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The quality of the American university system is foundational to why America is such a powerful and influential country. Suggesting any significant disruption t

The quality of the American university system is foundational to why America is such a powerful and influential country. Suggesting any significant disruption to the university system that currently exists sounds like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Everyone ranks universities different, but the broad strokes shake out the same every time. The US university system is of unparalleled quality. Perhaps the American university system could be made better, but have you noticed that literally every other country on earth does way worse? https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/ra...

goatinaboat 6y ago
have you noticed that literally every other country on earth does way worse? According to a website called “US news”. The US definitely has a few colleges in the top 20 say but so do a few other countries.
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red_admiral 6y ago
Not going to downvote, but I am going to disagree. For starters, most rankings have Oxford and Cambridge in the UK quite high up, and they run on a different model. Next up, "liberal arts" today is not the same thing as it was a generation ago, and it's debatable whether it's still doing that much except credentialism (Bryan Caplan certainly thinks it isn't). This is not, by the way, a dog-whistle at social justice: I think that college SJ is a symptom of a deeper structural problem with the current university system. The 25% who are going to fail (if the poster two levels above is right) are probably also not the Ivy League. In the UK at least, there are lots of places lower down the league tables who in my opinion could contribute a lot more to the nation if they were good trade schools rather than bad universities. Less sure about the US situation, but I think it was the case until not that long ago that there were ways to power and influence that didn't go through a university - including many examples of past presidents.

goatinaboat 6y ago

have you noticed that literally every other country on earth does way worse? According to a website called “US news”. The US definitely has a few colleges in the top 20 say but so do a few other countries.

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red_admiral 6y ago

Not going to downvote, but I am going to disagree. For starters, most rankings have Oxford and Cambridge in the UK quite high up, and they run on a different model. Next up, "liberal arts" today is not the same thing as it was a generation ago, and it's debatable whether it's still doing that much except credentialism (Bryan Caplan certainly thinks it isn't). This is not, by the way, a dog-whistle at social justice: I think that college SJ is a symptom of a deeper structural problem with the current university system. The 25% who are going to fail (if the poster two levels above is right) are probably also not the Ivy League. In the UK at least, there are lots of places lower down the league tables who in my opinion could contribute a lot more to the nation if they were good trade schools rather than bad universities. Less sure about the US situation, but I think it was the case until not that long ago that there were ways to power and influence that didn't go through a university - including many examples of past presidents.