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This reminds me of a great editorial in the Wall Street Journal in the early '90s by the president of Cornell. He wrote about how universities aren't businesse
by ratsbane 17y ago
This reminds me of a great editorial in the Wall Street Journal in the early '90s by the president of Cornell. He wrote about how universities aren't businesses and about how treating them as such will have disastrous long-term effects. He observed that there are many higher-education institutions that have been around hundreds of years but few commercial enterprises; also how the goals of higher education are compromised by the pursuit of shareholder value.
I would like to find that essay again. If anyone can point to a link please post it.
- theycallmemorty 17y agoThe implication, however, is that higher-education institutions that last for hundreds of years are better for education. Who's to say Cornell is a better 'educational institution' than Wikipedia? Sure a degree from Cornell looks better on your resume than reading a bunch of information on wikipedia, but that's not a measure of education.
- ratsbane 17y ago"Better for education" might not mean "better for undergrads." It might mean expanding the sum of human knowledge through pure research. That's a lofty goal that might frequently lie at odds with the upstairs-downstairs nature of actual grad school but enough good work comes out of large research-oriented universities to note. Smaller universities and colleges that don't do much research can still contribute to a community in other ways - libraries, lectures, publications. A lot of the benefits of higher ed to society don't come from teaching (or babysitting) undergrads. That parallels the point of the OP - if you focus solely on the bits that make you money in the short term you may miss out on some other good stuff.