course I teach. It's an absolute disheartening battle between the administration trying to lessen academic rigour, and students not ready for college level reading and writing. I've had students that told me that they can't read or write.

[@fasttwitchmedia149]

I am getting into academia as an adjunct at 65 years old. I love it. Not here for the money, but for the mission. You make really good points and I have seen it for myself in the classroom. But it doesn’t mean I can’t set the bar high for student outcomes. You’re going to succeed no matter what you choose to do because you have a great sense of purpose and you’re incredibly intelligent. I can see you leading an Online University, although getting accreditation is likely an impossibility. Unless? What if? Keep doing what you are doing. New sub.

[@wordup897]

I think the core problem here is Mission Creep. The term originated with military operations, but it seems to apply to about any organizion or institution, be it education, govt, health care, tech, NGO, etc. I think the root is the human desire for prestige and to have control over as many people as possible thus an ever increasing staff size, coupled with the corporate eternal growth mandate.

[@vincemedlock]

This hits extremely close to home. Thanks for saying it out loud. And don't give up on academia altogether. There are other countries that have not gutted their higher ed systems. You could find a home at one of them.

[@rojeliomunoz944]

Jared, thank you so much for this video. As someone who is in the process of leaving my doctoral program to pursue my passion as a landscaper, I deeply resonate with your message here. "Leaving academia was the thing that allowed me to pursue what I actually want my vocation to be." This is a quote of yours I'm going to carry with me on my own departure from academia. It's a quote that'll keep me working strong in tripple digit heat for sure. Your departure from academia and your plunge into your current persuits serve as an inspiration to me and I cannot express in words how much this means to me. I'll leave it at "thank you," for now. And I look forward to watching your videos on this channel or on other BookTube channels you're featured on. Take care.

[@danielperales3958]

This was three months, how are you doing pal???

[@dscarson1]

This is quite good. I especially agree with your assessment of the reading problem.

[@halneufmille]

4:50 Got to disagree there. Many of my worse professors were researchers who couldn't care less about teaching. On the other hand, young adjuncts can be very dedicated to teaching. It depends, really.

[@theeeediotr]

This is particularly refreshing to hear for me, personally, because I too left academia, and for exactly the same reason as you - not wanting to participate in a system that is failing students. Now I know I'm not the only one. Thank you!

[@jamesknapp64]

completely agree that Major Uni's are failing them and campus lifestyle and size of adminastartion are a big part of it. But I do feel a part of the equation is the reward structure on Education in K-12, which heavily penalizes failing and doesn't reward enough for higher than passing grades.

[@MrJCerqueira]

Hit the nail on the head here. can't give you enough props 🙏

[@The7thSid]

I like to refer back to the rhetoric of Mark Twain about not letting schooling interfere with one's education. But seriously, I often recommend that people seek out training in hard skills such as nursing, mechanical work, IT, etc. (as opposed to soft skills like management, administration, HR, et al.) Hard skillsets are almost always in shortage and their certification route relatively accessible. And most of all: instead of trying to find a job that makes you happy, find something you're good at and find joy in it. Also, don't accept the notion that a junior college is necessarily inferior to the big universities. Junior colleges not only have much more reasonable pricing, class sizes, and scheduling, but the professors are most often retired industry professionals with a career of genuine experience and lots of earned wisdom. University professors (particularly those outside of the hard sciences) have little to no experience outside of the classroom, for better or worse.

[@xJust1MANx]

Thank you for your videos. I had stopped reading for some time and was struggling to find something to pursue on my own time. I started purchasing and reading more since watching your channel. You have definitely help me find the passion of reading more meaningful books again.

[@chianchen776]

Today I learned about the result of me failing to get in a local music school, as a college drop out from Europe. The failure of my application to music school forced me to rethink about why I dropped out at the first place and I came across this video. Unlike the States, in Europe the Europeans don't need to pay tuition, however not much luck for the non europeans. Yet the situation is the same, in order for schools to provide "experience" there are a lot of budgets go into the "environment, event' etc proxy. And as a student of science I found it a big headache the school doesn't have the capability to offer us proper intermediate courses nor lab courses, yet always brand themselves as "game changer, world impact, will let you gain the mastery of xxx". It is really frustrating for me that every content I've came across in school lecture could've been learned from the internet, not saying it's thence bad, but really, then what's the value of a school other than selling the prestige?

