December Recap

Some of what I read closing out the year. Feliz año nuevo from Cancun!

Articles:

1. Praying to the God of Evaluation | Mark Suster

   • Good view of the VC market — why we are where we are today and today’s “return to the mean.”

2. Sea Change | Howard Marks, Oaktree

   • Macro economic masterclass of markets and the “sea change” happening today.

3. Time: understand how you use it, create more of it, maximize it, and sustain it | Quartz

   • Good reminders on how to be more productive with our time heading in to next year.

4. The Brain Loves a Challenge. Here’s Why | Richard Shima, Washington Post

   • A neuroscientist’s dive into why we like to do difficult things. The study suggests we can learn to enjoy the journey, regardless of the destination. The effort itself can be rewarding.

5. The Incredible Shrinking Future of College | Kevin Carey, Vox

   Some quotes that stuck out:

Higher ed’s eight-decade run of unbroken good fortune — always more students, more money, more economic demand, and more social prestige — may be about to end.

Before the student loan collection system was frozen in 2020, a million people were defaulting on their loans every year.

The financially motivated vocationalization of less selective colleges and universities will further divide students by income and class. First-generation students are not going to discover their calling in academia at the local university if all the quiet and quirky majors have been eliminated in the name of financial efficiency.

6. Why is College in America so Expensive? | Amanda Ripley, The Atlantic

I’ve been asking myself more recently “what is the goal of a university?” Is it the education you receive? the exit opportunities after graduating? With the costs of US universities so high today, I think the Expected Value of the median degree has never been lower. Some quotes:

All told, including the contributions of individual families and the government (in the form of student loans, grants, and other assistance), Americans spend about $30,000 per student a year—nearly twice as much as the average developed country.

A third of developed countries offer college free of charge to their citizens. (And another third keep tuition very cheap—less than $2,400 a year.)

The vast majority of American college spending goes to routine educational operations—like paying staff and faculty….. $23,000 per student a year.

U.S. colleges spend more on nonteaching staff than on teachers, which is upside down compared with every other country that provided data to the OECD.

More than three-quarters of students attend nonselective colleges, which admit at least half of their applicants.

Books:

1. I finished reading A Gentleman in Moscow. Love the writing style of Amor Towles — I’d give it a 9/10.