Instructors differ significantly from one another in terms of their quality of teaching (human capital + consumption value) and ease of grading (signaling). I’m curious here about the extent to which LessWrong readers think variation between instructors for similar courses compares to variation between institutions. For instance, how much does variation between instructors at Harvard compare with variation between UCLA and Harvard?
I had a few great professors (e.g. this guy), and mostly good ones, at De Anza College, a community college in Cupertino, California, to the point where I was a bit disappointed after transferring to UC Berkeley.
I had an Organic Chemistry teacher at the small community college in my home town that blew away my big university’s Medicinal Chemistry prof. The big university prof was tenured & could treat his students as abusively as he desired without any fear of significant consequences.
I had a few great professors (e.g. this guy), and mostly good ones, at De Anza College, a community college in Cupertino, California, to the point where I was a bit disappointed after transferring to UC Berkeley.
I had an Organic Chemistry teacher at the small community college in my home town that blew away my big university’s Medicinal Chemistry prof. The big university prof was tenured & could treat his students as abusively as he desired without any fear of significant consequences.