[@cherubxingyu]

LOL The marketing people have really successfully sell to every industry that "branding" is necessary.

[@elviselcapo]

The piece of paper with your name on it showing the world you spent the money to get that paper. Having a degree does not mean you are an expert, it means you have the basic skills to start working in that field. Either way, it is a complete waste of time since we are then forced to study things that have no bearing in the field we want to go into. Paper mills is what they are.

[@veratermeulen8599]

I totally agree with your mission and it inspires me to do something similar, thankyou for sharing! ❤

[@amw6846]

As someone who's taking a break from academia (on the STEM side), I would like to note that a lot of the time when those first two years aren't being taught by grad students, they're being taught by non-tenure track faculty who have very little ability to push back on demands without putting their employment in jeopardy. My experience as NTT at a flagship university was one of high teaching loads, low support, and a desire to streamline everything. Ironically, I felt far greater leeway to challenge students at a two-year school, and the class loads were small enough that I could give students the attention needed. In addition, the students tended to come in not feeling like they'd "made it" by getting into the institution, so there was often more of a drive to challenge oneself. There were often issues with non-education things interfering that took more work, but students with complicated lives deserve good educations too. While I'm not in the humanities, I do agree with you that the move towards testing has led to a disturbing prioritization of shorter passages. I was especially concerned with that for my youngest kid, who spent his last year and a half of high school taking English online -- the state insisted on use of a system that changed what the students did quite dramatically, eliminating major book-related projects. In particular, the English department had one project called "major author " where students read five books by an author chosen from a list, analyzed the books and produced a work that discussed major themes and connections over those five books. The state did away with it during the pandemic. I understand - it's not something you can do easily with standardized testing - but I still grieve the loss.

[@SamS-tr2mh]

Humanities professors are often retaliated against for increasing rigor, especially in subjects like foreign languages. If the program in a foreign language in particular will fail students at the same level of a difficult math or chemistry course the admin will target it for budget cuts or closure. History classes are also effectively not allowed to be difficult for similar reasons, as the students tend to expect to be an easy A and when it isn't they leave bad evaluations, leading to pressure from administration

[@CaroleneGabrail]

I loved this video. And I think you hit the nail spot on when you said that the education system, by lowering standards so as to make things "not too hard", HAS failed students. As a 44 yo nontraditional student, I see the huge difference between now and 20 years ago when I obtained my B.A. and it's so frustrating to see professors go back over material again and again, from classes already taken, so that "everyone is up to speed". These are hurdles and challenges and problem solving skills that students miss out on because professors just don't want to expect more. Additionally, literally anyone can enrich their life outside of college. There are libraries, KZbin educational videos, bookstores....where you can read and learn anything YOU want to learn, without having to pay a back breaking tuition to take classes you really aren't that interested in.

[@keywolf23]

I had a similar path when I started my degree in philosophy-- I wanted to be teach philosophy. However, I began the realize the road ahead was publish or punish in a very political workplace of a public university. I empathize with your decisions to move off that path, Jared. Happy to see your channel grow!

[@loumarcellino17Q19]

I always get something out of ALL your videos. I am long out of college and university, now retired, but reading is something I love and you are truly an inspiration in so many ways. Thank you.

[@DannySabraArt]

When I was in graduate school, my history professor said “I have to dumb down this class because if I taught you the way I learned none of you would pass.” That really made me angry and insulted so after class I went to his office and said “Frankly I’m disappointed and frustrated because I didn’t come here to learn dumbed down material, I came to learn the most that I can. I believe I could learn what you learned.” He turned to me and said “you’re probably right, but nobody else in the class could so I can’t do it.” That’s what I was left with. Grad school still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, that I sacrificed all that time and money and I’m not sure what it got me. Now I’m learning way more on my own than I ever did in school. In part thanks to your videos like you said. Your early videos encouraged me to read hard books outside my field and I’ve been enjoying tackling philosophy and difficult books and learning that my intellect is not limited to my initial field but that I can expand my education beyond that schooling on my own.

