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| | {{comic | | {{comic |
| | | number = 2215 | | | number = 2215 |
| − | | date = October 14, 2019 | + | | date = October 15, 2019 |
| | | title = Faculty:Student Ratio | | | title = Faculty:Student Ratio |
| | | image = faculty_student_ratio.png | | | image = faculty_student_ratio.png |
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| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| − | Universities are often rated in various ways to help students/parents pick which one to attend. This comic satirizes the very real culture of schools modifying their actions to artificially inflate their ratings. One metric used in ratings is the {{w|Student–teacher ratio|ratio between the number of faculty members to the number of students}}. Typically this is expressed as the student-teacher ratio, which normally determines how much time teachers get to spend with individual students. The lower the ratio, i.e., the fewer students per teacher, the smaller classes teachers have to teach, and thus the more attention the teachers can give to each student. However, having many more teachers than student(s), as in this comic, is not very beneficial to the student(s). (For context for international readers, high student-teacher ratios are common and expected in the United States, Randall's home country, whereas some nations especially in Asia sometimes report much lower ratios, often close to 1:1 in some areas.)
| + | {{incomplete|Created by a GRADUATE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
| | + | Schools are usually rated for students to pick which one to attend. One of the metrics that schools use is a ratio between the number of faculty members to the number of students. Normally, this determines how much teachers get to spend individual time with students. The lower the ratio, the smaller classes teachers have to teach, and thus notice individual students more. |
| | + | However, having more teachers than students is a bad idea, as many people trying to teach one person is normally a bad idea, as an individual student would not be that much help, and that one teacher would suffice for the job. {{Citation needed}} |
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| − | Another metric commonly used to measure a college's exclusivity and therefore prestige is the college's rejection rate; more prestigious schools get more applicants, and since they can accept only a limited number, they must reject many. Less prestigious schools often accept a higher fraction of their applicants, but some schools will reject students whose test scores, résumé, etc. are much higher than average for the school since it's likely that college is a "safety school" and the student won't actually go there. This rejection can decrease the school's acceptance rate and make it appear more prestigious. However, if the above-average student does want to attend that school, they are unable to, even though it would be good for both the college and the student.
| + | In the title text, other metrics are skewed to be in the school's favor. |
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| − | {{w|Proprietary colleges|For-profit universities}} and {{w|diploma mills}} may use techniques like this to artificially boost their ratings or use fabricated metrics and {{w|accreditation mills}} to give an inflated appearance of value. {{w|Predatory publishing|Predatory publishers}} and conferences are other techniques used to inflate the perceived value of a school or to pad curriculum vitae.
| + | Having a high standard for entry (which is usually associated with high prestige or better schools) is subverted by the fact that it is near impossible for one to get in, thus making the school undesirable to try and apply to. |
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| − | In the title text, other metrics are skewed in the school's favor:
| + | A high amount of research papers would normally indicate a high number of scientific studies conducted at the school, however the messages are devoid of any sort of useful information. |
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| − | *Having a high standard for entry is usually associated with better or high-prestige schools; however, this is subverted by the fact that the school has only one student per class. A class of one would make (at least for most students) for a poor educational experience,{{Citation needed}} especially in this case, where the student is apparently being micro-managed by all of the teachers at once. Even if it were a good academic environment, it could only benefit one student per year, which means the school would only have a very modest impact on the world.
| + | A high hiring rate (percentage of students that have gotten a job after education) is favorable, as it is the endgame for many students attending these types of schools. However, the school in question artificially inflated it by having 1 out of their one students be hired by them (having a 100% hiring rate) and giving them a starting salary that is very high, but not giving them enough time to actually reasonably gain that amount. |
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| − | *A high number of research papers would normally indicate a high level of scientific research at the school; however, ''these'' research papers have no real content in them and are all identical, rather missing the point of a research paper - namely, to make the scientific community aware of new research. | + | $50 trillion/year for 10 microseconds is approximately $15.85 (= 10 / 10^6 / 3600 / 24 / 365 * 50*10^12). |
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| − | *A high hiring rate (percentage of students that have gotten a job after education) and a high average salary after graduation is favorable, as it is one goal for many students attending college. However, the school in question artificially inflates these metrics by having all (one out of one) of their student body be hired by them, producing a 100% hiring rate, and giving them a starting salary that is astronomically high, but not giving them enough employment time to actually gain very much income. $50 trillion/year for 10 microseconds is approximately $15.85 (= $50e12 / (365 * 24 * 60 * 60) * 10e-6 * 10) if pay is assumed to be spread constantly over the full 365 days of the year. Assuming fifty-two 40-hour workweeks would make this <abbr title="$66.77=$50e12 / (52 * 5 * 8 * 60 * 60) * 10e-6 * 10">$66.77</abbr>. Since xkcd originates in the USA, trillion [[2091: Million, Billion, Trillion|most likely means]] 1e12 (i.e., {{w|Long and short scales|short scale}}), as compared to 1e18 (long scale interpretation).
| + | ==Transcript== |
| | + | [Cueball is sitting hunched over a desk writing while 10 professors crowd around him.] |
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| | + | Female Professor: "How's the work going?" |
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| | + | Cueball: "Can you all at least stand back a little?" |
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| | + | Title Text: They managed to briefly hit the top of the rankings when they rejected everyone except one applicant, published 5 billion research papers that just said "Hi," and hired one of their graduates for $50 trillion/year (then fired them after 10 microseconds.) |
| | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
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| − | ==Transcript==
| + | [Cueball sits at a desk, with five faculty members to his left and five to his right. Among the faculty members are Ponytail, two versions of Megan, and at least four other versions of Cueball.] |
| − | :[Cueball is sitting hunched over a desk writing while ten people crowd around him, five on each side, all leaning towards him. On the left side, they are Hairbun, a Cueball-like man, Hairy, Megan - who speaks, and another Cueball-like man. On the right are Ponytail, a third Cueball-like man, another Megan-like woman, Blondie, and finally a fourth Cueball-like man.]
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| − | :Megan: How's the work going? | + | :Fourth faculty member from the left: How's the work going? |
| − | :Cueball: Can you all at least stand back a little? | + | :Cueball at desk: Can you all at least stand back a little? |
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| − | :[Caption below the panel]:
| + | My school tried to game the ratings by having a 30:1 faculty:student ratio |
| − | :My school tried to game the ratings by having a 30:1 faculty:student ratio
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| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
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| − | [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
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| − | [[Category:Scientific research]]
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