Universities and the media: arrogant, ignorant, and ripe for reform

NRO ^ | VDH

[wbill]

yep. Working at a Liberal Arts college was really disillusioning for me. I mean, I expected liberals. I expected bureaucrats. I expected stupidity.

What I didn't expect was the mind-boggling amounts of all three, or the brutal, intentional incompetence and complete indifference that is shown at all levels of the system from the students to the president. If you have a stereotype of academia, chances are that you're wrong....because the reality is far, far worse. Layer upon layer of people who merely exist to tell each other how important they are, and shift work from one office to another so that nothing ever happens.

My opinion? Success breeds expectations, so if the bureaucrats and faculty are never successful at anything, then no one ever expects anything of them. Like I said, intentional incompetence.

And, for all that uselessness, a full ride was in excess of $50,000 / year, for a non-STEM (read: worthless) degree. It's an amazing racket.