[@Che-vn6vu]

Do you think he meant in the the whole class not learning, everybody does learn differently and everybody won’t put the same hours in. Just think how many students came to him and asked or how many students went on to search for themselves,

[@DannySabraArt]

@@Che-vn6vu I think he meant that the students in the class were not intellectually capable and if they needed to know something they could simply google it. That’s what he told us

[@Che-vn6vu]

@@DannySabraArt I can see that.. really grasping something takes time..

[@giovannizun]

A year ago, you published 7 Books for Beginners, or something like that. Your video gave me that last nudge to read philosophy. I followed your recommendations and started with Plato's Works, then moved to Philosophical Investigations by Wittgenstein. I also have Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics on my shelf, but I haven't read that one yet. Still, it was all thanks to you.

[@Rissy_renee]

I’m back in school now, never completed my undergrad. I’m in community college for this reason. I live at home with my mom and pay $650 a semester (I have some financial aid). I wish I did It like this from the start. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet for graduate, but I have a long way to go.

[@mikewilder6728]

Waste of time, waste of money. Become a traditional wife instead. You'll be freer and happier.

[@danielwang5366]

I absolutely resonate with what you shared (speaking from an engineering student's perspective). I'm a rising junior, and throughout my life college was presented to me as the pinnacle of intellectual inquiry and academic excellence. And although there are certainly aspects of that, in my experience many departments fall short of providing that experience for the majority of students. It's really up to students individually to carve out a path to explore their intellectual interests, it's sad that we can't rely on our institutions to provide that for us and more often than not they can actually get in our way and even inhibit our progress in doing that.

[@daheikkinen]

My average class size was around 14 students, and there were no teaching assistants, just professors (Hillsdale)

[@Hilaire_Balrog]

good school proving the old ways work

[@BennettAustin7]

Great school

[@sweetaznspice1]

I envy you (in a good way), although my liberal arts program at UW (University of Washington) in the mid to late 90s wasn't too bad considering the lack of standards today.

[@sweetaznspice1]

Wow, what are the odds! Yes, UW is a great school and I had a great time being a student there, although I would have preferred smaller classes in an intimate setting. I imagine Hillsdale still provides one of the best liberal arts programs in the nation.

[@OntologyofValue]

So well done Jared! You found your unique way to provide value which might seem counterintuitive at first, but worked out just perfectly. I would wish that for everyone.

[@sccrespoc]

I did my bachelor in chemistry in Colombia in the 00's. A decade later, I decided to shift gears, I was living in the US and enrolled in a local college. I was baffled, the young students around me were really lazy and getting the same grades I had (doing all the work), they went to the teachers offices crying for better grades, and they got them. I left. I wasn't learning anything I couldn't learn by myself, given the really low standards in those classes.

[@helpfulcommenter]

I got my bachelors in the early 2000s, and later went back to school for a graduate degree. I was teaching as a grad in 2016-2018 and again as a lecturer in 2020-2021. Standards have fallen so low, there's no rigor, students are handled with kid gloves and emerge with an outsized sense of worth without the knowledge and skills to back it up, because they've been coddled for four years. Professors have become terrified to grade harshly or hold them to a high standard, because of sites like Rate My Professor, or being accused of this, that, or the other thing and called before administration. So most professors just let students slide in order to avoid conflict and confrontation because they are only interested in focusing on their research, and their undergrad classes are potential minefields of politics, gender, cancellation, etc. Undergrad programs are broken. It's just about money.

[@Summalogicae]

@@helpfulcommenter This is absolutely the case, unfortunately

[@clamarroan]

So, in your experience, is higher Ed better in Colombia than in the States?

[@sccrespoc]

@@clamarroan I'm no sure. I have no experience with Colombian education right now. I know it has changed to comply con international standards (that are about administration, not much about curriculum). I can say that the education I got in Colombia back in 2004 was way better than in the US in 2019, if only because I got real feedback and challenges, while in the US I didn't get feedback, the teachers were very reluctant to critique any student's work, they also didn't want to ask student to make the effort. They just nodded and said good job if the student gave the bare minimum (no incentive to do a good job if you're getting the same than lazy ppl).

