Source: The Fundamental Way That Universities Are an Illusion – The New York Times
“…Because universities aren’t as they appear, systems designed to improve them tend to fail…”
That is a critical observation. Here is Bill Gross’ view of what colleges really are, and why it is so hard to change them.
“…Universities are run for the benefit of the adult establishment, both politically and financially, not students. To radically change the system and to question the sanctity of a college education would be to jeopardize trillions of misdirected investment dollars and financial obligations…” (quoted by permission from Mr. Gross’ July 2011 Investment Outlook on Pimco’s website.)
Here is Derek Bok, former President of Harvard.
“…Universities appear less and less as charitable institutions seeking truth and serving students, and more and more as a huge commercial operation that differs from corporations only because there are no shareholders and no dividends…” (Report to the Board of Overseers, 1996)
It will take a tremendous amount of political will to change things That won’t happen until the non-academic world becomes more aware of what happens within universities. Bad is not enough for enough political will to fight the forces making our universities the way they now are. Horrendous IS enough; and what happens IS a horrendous. It is a cancer that has metastasized throughout our educational system and, thus, throughout our whole economic, political and social system.
(Detailed discussions are on my blog.)
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