Another Amusing Dig

You decide how true it is.

Overheard in Silicon Valley: "The modern university is a political madrassa married to a trade school married to a hedge fund married to a sports team married to an adult day care center married to a visa law firm."

— Marc Andreessen ???????? (@pmarca) March 21, 2022

Thanks to Prof. Glenn Reynolds (InstaPundit) for the pointer.

Comments

[Shabbetai Ẓevi]

The 'modern' university has been modeled as a yeshiva to promote alien agendas not of the principles of the founding. All the major whining from these skools is promoted by jewish interests. The smartest folks are those who do not attend such thought control institutions.

[Frank Drackman]

If Avner Kaufman comes calling, don't answer.

[Da5id]

I didn't know David Duke had an account on VC. Huh.

[Frank Drackman]

FIFY "I didn't know David Duke had an account on VC. Duh."

[apedad]

Seems like a good amount of diverse interests coming together to make things happen.

What's wrong with that?

[Ed Grinberg]

I'd say "More power to them!" . . . if I didn't have to pay for it all!

[Social Justice is neither]

Maybe the fact that they do absolutely none of them well for a functioning society. You being a leftist I can understand your point though.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Disaffected, defeated, education-disdaining clingers are among my favorite culture war casualties.

[John F. Carr]

Some of them don't have much in the way of sports.

[Frank Drackman]

tell me about, my Auburn Tigers folded like a cheap suit.

[Frank Drackman]

Great Vet School though

[CJColucci]

I'm sure you overhear a lot of stupid s**t in Silicon Valley.

[SimonP]

Right. Does Eugene not know who Marc Andreessen is? Just another tech billionaire narcissist who thinks that, because he struck it rich, he has something useful to say about everything.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

I’m rich bitch—I’m gonna buy another E for my last name!!

[santamonica811]

heh

[Eugene Volokh]

You Dutchophobes.

[David Nieporent]

Whereas SimonP is a non-tech thousandaire narcissist who thinks that, even though he didn't strike it rich, he has something useful to say about everything.

[SimonP]

Oh, look, a tu quoque. How original.

I know who Marc Andreessen is, at least, and am sufficiently familiar with his ilk to find his ignorant pronouncements tiresome.

[David Nieporent]

And I don't know who you are in IRL, but I certainly find your VC persona's ignorant pronouncements tiresome.

[Martinned]

Modern *American* university. My Alma mater ticks none of those boxes.

[Ridgeway]

I'd replace "Trade School" with "a 'Swallows'-type family-style restaurant by day, and anything goes pan-sexual bazaar by night, offering smoothies, malts, leather ponies and a salad bar (all organic, of course), where you are encouraged to make the biggest little mistake of your life (punishments may vary)"

[Jimmy the Dane]

"Trade school"....only if students learned any kind of useful skill for their 4 years and ungodly sum of money....

"Visas"....at least this is one area of immigration law that hasn't been screwed up yet. We will let you in for 4-? years paying full out of state tuition for the "privilege" of attending one of these fine institutions then boot you a few months after graduation. How this scam is still going I don't know....

"Sports team"....football and basketball need minor leagues too! Why spend all that money on infrastructure and talent development when the university does it for you (and conveniently it helps them with their diversity numbers).

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

" "Trade school"....only if students learned any kind of useful skill for their 4 years and ungodly sum of money.... "

An education at a modern, American, liberal-libertarian university enables me to collect $700 for an hour of my time (2022 rate).

Perhaps if you were more successful you would recognize, and be less resentful toward, the value of an education obtained outside the clingerverse.

If you stick with your conservative principles and send your children and grandchildren to Wheaton, Hillsdale, Liberty, Ouachita Baptist, or the like, I thank you in advance, on behalf of my children and grandchildren, for the opportunity compete economically with your family. I have enjoyed the fruits of competition with products of conservative-controlled, fourth-tier, nonsense-teaching schools; I see no reason my descendants should not be similarly blessed.

