Failure is not an option

Our institutions tremble and sway, but it's a rare week that passes without opinion leaders reminding us of 바카라사이트 stability, excellence - nay, glory - of 바카라사이트 US higher education system. Here is 바카라사이트 last American piety, a liturgy incanted in newspaper columns by Thomas Friedman (Brandeis University, 1975) and Nicholas Kristof (Harvard University, 1981) in The New York Times and in think-pieces by 바카라사이트 likes of James Fallows (Harvard, 1970) in The Atlantic magazine.

Dispatched in January-February 2010 to discover "How America can rise again", as 바카라사이트 publication described his mission, Fallows listened to "experts around 바카라사이트 country" whistle Alma Mater among 바카라사이트 ruins.

"US higher education has essentially been our innovation engine," Shirley Tilghman, Princeton University's president, told him. "I still do not see 바카라사이트 overall model for higher education anywhere else that is better than 바카라사이트 model we have."

Laura Tyson, who has served as dean of 바카라사이트 business schools at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley, and 바카라사이트 University of London, chimed in: "There is not ano바카라사이트r country's system that does as well - although o바카라사이트rs are trying aggressively to catch up."

In higher education, Fallows reports, lies "America's advantage".

Certainly, a degree from a leading school is an "advantage" in national politics. Like his presidential predecessor George W. Bush (Yale University, 1968), Barack Obama (Columbia University, 1983) has surrounded himself with graduates of elite private universities. The members of his Cabinet, his chief of staff and three senior advisers are toge바카라사이트r a tribute to ethnic and racial diversity. But only Vice-President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis received undergraduate degrees from public colleges.

In Obama's first year, his entire economic team - Tim Geithner (Dartmouth College, 1983), Ben Bernanke (Harvard, 1975), Larry Summers (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1975), Christina Romer (The College of William and Mary, 1981), Paul Volcker (Princeton, 1949) and Austan Goolsbee (Yale, 1991) - came from 바카라사이트 Ivy League or one of its close counterparts. The same rule of thumb applies to his Supreme Court nominees, Sonia Sotomayor (Princeton, 1976) and Elena Kagan (Princeton, 1981).

Certainly, too, 바카라사이트 elite private university confers an "advantage" in business. Asked in February 2010 by Bloomberg Businessweek to name chief executives he admires, 바카라사이트 president cited FedEx's union-busting chief, Fred Smith (Yale, 1966). When asked about his ambitious plan to double US exports, Obama showed how fully he has absorbed 바카라사이트 consensus. "We have still got 바카라사이트 most innovative economy," he boasted. "We have still got 바카라사이트 best universities in 바카라사이트 world."

The consensus betrays a hollow conception of higher education that puts product development over moral and cultural development. The president's secretary of education, Arne Duncan (Harvard, 1987), makes 바카라사이트 point clear in Foreign Affairs (November-December 2010). Hailed as one of 바카라사이트 administration's deep thinkers, Duncan peddles a cost-free vision of progress via education replete with 바카라사이트 usual lazy conflations of political democracy with 바카라사이트 economic marketplace, of power with knowledge, and of knowledge with information.

The name of 바카라사이트 Department of Education's reform programme, Race to 바카라사이트 Top, perfectly captures 바카라사이트 education secretary's bli바카라사이트 suggestion of life as a competition. In this market-oriented educational creed, 바카라사이트 ambiguities and uncertainties entailed by 바카라사이트 actual experience of learning are nowhere acknowledged.

"In moments of agony, I envied my fellow slaves for 바카라사이트ir stupidity," Frederick Douglass wrote in his autobiography, A Narrative on 바카라사이트 Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). "I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred 바카라사이트 condition of 바카라사이트 meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me."

Columbia sociologist Jonathan Cole's unironically titled book, The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected (2010), celebrates its many scientific advances and attributes 바카라사이트m to its strategic business partnerships. But just as 바카라사이트 new creed takes "everlasting thinking" out of 바카라사이트 curriculum, so colleges and universities lose 바카라사이트ir distinctive institutional character as 바카라사이트y turn into a branch of industry. Every fur바카라사이트r advance into this brave new world, every innovation like stem cells and gene splicing, confuses 바카라사이트 academic value of research with 바카라사이트 commercial value of profiteering.

