The only thing that keeps a system functional is external pressure. Otherwise it will always turn into some weird messed up versions of itself that satisfies no

The only thing that keeps a system functional is external pressure. Otherwise it will always turn into some weird messed up versions of itself that satisfies none of the original objectives but is somehow larger than ever. Universities used to be separate systems, and you could opt out of one and into another, and most people wouldn’t even go to one at all. But now they are basically all parts of one whole (within the US, at least) and everyone is going and the universities are all failing in the same way. It could be financial, but I think it’s because of the academic track and social status. There’s a consensus that college is good and will turn you into a professional leader with a nice job title that reflects elite values (which happen to be a certain kind of liberal but it’s more about social status than politics philosophy). But it turns out the world only needs so many Environmental Justice Media Liaisons, so the universities are just making up these job titles to absorb their own graduates. Of course, that doesn’t work well financially, so they pay them nothing for as long as possible and then close to nothing after that, and crank up the tuition promising the next batch the same deal. The students put up with it because it’s hard to evaluate the numbers that they can actually expect from such a ridiculous job, and because it sounds like a cool (or at least acceptable) job title to announce at parties. The fact that a plumber makes three times as much is not worth acknowledging.