I appreciated Peter Thiel's thoughts from a while back because he talked a little bit about the economics behind higher education, and why in some cases it does

I appreciated Peter Thiel's thoughts from a while back because he talked a little bit about the economics behind higher education, and why in some cases it doesn't make sense for some bright young kids to go to college. Couldn't agree more. This post, on the other hand, smells more like baseless weltschmerz. It's the kind of stuff I used to hear all day long while I was getting my education in liberal arts, from both students and professors: universities aren't what they used to be, we should get all the stupid people out, it's gotten so easy I could do this in my sleep (after which those same students proceed to get barely passing degrees, "because why would I bother going for more in an environment like this"), universities have become slave to the industry, and so on and so on. I like a bit of random pessimism and carping as much as the next guy, but I kind of thought most people were smart enough to realize that the whole "universities have lost their soul" thing was just a fun shtick rather than the actual state of things. Apparently not.