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Poster for College Inc

College Inc

2010 · Film

For-profit universities transform how people think about college in America.

7 positivefrom 7 commenters

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9 comments on Hacker News

  1. PositivestudentrobMay 27, 2016

    > I don't think anything prevents rampant cheating by American students

    The system prevents it. Cheating has consequences at lower levels of American schools. In China, for the most part, it doesn't. Gifts buy good grades. The whole idea of getting into a good school based on your merits is subverted.

    The documentary Education, Education, about private colleges within China, shows what happens to poor families with this mindset [1]. They end up paying for schools that aren't really that good, and then they become part of what's become known as the Ant Tribe (蚁族),

    > Lian Si (廉思), then a postdoctoral researcher at Peking University, coined the term "ant tribe" to draw a comparison between the lives of these college graduates and ants: "They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in cramped areas. They're intelligent and hardworking, yet anonymous and underpaid." [2]

    The same thing happens in for-profit universities in the US. The film College, Inc documents this [3].

    The degree of cheating by Asians is out of control. The entire SAT is being published. See the 3 minute video "Reused and Abused: How the test-prep industry games the SAT" [4]

    [1] https://youtu.be/BP61LwODTnY

    [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_tribe

    [3] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/collegeinc/

    [4] http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-sat-one/#video-SAT

  2. PositivestudentrobMay 27, 2016

    I understand 100%. I feel that way about a lot of things I try in life =)

    How are you doing now?

    By the way, I just watched a documentary about this kind of thing happening in China [1]. One American version of that story is a documentary named College, Inc [2]

    [1] https://youtu.be/BP61LwODTnY

    [2] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/collegeinc/

  3. PositivestudentrobMay 27, 2016

    What a touching documentary that shows a different side to the plight of Chinese students. Thank you for sharing it.

    The same system exists in America. The US version of this documentary is College, Inc [1]

    The whole exchange between parents who want the best for their kids, teachers who are pushing a sub-par education at their private schools that they know takes advantage of poorer students, pre-enrollment students who will do anything to find a job, and graduated students who can see that this education hasn't opened any doors, is easy to see through this documentary. I wonder whether this film is viewable within China or not

    The teacher explaining how his school isn't worth it, particularly for the poor, is heartbreakingly honest [2]

    The part when she sings a song about what happened to her hands when she was a child is both sad and happy [3]

    Also interesting to learn about the term "Ant Tribe", that is, kids who can't find a job after school [4]

    [1] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/collegeinc/

    [2] https://youtu.be/BP61LwODTnY?t=50m32s

    [3] https://youtu.be/BP61LwODTnY?t=55m50s

    [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_tribe

  4. PositivedubfanFeb 20, 2013

    That's a particularly egregious sample. The Art Institute is a for-profit college, the likes of which are infamous for milking student loan money. See also University of Phoenix, ITT, DeVry, and Everest. It's a huge industry in the USA. Frontline of PBS had a good episode about this called College Inc. and I recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

  5. PositiveBrambleFeb 3, 2013

    In addition to the links already posted, I might suggest watching the Frontline documentary College INC http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/

    If you're college is not already in the online arena, my first thought is that an investor is going to come in and try to turn it into another University of Phoenix or DeVry.

  6. PositivecheezAug 12, 2011

    Did you watch College Inc. too? Good documentary.

  7. PositivepapaAug 12, 2011

    Frontline had an interesting documentary on this industry a year or so back called "College Inc". If I remember rightly, they even discussed one of the schools named in the suit, Argosy University (along with a lot of hard-sell tactics and high student loan default rates that accompany the for-profit industry).

    It was an eye-opening program. Here's the link if interested: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/

    I think Netflix also has the episode available for online streaming.

  8. PositivenecubiApr 11, 2011

    No, what some for-profit colleges are doing is despicable and amounts to defrauding the federal government. These behaviors include heavy-handed marketing to potential students who are unlikely to see a benefit from the education and who are unlikely to be able to pay back their loans. For more on this, see the excellent PBS documentary College, Inc and/or the various federal lawsuits that have been filed in the past year.

    It's entirely possible that low-end non profit colleges participate in similar bad behavior. But that in no way excuses it for the for-profit colleges.

  9. PositivemichaelbuckbeeJan 15, 2011

    There was a really interesting Frontline Documentary - College Inc - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/ that covered the University of Phoneix in depth.