Geocaching with artistic clues instead of GPS coordinates = "letterboxing". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I really like your examples. However, I have also seen plenty of examples where it's about both additional depth and breadth. E.g., in an algorithms course, you'll not only go into more depth by proving correctness, running time, and have exercises to derive variants, but you'll also see some probabilistic algorithms in addition to deterministic ones.

I was about to call BS, that would be an oversimplified response to an oversimplified remark. At least in the U.S., schools vary tremendously in quality at all levels. I have little exposure to poor-quality schools, but I know there are plenty of them. I am fortunate to mainly see the good schools of my children, my students, and my peers. In many ways, today's students blow away students of the past. It is much more common for students to do original research in college (and occasionally even in high school). Formerly graduate-level work is now in the undergraduate level, and some formerly undergraduate-level work is now in high school. For better or worse, students are much better at contextualizing what they learn in terms of the real world and career plans. Of course, there's a trade-off, as today's students don't memorize as much material, are slower to do math in their head, and generally clueless how mechanical things work.

I used to be responsible for awarding transfer credit for Computer Science courses at my private Tier 1 Research university. As such, I spent a lot amount of time comparing our computer science courses with those at other universities in the U.S. and abroad. I've also advised many students transferring into our university. Community college CS courses are very basic and very skills-oriented. We'd cover most of the community college CS curriculum in our intro course. CS courses at unselective regional four-year universities were a bit better. Combine two of their courses, and you'd get an easy version of one of ours. CS courses at good, but not great, four-year universities would cover the same topics, but in much less depth and with substantially easier graded work. CS courses at other top schools, or the honors programs of good schools, would have truly comparable courses. At any school, you might be able to sneak by with only easier courses. And at any school, you might be inspired by and pushed by some standout instructor. But overall, more selective schools expect more of their students and are a better academic option for students who are qualified. (I'm ignoring social and economic issues.)

Different schools serve different purposes. Selective "elite" universities and programs are really meant to serve the strong student who needs to be pushed. The courses generally cover significantly more material than at an unselective community college or university.

If the class is simply lecture, then I agree that attendance should be up to the student. However, when the class time involves group work, discussion, or other types of active participation, then being absent can mean avoiding part of the graded work of the course and can also affect other students. This is when requiring attendance makes more sense.

"take advantage of" ??? TAing is a great opportunity for undergraduates. They learn the material in more depth, see and hear all kids of wrong ways to solve problems, and learn how to explain things to their peers. It also helps them build a relationship with faculty who can then write recommendation letters for them. I find that undergraduates are often better TAs than grad students because they put more effort and attention into it.

The article says this is primarily about UNDERgraduate TAs.

Average annual cost at UCB, i.e., averaging tuition for in-state and out-of-state and deducting need- and merit-based scholarships, is just under $16,000 (USNews). That figure is right around the in-state tuition figure, I'll point out. So, my previous formula is still a reasonable approximation.

Again, they are referring to mostly undergraduates. UCB has mostly "traditional" students, so undergraduates are mostly unmarried 18-21-year olds with no kids.

Remember, this is primarily for UNDERgraduate TAs, who typically grade and hold office hours, not teach. UC Berkeley: In-state tuition = $13,509, plus $150 in fees. I'll ignore child-care benefits. $13,659 for 10 hours/week for 15 weeks = $91.06 per hour. For sake of comparison, my top-tier private university CS department pays $10.00-$12.50 per hour. And, like UCB, our undergrad TAs usually work less than 10 hours/week.