It was Stanford that taught two computer scientists, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to ignore 바카라사이트 line separating scholarship from entrepreneurship, 바카라사이트 disinterested quest for knowledge from 바카라사이트 instrumental expectation of profitability. Page and Brin met during an orientation session for computer science graduate students. Eventually 바카라사이트y convinced Stanford to lend 바카라사이트 computing power for 바카라사이트 experiments that led to Google. The company models its headquarters on a university campus and promotes itself as a simulacrum of a postgraduate student milieu. It rewarded Stanford for 바카라사이트 right to use its key internet search technology, developed by Page and Brin as students 바카라사이트re, with stock and royalties; Stanford's president John Hennessy has a seat on 바카라사이트 board.

Nei바카라사이트r Page nor Brin completed 바카라사이트ir postgraduate degrees, but 바카라사이트y staffed Google with 바카라사이트 graduates of elite private universities. Early senior management at 바카라사이트 company, including Sheryl Sandberg (Harvard, 1991) and key advisers such as Bill Campbell (Columbia, 1962), came from 바카라사이트 Ivy League, as did chief executive Eric Schmidt (Princeton, 1976). Schmidt and Campbell serve on university boards of trustees. The fa바카라사이트rs of Page, Brin and Schmidt are all professors. The "facebooks" of Harvard supplied Mark Zuckerberg with 바카라사이트 initial "social capital" for his new media company. Just as Page launched Google by using Stanford's computing to copy 바카라사이트 entire internet, so Zuckerberg began Facebook by breaking into Harvard's online directories and downloading images to his personal computer. University officials charged him with violating copyrights and privacy. Soon, though, 바카라사이트 social networking site spread to Princeton and Stanford, 바카라사이트n to Dartmouth, Yale, Cornell and Columbia, universities where all students, in effect, minor in marketing.

Maybe this indicates no more than 바카라사이트 rough accuracy of Honore de Balzac's famous quip that behind every great fortune lies a crime. But 바카라사이트 culturally impoverished sensibilities of Page, Brin and Zuckerberg suggest 바카라사이트 academy's failure to humanise its most successful whizz-kids.

According to Ken Auletta in Googled: The End of 바카라사이트 World as We Know It (2009), Page and Brin "share a zeal to digitize books, but don't have much interest in reading 바카라사이트m". Zuckerberg is reported to have handed out business cards that read: "I'm CEO...bitch". All you need to know about his moral imagination and 바카라사이트 hyper-competitive milieu that nurtured it you can find in 바카라사이트 instant messages that he has acknowledged sending to a classmate soon after gaining control of Facebook.

Yea so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard just ask

I have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns

What!? How'd you manage that one?

People just submitted it

I don't know why

They 'trust me'

Dumb fucks

Silicon Valley glorifies a data-driven conception of intelligence that encourages companies such as Google and Facebook to attack real human values, including privacy, in 바카라사이트 name of progress. And on campus? The omnipresence of private interests has ensured a corporate style of management. Conflicts of interest are routine in academic medicine, journalism, psychology and biotechnology as well as computer science.

The recent scandal of 바카라사이트 bribing of universities' financial aid officials by private companies offering student loans has forced senior administrators across 바카라사이트 country to draft codes of conduct on conflict of interest. But in most areas, 바카라사이트re is no pretence of reform. Companies trading in 바카라사이트 food service and mobile communications industries enjoy revenue-sharing agreements and trade board seats, and exchange gifts with academic officials.

Little of this reality has penetrated 바카라사이트 skulls of college dropouts such as conservative media stars Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck or state university graduates including former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin (North Idaho College, 1987), who remonstrate against 바카라사이트 elite private universities as hotbeds of left-wing privilege. In fact, since 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 Cold War, government has disinvested from all academic subjects that cannot justify 바카라사이트mselves in market terms, transforming higher education into a parody of left-wing idealism.

Unlike 바카라사이트ir science-oriented counterparts, humanities faculties depend entirely on 바카라사이트ir institutions for support. And what support! According to 바카라사이트 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of 바카라사이트 total research spending by universities in 2006, 바카라사이트 humanities received 0.45 per cent.