[@JavierVelasco8]

​@@clamarroan it depends a lot on a number of things. There are A TON of poor quality institutions in COL (I asume that's also true for the US). The crying for better grades thing is happening a lot (I worked for four years as an adjunct so I had to deal with that). Universities are also marketing themselves as an experience, so they're focusing on that rather than investing on, well, education. Adjuncts' conditions are HORRIBLE. In general terms, I'd say that you can do well here but only as long as you have access to a top-tier university and don't get debt. The size of the debt in the US is ridiculously higher tho.

[@ChrisS-ps4lg]

Thanks for this. These issues are endemic throughout education. I teach K-8 and my students are starving for adult interaction so that they can begin to sort out reality from fantasy. The human component of discussion and friendly debate has all but disappeared because mechanical things do not engage in these basic human needs. I recently asked my 6th grade students what an education is for. All of them mentioned getting a good job so that they could buy lots of 'stuff'. I then asked them what they were made for. This was much more difficult for them. What was remarkable to me is not one mentioned that they were made for good relationships, family and friends. As a society we don't ask or explore what it is to be truly human. We no longer value discourse but rely on assumptions.

[@kingfisher9553]

I had a full scholarship and I left. I hated it. They knew nothing about field research and were leaping to stupid conclusions based on information that was 20-years old (at least) and was done by someone else who had done NO FIELD RESEARCH.

[@misterkefir]

There's actually not a lot of curiosity there either, somehow. Seriously, it sucks.

[@jacobcastle5925]

Your mission statement is what I do in my philosophy classes. I don’t know if you are right about helping more people online or not, but there is nothing better than helping a student gain that confidence in person. Plus, as an adjunct, I can be honest to them about their lives, education, etc. I love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything. If that’s how you feel now, never give that up for anything!

[@momokiene9973]

Hey, I study chemistry in Germany. It is a lot less expensive to study here but there are also problems. In Germany professors are doing a lot of the teaching, but there also overseeing the PhD.s and connecting with the industry and politics. Thus, they are really overworked and often just set up the material for their course and really rarely actualize it. Also they get no training in teaching at all, it’s just assumed they know how to do it. That and the fact that they are “verbeamtet” (if they don’t do something criminal, they are practically impossible to fire) makes the teaching quality a gamble. Most of them are at least ok though. I was in the student council for many years and making the test easier was discussed frequently. In hindsight I am most shocked about the total uninterested way, they treated the growing gap between expectations and reality of student performance. They never even attempted to collect data. I mean fixing problems is sciences hole deal, right? They never even asked themselves if it might be a structural problem. They just assumed that schools are getting worse (which is true) and that students need to self-organize more. What Jared mentioned in this video - that students are getting to little feedback - is also true here.

[@arvidassburg4500]

"there is no such thing as a bad student" - mr miyagi

[@reecesx]

"It's a lot less expensive" translation: I don't feel it being taken out of my taxes yet

[@momokiene9973]

@@reecesx Yes. But still better than having lifelong soul crushing debt.

[@reecesx]

@momokiene9973 "it's not soul crushing debt if everybody else has to pay for my wrecklessness" This has to be the verage iq of a European higher education student on display right here. Seems worth the investment. lol. lmao even. Thankfully oil money is sending you tourist money, love, and prayers for christmas 🙏🚗 🚗. Just one more corner store and I'm sure your debt will be paid off.

[@JLchevz]

I've sometimes felt intimidated by the harder works of philosophy (I haven't read nearly as much as I would've wanted) but you have definitely inspired me to read more philosophy and you've given us a general understanding of how to approach it, which can be quite daunting even for someone interested in it, let alone any "normal" person. So yes I'd definitely say you've helped me get out of my comfort zone. And in other genres too, I started Book of the New Sun and GGK's books in part because you've recommended them, and I'm very glad. So thank you.

