Fifty years ago, an academic told the world: "think for yourself and question authority" (T. Leary, 1967: how to operate your brain). The second part of the phr

Fifty years ago, an academic told the world: "think for yourself and question authority" (T. Leary, 1967: how to operate your brain). The second part of the phrase has been repeated on everything from bumper stickers to toddler's clothing, but the first part has largely been put aside, for, while the academy has continued to tell people that authorities are to be mistrusted, it has at the same time ignored its mission of helping young people learn how to think. Top grades are awarded to students who struggle with simple mathematics, sentence construction, and the elements of logic. Fifty years is a long time. The vast majority of high-school teachers were taught in todays watered-down system, so there is little hope at that location on the educational conveyor belt. There is some potential at the university level, because university professors are largely self-made people. But it is hard to hold to standards, when universities regard students as clients and professors as service providers, and where the path to promotion is paved by good "metrics" (bums in seats, enthusiastic course reviews, etc.) that are bought most easily by grade inflation. The commencement speech is wonderful. But these words don't need to be heard by students at Caltech, regularly ranked the top university in the world. And replaying them in the New Yorker magazine doesn't exactly get them to the ears that need to hear them. Maybe social media will help, so thanks, HN, for this.