Ivory or Clay Tower?

Campus Report ^ | September 16, 2009 | Allie Winegar Duzett

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Ivory or Clay Tower?

by: Allie Winegar Duzett, September 16, 2009

Jane Shaw’s article, “The Ivory Tower: Crumbling From Within?” featured in the June 2009 edition of Perspective, shares the thoughts and ideas of famed entrepreneur and education maven Jeff Sandefer, as shared at an Atlas Economic Research Foundation forum where Sandefer was the keynote speaker.

Shaw begins by pointing out Sandefer’s notable ability for prediction, noting that Sandefer in 1996 predicted the collapse of Enron Corporation; she goes on to examine Sandefer’s credibility in both business and education, drawing attention to the fact that Sandefer is the mastermind behind the successful and original Acton School of Business. Shaw uses these claims of credibility to set the stage for what she appears to believe is a convincing argument for the eventual collapse of academia’s ivory towers.

According to Shaw, Sandefer predicts that the corruption he sees in America’s current academic world will eventually lead to a collapse of the entire system. And why? Because, Shaw quotes Sandefer as saying the world of higher education today is “union-dominated, bureaucratic, out of touch with its customers, and out of touch with reality.” And to Sandefer, the principles of the free market make up the foundation of successful education.

Shaw succinctly explains Sandefer’s feelings regarding higher education today: education should be customer-based....

[IrishCatholic]

bookmark.

[WayneS]

Dung.

Dung Tower.

It is often mistaken for clay...