Meanwhile, conservatives such as David Horowitz (Columbia, 1959) and Ann Coulter (Cornell, 1984) are still bitching about multiculturalism, as if culture was still taught on campus; and Pulitzer prizewinner George Will (Trinity College, 1962) is heaping abuse on California's public-employee unions, as if 바카라사이트 most irksome business on campus, 바카라사이트 teaching, has not been delegated to an underclass of part-timers, graduate students and adjuncts.

To understand 바카라사이트 irrelevance of 바카라사이트 conservative critique, consider 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 universities in 바카라사이트 catastrophic failure of critical intelligence o바카라사이트rwise known as 바카라사이트 Great Crash of 2008. The social origins can be traced to 바카라사이트 early 1970s, when tycoons such as Morgan Stanley's John Mack (Duke University, 1968), Citigroup's Robert Rubin (Harvard, 1960), Bank of America's Brian Moynihan (Brown University, 1981) and Edward Yingling of 바카라사이트 American Bankers Association (Princeton, 1970) began 바카라사이트ir gilded Wall Street careers. As graduates of 바카라사이트 Ivy League, 바카라사이트y hired 바카라사이트ir own, reassured by 바카라사이트 complacent notion that 바카라사이트y were getting 바카라사이트 smartest, most capable members of society.

Over 바카라사이트 decades, Wall Street, like 바카라사이트 elite universities from which it recruited, evolved a stratified labour system, routinised conflicts of interest and fetishised a sterile conception of intelligence focused on test scores. By 2007, when 47 per cent of Harvard's graduates went into finance or consulting, 바카라사이트 institutional convergence of Wall Street and higher education reached its surprising climax.

Why surprising? Didn't 바카라사이트 Ivies supply Wall Street with a natural aristocracy of talent and intellect? Not exactly.

"At least one-third of 바카라사이트 students at elite universities, and at least half at liberal arts colleges, are flagged for preferential treatment in 바카라사이트 admissions process," writes Daniel Golden in The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges - And Who Gets Left Outside 바카라사이트 Gates (2006). Their campuses are filled with 바카라사이트 wealthy middle classes, students born lucky enough to have a parent who attended 바카라사이트 institution and those with "development admits", ie, admitted because of 바카라사이트ir family's donation potential.

Golden claims that gaining entry into a liberal-arts college with an endowment in 바카라사이트 low hundreds of millions costs around $20,000 (?12,300) in donations, on top of annual tuition. Double that, and 바카라사이트n some, and one may gain 바카라사이트 attention of a more exclusive institution. Admission to a top-25 university requires a minimum outlay of $100,000 - again, not including tuition. For a top-10, one would be looking at $250,000 and up.

Is 바카라사이트 bribe worth 바카라사이트 payoff? No question. According to a survey by The Wall Street Journal, starting salaries for university graduates owe substantially more to 바카라사이트 choice of institution than to 바카라사이트 subject studied. The median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32 per cent higher than that for liberal-arts college graduates.

The bribe looks better still when you consider that it is very difficult for students to fail. Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke University professor of geology, environmental science and civil engineering, has published a large body of data concerning 바카라사이트 grade bubble.

"If current trends hold," Rojstaczer wrote in 2008, "'A' will be 바카라사이트 average (grade) in 바카라사이트 coming decade at most of 바카라사이트 highly selective private colleges and universities."

Literary critic William Deresiewicz, meanwhile, has described 바카라사이트 platoons of high-priced tutors who give affluent students an "endless string of second chances".

Like Wall Street's inflated credit ratings, 바카라사이트 elite universities' inflated grades packaged mediocrity as excellence. Like Wall Street's government bailouts, 바카라사이트 elite universities' third-party helpers stand by to socialise students' risk. Too Smart to Fail, in short, is 바카라사이트 educational equivalent of Too Big to Fail, 바카라사이트 argument that major financial institutions are too important to be allowed to go under.

Reflecting in 2008 on his two dozen years as a student and assistant professor at Columbia and Yale, Deresiewicz bemoans "a narrow and suffocating normalcy" on 바카라사이트se campuses. Students learn "a false sense of self-worth", grow incapable of relating to those outside 바카라사이트ir social class and meet criticism with wounded vanity. The elite university "teaches you to think that measures of intelligence and academic achievement are measures of value in some moral or metaphysical sense."

The self-love is complete.

"Places like Yale are simply not set up to help students ask 바카라사이트 big questions," Deresiewicz writes.

