Virginia Inaugural Ball for the Democratic Party

The day before President Obama was sworn into office for his second term, I had the honor of attending an inaugural ball. This was a humbling experience and quite a privilege to be able to attend. On a side note, it all began with the renting of a tuxedo. Originally, I was going to hit up the event alone. But then I decided to ask a friend if he'd be interested in joining me for a night of networking on behalf of the indentured educated class.

Here's how it went:

I called my friend less than a week before the event and asked him if he'd be interested in joining me at the Virginia Inaugural Ball for Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Mark Warner, and 2013 gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.

"Yes," he said. "That sounds fine, but it's ball season, so let me call and see if there are any tuxedos still available."

"Fine," I said.

We hung up, and approximately 5 minutes later, he called me back and said, "I was able to find a tuxedo."

"Very good," I said, "I'll buy the tickets, and must get moving on finding a ball gown."

That very day, my friend rented a tuxedo. The following Friday, I rushed to Macy's in downtown D.C. I found a gorgeous gown the moment I walked into the store. It fit - as the saying goes - like a glove. I purchased the gown, while still wearing it (!), and then went downstairs to find a pair of perfect shoes. Since I had to have the dress ready by that Sunday, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get it hemmed in time, so I rushed - in the frigid air - to a tailor shop right across the street from Macy's in my ballgown.

One man said to me, as I dashed across the street, "Girl, you're gonna freeze to death!"

"I'll be fine," I sang, "I'm just going to a tailor shop right across the street!."

I was in luck! The tailor shop had time to hem my gown before the ball. I stood on a block in front of mirrors, and the seamstress, who was a Korean woman, pinned my dress. I picked it up the very next day.

I decided I wanted to go to this ball months ago, so I was able to invest my own money in my dress, shoes, and ticket to the event - it was more than worth it, because this is part of my duty to get to these sorts of events to push the issue and talk about policy solutions that will bring an end to this unnecessary crisis. (I should mention that my friend was kind enough to pay his own way). I realized that this was an event that I couldn't pass up, and while I had fun, attending was all done on behalf of the millions and millions of borrowers who are struggling or unable to pay back their loans.

I had great conversations and was able to discuss my work as an advocate for student loan debtors. This was the goal, and I achieved it.

Again, it was an absolute privilege to have been invited to this event and then attend.

Here are some pictures of when I went to get my dress tailored. Of course, I've also included a few photos that my friend was kind enough to take of me from the evening at the ball. It is with great pleasure that I share these images with all of my readers.

On another note, I returned today from the Hill, and had a fantastic conversation with a staffer about ways in which we need to solve the student lending crisis. Folks, they are listening, and this is going to be the year. This is going to be OUR year to solve the student lending crisis. I am determined, absolutely determined that 2013 will be the year for actual solutions for current borrowers. 

Looking forward to going to the ball [#1]

Still at the tailor's [#2]

Pre-ball [#3]

Public Servant for the Indentured Educated Class [#4]

Another shot of your student loan debt advocate

Princeton Professor teaches Coursera course; you must be kidding me!

I don’t recall ever agreeing with anything Thomas Friedman has ever written in the New York Times, but this Sunday’s article was especially ridiculous.

He was again extolling the glories of the coming education revolution led by MOOCs.

This is part of what he wrote:

“Mitch Duneier, a Princeton sociology professor, wrote: “A few months ago,  40,000 students from 113 countries arrived here via the Internet to take a free course in introductory sociology. ... My opening discussion of C. Wright Mills’s classic 1959 book, ‘The Sociological Imagination,’ was a close reading of the text, in which I reviewed a key chapter line by line. I asked students to follow along in their own copies, as I do in the lecture hall. When I give this lecture on the Princeton campus, I usually receive a few penetrating questions. In this case, however, within a few hours of posting the online version, the course forums came alive with hundreds of comments and questions. Several days later there were thousands. ... Within three weeks I had received more feedback on my sociological ideas than I had in a career of teaching, which significantly influenced each of my subsequent lectures and seminars.””

Friedman mentions this because he thinks it is a wonderful thing, I suppose. Let’s consider what this professor actually said:

My opening discussion of C. Wright Mills’s classic 1959 book, ‘The Sociological Imagination,’ was a close reading of the text, in which I reviewed a key chapter line by line.

Well, isn’t that just education at its finest? Princeton should be proud. Not only are they still lecturing, a relic of the Middle Ages when students didn’t have books and monks read them to them, but the professor is reading it line by line. The analysis of a text is a scholarly activity done by intellectuals, and when done with students, it is part of an effort to create more intellectuals. Does Professor think that the world needs 40,000 more sociology intellectuals? When this stuff happens at Princeton, it is still isn’t really good educational practice, but Princeton does try to produce intellectuals for the most part.

When done with 40,000 students from 113 countries, this is is simply fraud. There is no need for them to read a text in this way. Far from being a revolutionary new practice that will eliminate universities as Friedman says, this kind of activity is perpetuating the very thing that is wrong with universities --- their distance from the real world.

within a few hours of posting the online version, the course forums came alive with hundreds of comments and questions. Several days later there were thousands. ...

It is nice that there were thousands of comments. How many did you respond to Professor Duneier?

I assume the answer is “none.” As a professor, not responding to a student, is, in my mind, the worst thing one can do. Education is about the dialogue between professor and student. This is why classrooms, especially large classrooms, are a terrible idea. They limit discussion. When I taught at Yale and Northwestern I never assigned readings. just topics for discussion. And then we discussed. If you had 30 or 40 students you could get into some good arguments, especially if I had assigned a provocative question to think about. (“What does it mean to learn” was one I often used.)

Your job professor is not to notice how many nice discussions students have with each other. But it is his last line that got me:

Within three weeks I had received more feedback on my sociological ideas than I had in a career of teaching, which significantly influenced each of my subsequent lectures and seminars.

So, the Coursera experience was good for you eh? Nice to hear.

But the issue is that universities have always been good for the faculty. Places like Princeton are run by the faculty for the faculty. No one teaches much. No one cares about anything but PhD students and research.  Undergraduates sit in lecture halls in order to pass the time between football games and parties. No one cares because they all windup with impressive Princeton degrees.

Friedman is right that online will change universities, but not the kind of online that Coursera is providing.

Just yesterday, there were thousands of visits to a lecture of mine that is on line because it was assigned as part of a Coursera course. I find that very funny since my lecture was about why lectures don’t work (oh the irony!) and why learning requires doing and why universities should stop teaching scholarly subjects and start teaching students skills they can use in real life.

Yes change is coming. Too bad Mr Friedman doesn’t have clue why. Here it s. We can build mentored learn by doing courses online that challenge current teaching practice. They won’t be offered by Princeton because Princeton likes what it has now. But change is coming, just not the change Coursera or Friedman had in mind.