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$200K for Prof. of Conservative Thought
I'm glad even Stanly Fish can see the latest proposal to bring 'intellectual diversity' to CU is wrong-headed. But 200K to be Prof. of Conservative Thought... I ought'a get into that racket!
A stair-step over is this op-ed piece on the supposed American allergy to elitism in politics. I found the following two statements to be provocative:
In a nation without a titled aristocracy, an elite education may well be the most important membership card. “American elites have a problem that the Europeans don’t, which is how to assure that their children and their children’s children retain their elevated social position,” said Jason Kaufman, a Harvard sociologist who has written on elites and American culture. “Americans do this through cultural institutions and exclusion — art museums, classical music and tremendously elitist universities.”
a. I would like to know how Europeans don't have this problem.
b. I think the statement about cultural institutions is very important, which is one of the reasons a (liberal arts) college education is viewed as being so important in this country, and one of the reasons my past questions about it's value and the possibility of it vanishing have been so upsetting to many readers.
c. insert obnoxious comment about test-scores and what's required to test well here
But the following is also provocative:
There may be another reason Americans are skeptical about the idea that the best rise to the top: those at the top haven’t performed too well lately. Christopher Buckley, Yale ’75, the novelist and humorist, notes that recent Iraq books contain echoes of “The Best and the Brightest,” David Halberstam’s classic account of the huge failures of the Ivy League brain trust in the Kennedy White House who propelled the nation into Vietnam. “If you loved Vietnam, brought to you by Harvard and Yale, you’ll love Iraq,” Mr. Buckley said.
Anyone who hasn't seen Fog of War really should. It is, above all, about the moral and ethical challenges facing those with above average intelligence.
I also thought I'd comment that Ms. Clinton was on the board of directors for Walmart, and while this might go over well with certain constituencies, there is definitely an irony about someone from the board of Walmart pursuing the goal of reforming healthcare. Why no one has ever thought to discuss this aspect of her candidacy has always been a mystery to me.
Now, what I really want to know is if it's possible to get into a Ivy League school on a humor scholarship.
A stair-step over is this op-ed piece on the supposed American allergy to elitism in politics. I found the following two statements to be provocative:
In a nation without a titled aristocracy, an elite education may well be the most important membership card. “American elites have a problem that the Europeans don’t, which is how to assure that their children and their children’s children retain their elevated social position,” said Jason Kaufman, a Harvard sociologist who has written on elites and American culture. “Americans do this through cultural institutions and exclusion — art museums, classical music and tremendously elitist universities.”
a. I would like to know how Europeans don't have this problem.
b. I think the statement about cultural institutions is very important, which is one of the reasons a (liberal arts) college education is viewed as being so important in this country, and one of the reasons my past questions about it's value and the possibility of it vanishing have been so upsetting to many readers.
c. insert obnoxious comment about test-scores and what's required to test well here
But the following is also provocative:
There may be another reason Americans are skeptical about the idea that the best rise to the top: those at the top haven’t performed too well lately. Christopher Buckley, Yale ’75, the novelist and humorist, notes that recent Iraq books contain echoes of “The Best and the Brightest,” David Halberstam’s classic account of the huge failures of the Ivy League brain trust in the Kennedy White House who propelled the nation into Vietnam. “If you loved Vietnam, brought to you by Harvard and Yale, you’ll love Iraq,” Mr. Buckley said.
Anyone who hasn't seen Fog of War really should. It is, above all, about the moral and ethical challenges facing those with above average intelligence.
I also thought I'd comment that Ms. Clinton was on the board of directors for Walmart, and while this might go over well with certain constituencies, there is definitely an irony about someone from the board of Walmart pursuing the goal of reforming healthcare. Why no one has ever thought to discuss this aspect of her candidacy has always been a mystery to me.
Now, what I really want to know is if it's possible to get into a Ivy League school on a humor scholarship.
no subject
re: elitism and European universities - the Continental system is very different than ours, university and even graduate education is pretty much open to everybody and is very cheap. consequently way too many students stay in school for way too long and the systems are all clogged up. America with its zillions of pricey competitive schools doesn't really have this problem.
It should be added that the extra students in the Continental system definitely doesn't make for a bigger or better academy. they've already reached what we in america fear: every school has one or two super elite chairs for a super expert in a given field, and all the teaching is handled by recent phds and advanced grad students who are only given 1 year slots. very few tenure and tenure track appointments are available. it's a disastrous job market.