On the question of whether to reform or abandon and circumvent the universities, after a decade in higher ed I'm leaning towards the latter position. My reasoning is laid out in a series of essays on the DIEing academy:
In my opinion most of the pieces are already in place to build out an ersatz academy on the Internet. In fact, that's already happening. The key missing element is credentialization. Considering that universities don't really sell education, but credentials, cracking that nut is the key to disrupting their institutional monopoly. I've got some thoughts on how to do that here:
I have a pet theory that the internet is the root cause of our institutions crumbling. Amy asked “Why is it that the men allow this to happen”, I suspect it’s because the institutions were held up across generations by the flow of a few exceptional men, but the internet interrupted that flow by attracting the great men away.
In journalism the best people left and started their own thing (Youtube, Substack, Podcasts etc) and the carcass of the industry was infected by wokeism. Same in entertainment- the best people either left or never joined to begin with and did their own thing, allowing the rot to take hold in Hollywood.
I see the same pattern in our universities. If you think of universities as serving three functions (education, research, certification), the internet has poached the most competent educators because they can get so much more reach online, so that function has been replaced. I think we’ll see a replacement for research and certification emerge shortly, as there’s a lot of work being done in this direction. I remain optimistic.
Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth either, would it, Prof. Wax? You are sooo put upon. What is your intent when you say "You got here because of Affirmative Action?" It's a judgment of the person. It's a put-down. What is the person so to do once you say that? ..... Not very helpful. Your colleagues must be playing a very tiny violin for you.... You were employed to teach students however they arrived in your class. ... You don't need to invite Affirmative Action students to your private cocktail parties, but society presented you with students and it expects you to do the job for which you are paid.
This was a fascinating interview.
On the question of whether to reform or abandon and circumvent the universities, after a decade in higher ed I'm leaning towards the latter position. My reasoning is laid out in a series of essays on the DIEing academy:
https://barsoom.substack.com/p/the-dieing-prestige-of-the-academy
In my opinion most of the pieces are already in place to build out an ersatz academy on the Internet. In fact, that's already happening. The key missing element is credentialization. Considering that universities don't really sell education, but credentials, cracking that nut is the key to disrupting their institutional monopoly. I've got some thoughts on how to do that here:
https://barsoom.substack.com/p/how-to-kill-the-incompetocracy
I have a pet theory that the internet is the root cause of our institutions crumbling. Amy asked “Why is it that the men allow this to happen”, I suspect it’s because the institutions were held up across generations by the flow of a few exceptional men, but the internet interrupted that flow by attracting the great men away.
In journalism the best people left and started their own thing (Youtube, Substack, Podcasts etc) and the carcass of the industry was infected by wokeism. Same in entertainment- the best people either left or never joined to begin with and did their own thing, allowing the rot to take hold in Hollywood.
I see the same pattern in our universities. If you think of universities as serving three functions (education, research, certification), the internet has poached the most competent educators because they can get so much more reach online, so that function has been replaced. I think we’ll see a replacement for research and certification emerge shortly, as there’s a lot of work being done in this direction. I remain optimistic.
Amy Wax is (or should be) a national treasure!
Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth either, would it, Prof. Wax? You are sooo put upon. What is your intent when you say "You got here because of Affirmative Action?" It's a judgment of the person. It's a put-down. What is the person so to do once you say that? ..... Not very helpful. Your colleagues must be playing a very tiny violin for you.... You were employed to teach students however they arrived in your class. ... You don't need to invite Affirmative Action students to your private cocktail parties, but society presented you with students and it expects you to do the job for which you are paid.