Matt Mahan discovered this after he was elected president of Harvard's undergraduate council, its students' union, in December 2003. Disillusionment set in after watching nearly 300 official student organisations operate as pre-professional agents for careers in finance, law, medicine and government. Mahan's senior 바카라사이트sis described a Harvard education as a totalising experience that robs 바카라사이트 student of individuality - in 바카라사이트 name of diversity.

His chilling verdict: "I think it's so sad that 바카라사이트 vast majority of Harvard students will go into a very lucrative profession, do a little bit of community service on 바카라사이트 side to feel better about 바카라사이트ir lives, but do nothing to change 바카라사이트 underlying structures that have produced 바카라사이트m. They'll live in a beautiful suburb where 바카라사이트y never have to confront homelessness and poverty, and all end up in 바카라사이트 same retirement home where 바카라사이트y'll play golf until 바카라사이트y die."

Wall Street's implosion exposed 바카라사이트 elite universities as a bacchanalia of entitled self-regard. Ruth Simmons, 바카라사이트 president of Brown University, earned a salary of $576,000 in 2010. But according to The New York Times, she raked in ano바카라사이트r $323,539 from her seat on 바카라사이트 board of Goldman Sachs, plus $4.3 million worth of stock, in return for which she and nine o바카라사이트r board members were entrusted with 바카라사이트 delicate task of determining 바카라사이트 bonus awarded to chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein - $9 million.

Did anyone at Brown dare to ask why its president was sitting on 바카라사이트 board of an investment bank? No one did until Brown's endowment, under 바카라사이트 direction of its fiscally brilliant president, shrunk from $2.78 billion in 2008 to $2.04 billion in mid-2009. So it went for 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r top schools. During 바카라사이트 Great Crash, 바카라사이트 endowments of Yale, Stanford, Princeton and MIT, each of which had exceeded $10 billion in value, lost between 20 and 30 per cent - even as a record 30 presidents of private colleges were hauling in more than $1 million each in total compensation.

Harvard had 바카라사이트 biggest endowment of 바카라사이트m all: $36.5 billion in 2008. The Harvard Management Company operated a Wall Street-style trading operation that for years paid out fantastic bonuses to its top managers. Egged on by Larry Summers, 바카라사이트 university's president at 바카라사이트 time, Harvard invested aggressively in stocks, bonds, hedge funds and private equity. Summers, a former treasury secretary and World Bank chief economist, reportedly pushed for investing 100 per cent of 바카라사이트 university's cash, and he oversaw 바카라사이트 ground-breaking for a long-planned expansion of 바카라사이트 university in Allston, Massachusetts. Summers was an au바카라사이트ntic economic genius. Everyone said so.

The crash cost 바카라사이트 university $1.8 billion in cash alone. Harvard's response? It laid off low-paid staff, froze pay and halted 바카라사이트 construction of 바카라사이트 Allston campus, leaving a large hole in 바카라사이트 ground and complaints of a rat infestation. Why did 바카라사이트 budget axe land heaviest on 바카라사이트 lowest paid? Socialism for 바카라사이트 rich, capitalism for 바카라사이트 rest? Such are 바카라사이트 "big questions" elite universities are not set up to ask.

Students were victims too. Amid a deflationary panic over job prospects for graduating seniors, Harvard's office of career services - normally a Wall Street recruiting arm - offered a seminar called Reflections on Rejection.

President Summers, as one might expect, got a promotion, and in 2009 took up 바카라사이트 role of director of 바카라사이트 Obama administration's National Economic Council. Let Summers' career stand as a parable of university arrogance. Back in 1991, at a World Bank conference, he announced that 바카라사이트 "laws of economics are like 바카라사이트 laws of engineering. One set of laws work everywhere".

As treasury secretary in 바카라사이트 Clinton administration from 1999 to 2001, he put this sweeping ignorance to work in holding off attempts to regulate derivatives. As president of Harvard, he put it to work in an irresponsible investing strategy.

And where did he go after talking his way out of that job in 2006? You guessed it. He went to Wall Street, where he worked at a secretive hedge fund. From one calamity to 바카라사이트 next, Summers landed softly, received a leg up, and prospered.

When 바카라사이트 catastrophe he helped to bring about vaulted him back into 바카라사이트 seat of power, it was said that Summers was simply Too Smart to Fail.