End the University as We Know It - recommended reading

There are two reasons that most of the ideas found in the essay “End the University as We Know It” will never find their way into meaningful discussions among higher education leaders. It is radical and innovative, two things it is hard to imagine modern higher education suddenly embracing.

Having said that, there is some interesting discussion on Jarvis’s Buzzmachine blog. The most interesting linkage between the essay and “What Would Google Do,” is the fact that we don’t seem to making the linkages that need to be made to solve problems at a time when we are increasingly interdependent.

For instance, this week I have listening to NPR talk about the “smart grid” concept in terms of talking about energy. Inherently, it sounds like a good idea and could knit us more closely together. However, what is the effect on the local community. The wind farmer in South Dakota might be able to make some money, but that wire is going to stretch across a lot of land owned by people that theoretically want to help the environment but don’t want the aesthetic or real costs associated with living with electric transmission lines.

The solutions require more people and better ideas, but bringing those people is very difficult to do, and without a financial incentive I’m not sure how you do it.

Thus, we are back to higher education. Currently, there is no financial or other incentive for higher education to change, so it’s going to take a daring group of leaders to do it.