Random paragraphs of internet controversies

1. The "Mrs. Degree" controversy:  You can read a reasoned approach to this at Historiann's. As I understand it, a woman who went to Princeton and is now getting divorced regrets that she didn't marry someone from her cohort there and urges young women not to repeat her mistake. 

Yes, this does sound like advice from 1953. I have more faith in young women, though, than that they'll heed this advice, first because they're sensible, and secondly because who ever heard of a college sophomore who wasn't the smartest person on the planet, much smarter than any Woman of a Certain Age?

Seriously, though, this is disheartening. 

2. They've perfected the automated university.  

a. First, you eliminate the professors, or "content providers" (h/t Jonathan Rees):http://chronicle.com/article/Under-California-Bill/138235/

b. Then you get grading software, which is much better than any professor except a SuperMOOC one. Here's the best part: 

Plus, he noted, critics of the technology have tended to come from the nation’s best universities, where the level of pedagogy is much better than at most schools. “Often they come from very prestigious institutions where, in fact, they do a much better job of providing feedback than a machine ever could,” Dr. Shermis said. “There seems to be a lack of appreciation of what is actually going on in the real world." 

See how that works? The hierarchy of quality goes like this

1. Prestigious institutions. 
2. Grading software. 
3. All other institutions (the "real world" where the "level of pedagogy" is by implication not so hot). 

c. What's missing? Essay-writing software for the students so that they won't have to write the essays that no one will read.