By: Andrew Dickson

Andrew Dickson — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:18:57 +0000

You make an excellent point. The "MBA-ization" of America seems like it's hitting a lot of industries. I'm reminded of my time working as a set dresser on "The Fugitive", the short-lived TV series based on the movie that was at the time the most expensive television show ever created. Why? There were something like 11 producers. None of which ever bothered to leave Los Angeles to see how the shooting was going in Seattle. But back to the discussion, I hear you loud and clear on the need for colleges and Universities to be run like schools and not corporations. So are there any schools out there that are examples of how higher education can stress the education part and not the higher price part? Or anyone championing the need? Does this article about Antioch college offer one?

By: Yours Truly

Yours Truly — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:03:26 +0000

I’m a college professor and I largely agree with these points. However, I think you are falling into the same trap the rest of our stupid country is falling into w/r/t higher education and how crappy it’s becoming, which is to blame the school itself somehow–the concept of higher education as practiced in America. When in actuality it is the fault of a much more insidious and widespread phenomenon, which is what I call the “MBA-ization” of America. Colleges used to be run by teachers; now they are run by MBAs. Now they are run on “business models” and they have to increase their profits every year just like Exxon. This is obviously no way to think of education, but it’s a hard ball to stop rolling. In the University of California system–once the cheapest, best public education you could get in America–there has been a steady increase in admin hires accompanying a steady decrease in professor hires and professor salaries. They fire professors so that they can keep paying admin salaries that are often in the six figure zone. The president of the UC, Mark Yudoff, was quoted in a New York Times interview as saying he didn’t really know what his job was; he didn’t think education was that important; and he didn’t think any of this was a big deal. He also shamed the reporter for using a “big word” and implied that the reporter was an elitist. Mark Yudoff makes $500,000 a year, and has a $10,000 PER MONTH housing allowance. He’s not a teacher; he’s never been a teacher. This is a major problem. How did it happen??

But schools are not going to get better until we stop treating them like capitalist business enterprises.

Comments on: The University is Broken

By: Andrew Dickson

By: Yours Truly