[@Vicente_Lopes_Senger]

When I was younger I had this romantic view of the academy and what I thought were "professional" or academic philosophers like. I had read Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and that book left an impression on me, I felt a personal connection with Raskolnikov. Not with his deed, of course, but with his thoughts on greatness and predestination. I got this naive idea that "for sure, everyone that is interested in philosophy is like us". And I was certain that for you to attain a philosophy degree you have to have read from the source material all the classics from antiquity to modernity. "How could you be truly knowledgeable on philosophy knowing any less?"- I thought, naively. I never however put seriously thought on enrolling in a philosophy undergraduate course. I just wanted something that had a more practical application. I wanted to build actual things. Maybe my engineering side was stronger, after all, both of my parents are engineers. When I finally did enroll in an undergrad course, I enrolled in architecture. I remember in one of my first assignments I sketched an eagle, for what would be monument, and explained to the professor, that the meaning of it was symbolic, that it had to do with Nietzsche and Thus Spoke Zarathustra (my favorite book ever). She was surprised and asked If I had studied philosophy. I said "No... I just like reading philosophy out of my own interest". Soon I came to understand that even in academia most people are just not very bright, even academics are disappointingly dull. For the longest time I was sure that had to be because I live in Brazil (I'm Brazilian) and surely, the US universities must have a much higher standard. Thanks for confirming to me that is not the case, that your institutions and academics are just as underwhelming as ours. If you are curious about the end of my academic story: I got my Architecture undergrad degree, then I learned programming by myself and that is what I do now. Thanks for the video.

[@adrianatgaming8640]

Hey, I appreciate your comment. I've read Dostoevsky over the past 2 years too and have found him deeply profound on the roots of modernity's problems. You're convincing me to start reading Nietzsche too (Beyond Good and Evil has been on my bookshelf for a while now -- my friend gifted it to me!). However, as I am going into first year undergraduate studies, your observations are quite worrying to me. I certainly hope university classes will be an enriching experience and I will certainly read novels, philosophical treatises and other books to make the best of my spare time. It would be great if you could offer any advice on making my undergraduate years fruitful. Nevertheless I see a silver lining. Although as you say, "even academics are disappointingly dull," what I see in many spaces on the Internet are intelligent people, knowledgeable and inquisitive in the realms of philosophy and other fields. Certainly if people like the viewers of this channel come together, there can be a revival of academic inquiry outside of the university. It might even be better -- it ends the monopoly on knowledge universities currently hold, effectively democratizing knowledge even to a degree beyond what the Internet has accomplished.

[@Vicente_Lopes_Senger]

@@adrianatgaming8640 Thanks for your kind words. I share your views and enthusiasm on this promising broad online community we are building. I have thought about this many times and you have articulated it very well in your own words. Beyond Good and Evil is very good, however, I myself I'm more drawn to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, maybe because I have an artistic side of me that really enjoys the prose of the book. Or maybe for other reasons that would be too much to discuss here... I'm not sure I have much to offer in terms of academic advice as I did struggle to navigate the academic world myself. One thing I can say is, if perhaps, I had choose to enroll on a philosophy undergrad program I would have found more kinship with my peers and professors. But that is something I can only speculate about and could be completely wrong. You tell me you are reading Dostoevsky and philosophy and finding it enjoyable, so one thing I can say to you is this: you are an intellectual. And in my experience we are a rare kind. Know that you probably won't find many along the way you can really connect to in a deep intellectual level, so value those you do find, both peers and professors. Those are invaluable friendships, potentially for life. Do not fear, know that it will be sometimes a bumpy journey. Trust in yourself, do not let mean-spirited professors destroy your love for your gift. And if by chance you find yourself identifying a lot with myself, remember this: "Ne te quæsiveris extra" As Emerson puts better than I could in Self-Reliance: "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age..." Good luck!

[@emmakearney5266]

The rapid accessibility and exchange of knowledge online has driven a massive shift in social class, outpacing traditional education systems. Once, the upper class wielded exclusive control over prestigious jobs, but their influence has waned as businesses prioritize adaptability and scalability in competitive markets. Today, inherited wealth is often seen as irrelevant in a results-driven economy. Like any institution resistant to change, the upper class faces a reckoning: failing to evolve means moving from a position of untouchable privilege to grappling with the same existential challenges as everyone else. I think it's awesome. My teenage self that was shunned by universities is loving that fact that I can outsmart my Harvard-educated cousins simply by critical thinking on a scale that schools didn't like because it challenged the status quo.

