Links for 5/10/10

Jay Schalin

Social and Economic Justice, Without the Economics or the Justice

Andrew Kelly

The idea that the patchwork system of higher education accountability is only lax vis a vis for-profit institutions, but ensures quality and good faith among all public and non-profit colleges, is a fallacy. Surely, the profit motive can lead to severe problems when educational quality cannot be mandated, but the same goes for traditional schools that offer little by way of return on the federal investment…

Edububble

Most sane people think it’s a bit odd to pay outrageous amounts of money for something that’s not much better from the mass produced item at Target. They understand how the luxury goods industrial complex creates illusions of exclusivity and faux scarcity to make us feel better about our consumption.

So why don’t these same rational folks feel the same way about the knowledge industrial complex? Why do we still revel in the entire college application process when all of the knowledge is available on free YouTube videos?

Jack Stripling

Kean University department chairs have spent a year on the endangered species list…

The plan, which would replace departments with schools headed by presidentially-appointed “executive directors,” has been met with renewed furor from faculty, who view it as a power grab that leaves the future of many disciplines uncertain…