"Obama is absolutely right. College isn't supposed to be about having our prejudices reinforced"

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit explains why college is Camelot in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Writing at USA Today, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit agrees with President Obama on this much:

President Obama is absolutely right. College isn't supposed to be about having our prejudices reinforced. It's supposed to be about learning how to think about ideas, and even to change one's mind in the face of new arguments and evidence.

It's also about learning to address ideas one doesn't agree with. As Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." You can't do that if you're not willing even to hear unacceptable thoughts….

In Monty Python's Holy Grail, the knights decide to skip a visit to Camelot because "it is a silly place." With college costs (as President Obama has also noted) skyrocketing even as students seem to be learning less and finding greater difficulty obtaining suitable employment after graduation, higher education administrators should worry that more and more students will draw a similar conclusion. Perhaps President Obama's warning will get their attention.

Whole piece here.

Related: "President Obama Just Said He Opposes Campus Censorship. Here's How He Can Prove It," by Robby Soave.

Even more related: "Glenn Reynolds on the Future of Higher Education and How Kids are Getting Wise to Student Loan Debt."

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

College is where you learn to shout down your ideological opponents before they can change your mind. College is where you learn or perfect the fine art of victimhood. College is where you accumulate debt while extending your childhood a little longer.

[mad.casual]

You mean it's not all about sequinning vests?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Knowledge is Good

Wasn't that the motto of some renowned Mid-Western college?

[Notorious UGCC]

So college is "only a model"?

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

Channeling my Nostradamus... I foresee a world in which the demand for college education as a prerequisite for employment falls as the inherent value of that education falls. I foresee a world in which the only lawsuit-free zone of termination falls to merit, so companies create strict standards of compliance in order to preserve their free market right to terminate their employees. I then foresee a return to universities to "learn how to operate at high standard of employment" and thus the cycle, high standard college churns out high standard graduates until liberalism calls for lowering standards and inverts the demand, repeats itself.

Of course, this can all be traced back to allowing burnouts to pass muster, allowing "gender studies" and other pink collars to graduate on the same tier as pre-med undergraduates and math studies, and "pay to play" majors like "Fashion" and "Design;" ie standards being relaxed creates a demand for higher standards.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Also "student athletes".

[AlexInCT]

At least the student althletes, if they are lucky, get a free fucking ride unlike the idiots that rack up the equivalent of a mortgage getting a degree in completely useless and unemployable schemes that pretend to involve learning something of value.

[Almanian - Micro Trumper]

Apparently "Reason" isn't about having Alt Text any more. Good to know. #ThingsYouDontLearnInCollege

[Mickey Rat]

Sure, he opposes censorship but is against who would corrupt our intellectual discourse by introducing badthought, especially if they get together in groups to spend resources in doing so, like those people calling themselves Citizens United.

[The Grinch]

Sure that's all well and good, unless you oppose certain aspects of title IX, which makes you pro-rape apparently. His words are empty and meaningless without action. Slacking up on Title IX would be a good start. Also, don't hold your breath.

[Cyto]

Isn't college more like the Castle Anthrax from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

[bacon-magic]

Obama was right this time. He would have made a better professor than a President. Let's hope Trump, Sanders, Hildabeast, and the myriad other worst case scenarios keep their current occupation instead of trying to ruin the U.S.

[MarkLastname]

Vacancy, '16!

Anyone want to print out flyers for that campaign? What would the mascot be for leaving the oval office vacant for 4 years? Maybe and empty chair?

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