Day: March 2, 2014

American History and Culture, Higher Education

Einstein on Capitalism and Education

James Rovira

From an essay by Albert Einstein on capitalism: “This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.” I disagree with Einstein about the viability of socialism for the reasons that he describes in his closing paragraphs: it will just degenerate into a massive bureaucracy that employs the same mechanisms of control that he says are at work transforming democratic capitalism into oligarchy. What I think we need … Continue reading Einstein on Capitalism and Education

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American History and Culture, Higher Education

Great Description of the Problems in a View of Students as Customers

James Rovira

Good essay describing a corrosive trend. I think it needs to consider one more element: how many of its faculty are full time, tenure track, have terminal degrees, and what’s their teaching load? If you have well-supported faculty, and if more than 90% of your courses are taught by full time, tenure track faculty, and if your college has the money, then investment in amenities isn’t a bad thing. Environment matters. But if most of your courses are taught by adjuncts and administrative costs keep going up? There’s a real problem: the school has abandoned education as its primary mission. … Continue reading Great Description of the Problems in a View of Students as Customers

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