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Victor Davis Hanson explains how today’s campus radicalism is different to that of the 1960s, analyzes the factor that led to higher education’s decline, and provides a blueprint for what a more enlightened university might look like.
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the left kills every institution they touch – now they are infiltrating the military
It seems that the universities have replaced the Catholic Church as a point of cultural unity. In Europe, the Catholic Church held that place for several centuries. The universities began as a support to that centrality. The universities have obviously completely secularized, and usurped Christianity (even the universities specifically run by the Catholic Church). At its cultural apex, the Church attracted the excess wealth of the culture, and created beautiful Cathedrals, universities, monasteries, and even cities. The secular universities now attract the excess wealth, but have been less successful than the Church in creating beauty and maintaining a culture. Without a stabilizing dogma, I fear the universities have quickly careened off into the wilderness. They are taking massive wealth, prestige and human capital along with them, and even the useful cultural capital they have accumulated. Ironically, their last useful good is now technology, whilst culturally they are a degrading force. As a sort of symbol of the trending situation, how long will it be before the Harvard president will appear before the incoming students in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops to obsequiously beg for their acceptance and approval, thus acknowledging the culture of the American high school as the ruling paradigm? Perhaps it has already happened, years ago.
I think that was the best coverage of what is wrong with higher education, ever.
I have said this before. I totally recommend listening to the reason magazine interview of Thaddeus Russell of renegade University. It was done by Nick Gillespie.
The focus needs to be did you actually develop your human capital at a fair price? You should also be able to pick how you develop your human capital. I would wipe out the accreditation system, because I just think it’s a scam in that sense.
To start out, they could just have two tracks. The old track and then another track that is just free-market, no accreditation.
Start at 1:25.
Once enough businesses start accepting certifications, that’s the end of accreditation. That’s what we need. The whole thing should be À la carte.
Sorry for the late comment. VDH describes his observation of how institutions move to the left unless there is active and well directed activity to keep them conservative. This is well recognised – it’s even got a name (O’Sullivan’s Law – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O'Sullivan_(columnist)).