College, The Great Plutocracy: Snarky and Optimistic

Read the first part of the article: College, The Great Plutocracy: Serious

Snarky:

Finally, Dr. Suzanne Mettler is a professor at Cornell. I am always amazed how the Ivy League and equivalents are always commenting on how the rest of higher education is doing such a poor job. I am sure that the Ivy League has given thousands, if not tens of thousands of poor people an excellent education and a golden ticket to opportunity. They have also given hundreds of thousands if not millions of rich and upper-middle class people an excellent education and a golden ticket to opportunity and for some, the life they feel they deserve. According to one source, 0.4% of all undergraduates attend an Ivy League school; do we really care about the 1% (I mentioned the percentage)?

My final snarky comment; I am sure Suzanne Mettler knows all about the hardships poor, underprepared college students out there. With a BA from Boston College, a Ph.D. from Cornell and her first professorship deep in the ghetto, Syracuse, she truly has first hand experience knowledge of what that student population needs to succeed. To repcap my usual usual criticism of the Ivy League; the likes of Cornell do not have to educate poor, underprepared students yet every professor and director has an opinion of how the rest of higher education is failing.

On a side note, I am sure Dr. Mettler is a wonderful person and from her extensive CV, is truly a brilliant academic. Her publishing record is lengthy and her writing is clear, focused, and enjoyable to read (many academics have writing styles that are convoluted, overly verbose, dull, and just plain boring).

Optimistic:

As with most things in my life, I am optimistic. I know that all of those elites who populate the halls of the Ivy League will help fix higher education for the better. Like it or not, the Ivy League helps guide the direction of higher education and if enough brilliant researchers get together and work for the common good, rather than working in solitude in their offices, great strides can be made. This, coupled with directors and administrators who have the business savvy to understand the money part of higher education, extensive networks to bring the right people together, and the political know-how to get things done, higher education at every level will benefit (things might actually get fixed).  

So what has to change to make this happen? What event and/or crisis in higher education has to occur for people all around the country get together, put their personal careers and ambitions aside, and work for the common good of everyone? What  has to happen?

Addendum:

Inside Higher Ed. published an article referencing Suzanne Mettle’s book and discussed the for-profit sector in an article called, Proxy War on For-Profits. I find it funny that the author would use the word ‘war’ since many academic make fun of it when mainstream media outlets use it; war on women, war on the constitution, war on gun rights, et cetera. You cannot have a constructive dialogue about how to fix things if your first action is to declare war.