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It also extends to things outside finding like graduate school admissions or even peer review. On top of that, you know who's making the low-level decisions for
by tikhonj 9y ago
It also extends to things outside finding like graduate school admissions or even peer review. On top of that, you know who's making the low-level decisions for giving grants? People from and steeped in the same academic culture. That's a much larger driving force than the politicians at the top of the funding organizations who don't even understand the intricate prestige ranking in academic fields to do anything actionable with it.
- laretluval 9y agoSo if you think that the problem stems from a unique problem in academia's culture, then why do you think academia ended up with that culture while other endeavors didn't? Was it because of the character of academics, or because of the incentive structure they operate in?
- tikhonj 9y agoI don't think it's a unique problem to academia. I recently read something in exactly the same spirit from a lawyer (almost literally "we won't hire anyone not from a T14 school"). If anything, the interesting thing to watch for is which endeavors don't have this culture.
- 660066_rain 9y agoIt's either human nature, or driven by wealthy, prestige-sensitive trustees at the top.