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Is Stanford Too Close To Silicon Valley?

Posted by Soulskill on from the pick-up-and-move dept.

nicholast writes "The New Yorker has a story by Ken Auletta about the connections between Stanford and Silicon Valley. The piece explains how important the university is to tech companies and venture capital firms, but it also questions whether Stanford has become too focused on wealth. 'It's an atmosphere that can be toxic to the mission of the university as a place of refuge, contemplation, and investigation for its own sake,' says one professor. The piece also explains Stanford's conflicted thoughts about distance education, which could transform the university or prove to be a threat to it."

4 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Well, there you have it by Brett+Buck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, New Yorker, you really hit the nail on the head there. Foolishly concentrating on marketable skills and useful scholarship, instead of the laudable pursuits like LGBT studies and Russian literature. New York institutions have it right - charge a lot and turn out people who have nothing productive to contribute and nothing better to do than occupy Wall Street (i.e crap in public and shout slogans) and whine about having to pay back their student loans!

    1. Re:Well, there you have it by ATMAvatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Instead, they should narrowly-focus only on those vocations which make the most money - professional sports, law, political science, and investment banking. All of those are immensely important jobs and a civilization full of nothing but those professions would be a prosperous one indeed.

      I am not defending LBGT studies and Russian literature individually, mind you, but if we ditched any field of study that didn't rain down money upon graduation, we would be much poorer for it.

      --
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    2. Re:Well, there you have it by colinrichardday · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Does The Art Institute of Las Vegas teach you how to draw to an inside straight?

  2. Re:Such a quaint definition of college... by Moofie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not wealthy enough to spend $50k on the joys of an abstract education. I need a job to pay for my loans.

    Some people are rich, and don't have to care about that. That's great. The rest of us just gotta do what we gotta do.

    --
    Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!