It's an interesting analysis of the current situation, but the proposed methods for changing the system are depressingly trendy: Just as “flash mobs” summon yo

It's an interesting analysis of the current situation, but the proposed methods for changing the system are depressingly trendy: Just as “flash mobs” summon young people to engage in some simultaneous bizarre act in a specified place at a specified time, the “flash seminars” alert students to an edgy topic -- no examples of how edgy -- that will be discussed in a professor's living room. If they want a good model of popular education and intellectualism, they do exist. Take the amateur astronomy community, for instance, or Wikipedia culture.