The Hidden Costs of MOOCs

Abstract

In my early twenties, I collected college sweatshirts.* I had over thirty of them, including ones from Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, as well as the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. Owning these shirts provided me with some false comfort because, for a variety of personal and economic reasons, I had not yet gone to college. I felt more important when I wore one. Occasionally, someone would point to my shirt and give me the thumbs up. I liked this. One day a man engaged me in the grocery store check out line. That day the shirt was from Harvard.“Don’t you love it there?” he asked gleefully.“Yes, um, it’s great.” I stammered. The moment I said it I felt the weight of the lie.“And the campus is so lovely, which dorm are you in?” Cornered, I quickly “remembered” something I’d forgotten and left the line. I stopped wearing the shirts except at home, but it took me a few years and two earned degrees to donate them all to the local thrift shop.

Department(s)

English and Technical Communication

Document Type

Book - Chapter

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2014 Parlor Press, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

15 Mar 2014

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