[@reese6001]

8:49 as a current college student, one of my classes often gives me 40 pages of dense text to read in 2 days. While on its own, that’s relatively doable I’ve got 4 other classes that also assign reading, extracurriculars, a job and a research position. I really don’t have 2 hours to read for that class

[@reese6001]

Though I think I do agree with the sentiment that I feel incapable of reading that text. I feel like it’s mostly for other reasons

[@tiwiogunye]

@@reese6001 Your situation is different. You're not saying it's too hard, you just don't have the time.

[@sharifalsaad2988]

​@tiwiogunye everyone's in this situation. Everyone has other classes and other things to do.

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

I completely agree. University was pretty broken even when I went, but the piece of paper I got out of it got me jobs. I didn’t feel I learned *anything* I needed for my chosen profession. I had to learn all of it on the job.

[@DribbleFunk]

I understand this video is just your point of view, but I wanted to speak up about your comments about adjuncts. Adjuncts are incredibly underpaid and undervalued. They receive very little institutional support. Where I work, adjuncts do not receive benefits and their hours are capped. When classes do make, they are often taken away to be given to a full-time faculty member whose class did not... at the last minute. Many adjuncts hustle to get classes, work on multiple campuses and, yes, do sort of stitch together an income in a mercenary way. However, a blanket statement that students will "not be getting that top quality education that you can really only get from an established professor..." is unwarranted. I realize it is a small point in your overall message here, but there is a lot more nuance than that. As an adjunct for the last twelve years with another 15 years of teaching experience previous to that, and extensive (and current) experience in my field, I supply a top notch educational experience in the classroom. I do so, despite the roadblocks the my position as an adjunct throws at me. I was asked a few years ago how I would conduct/structure my class if I were full-time and at a larger institution. The answer is I would do basically the same course. Perhaps a bit more indepth, but pretty much the same. And the instruction would hold its own against any other comparable class by another experienced teacher. I do not believe I am a rarity, either. A great many adjuncts are very capable and amazingly "top quality." The system has let them down. they have not necessarily let down the students.

[@lugiacon]

I hope you’re a full time faculty now!

[@dc5046]

When I was an English major at a state university over 30 years ago, there were some semesters where I had to read 2 novels per week - about 400-800 pages total each week. And I had a part-time job to support my monthly dorm bill. I can't believe university students would actually think 100 pages is a lot.

[@maxturgeon89]

My experience of academia is in STEM, and I would say many of your observations translate over. One additional thought: I've seen established professors push back on the request to make courses easier, but they typically teach upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses. And so what you get is a disconnect between who has the institutional support to push back, and who teaches intro level courses.

[@talkbackdoe7470]

Great video, man. Thanks for this honest and very satisfyingly candid video. *Thank you*

[@Bleduke0525]

Nice icons on the wall.

[@_jared]

Thank you. For anyone curious: those are Sts Katherine, Maximus, and Augustine.

[@WilliamDavis-lf5bq]

I'm extremely glad you're doing this. I personally (I'm 55) don't have a problem with hard books, though until recently, my main focus was history. I love Caesar's books, Donald Kagan's books (especially the Peloponnesian War), JB Bury's lectures on the germanic migrations, and so much more. When my mother, father, and grandfather died, however, I was faced with an existential crisis. As an atheist, I was shaken to my core. I turned to Stoicism, first, then philosophy as a whole. Thanks for what you do.

[@itzakehrenberg3449]

And this wouldn't have happened had the U.S. government not decided in the 1970s that everyone was supposed to go to college.

[@vanyasmirn]

Thank you for your perspective! Seeing your videos really coincided with my bachelor's burnout on year 3 out of 4. I'm not from America, but our countries' humanitarian faculties (Theatre studies in my case, but also Humanities in general) are understaffed and underfunded, not rescpeted compared to other sciences, and most graduates are not in demand at all. Also now professors and students can be fired or in extreme cases be legally prosecuted for being against government's policy... Add to that a feeling of inadequacy, and imposter syndrome (or maybe I'm just geniunely a bad fit lol) Your videos as well as of other creators really remind me that I can choose a different vocation while continuing to learn more about life in philosophical and other terms on my own, that I do not neccesarily need a degree to "deserve" to have opinions about the world we live and the life that is happening. Thanks!