[Jimmy the Dane]

That isn't a trade. That is a professional degree on top of your undergrad. And there are only a few of those jobs in the entire economy. Just because you got one doesn't mean we need to send tens of thousands of people into debt slavery by dangling such an apple in front of them.

[ragebot]

Left out rent seekers.

Back in the 1960s when I was an undergrad the ratio of profs to support employees at a university was about three to one; now it has reversed and there are three support employees (peeps like diversity czars and rec center employees) to every prof (including TA and what ever else they call those who actually teach students.

Not that a lot of profs are not rent seekers as well, they are just not the majority of rent seekers.

[M L]

Very true.

[Commenter_XY]

Too many 'married' to follow; almost as bad as trying to track Zsa Zsa Gabor's marriages.

[Longtobefree]

"It's just an alternate life style"

[Jimmy the Dane]

Multiple marriages has yet to be found as a constitutional right. But, I see absolutely no argument on why such a right should not exist under current precedent, so maybe this is the cutting edge of social change.

[Longtobefree]

If only these institutions had to publish results like a trade school - - - - - - - - - -

[Cal Cetín]

What I heard was that a university provides

-sports for the alumni
-sex for the students
-parking for the faculty

[Jimmy the Dane]

-paycheck for activists that are otherwise unemployable
-political training workshops for the masses, funded by their own dollars and the taxpayer
-institutions that conduct "research" that always seems to back preferred public policy advocated by employed activists teaching said workshops

[Brophy]

It's been about 30 years since college students had sex, they wait until they're 30 now.

[Ridgeway]

A professor told me that joke 30 years ago when I was in college, but he also added "Jobs for the administrators."

Plus ca change....

[decline to state]

Also overheard in Silicon Valley:

"You're going to do 1,000 different tests on a single drop of blood? Can I give you some many millions of dollars?"

and

"You're going to enable people to squeeze fruit via an app on their phone? Can I give you some many millions of dollars?"

and

"You're going to lose money on ever transaction and make it up on volume? Can I give you some many millions of dollars?"

Lots of dumb things are said in Silicon Valley.

[Jimmy the Dane]

I would argue that in the "run a million tests in one drop of blood" the investors got exactly what they were paying for in terms of tons of cover when the woke cancel crowd came their way. They probably could have cared less (and the testimony at trial suggested they knew it was a high or unrealistic risk) but thought it was money worthwhile for "another" purpose.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

What in the hell are you talking about? People died because of Theranos. They faked hundreds of thousands of blood tests. Woke cancel crowd?

[Jimmy the Dane]

They paid for cover in terms of "hey look I invested in a woman run business! I'm diverse and woke!" These people knew exactly what they were doing and didn't care because the woke mob went elsewhere.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

The many investors suing her and Theranos seem like they care. Are you actually willing to believe these investors were willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in a company they knew was dishonest and doomed to fail just for such a reason? Do you think the "woke mob" are okay with Rupert Murdoch now because he invested in Theranos?

[M L]

This needs something about sucking down trillions in taxpayer dollars including "student loans."

[Sebastian Cremmington]

Tax endowment not used for tuition. And encourage Harvard and Yale and Princeton to begin rejecting donations and instead encourage the Epsteins of the world to give to other private colleges specifically for tuition for students from middle class families. We don’t need more humanities departments…we need more STEM graduates and liberal arts graduates with no student loan debt.

[Longtobefree]

How about they get the degree when the last payment is made?
That might help them to learn how to do a true cost/benefit analysis.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Prof. Volokh seems content to take a university's money; to benefit from and tarnish its franchise; and to use a misappropriated platform to aim misleading, cherry-picked, partisan sniping at strong schools that don't flatter the ugly, stale thinking of conservatives as much as he would prefer.

If conservatives find fault with America's stronger law schools and universities, why don't they (1) rely on their ostensible market principles, (2) prove their claims that conservatism is compatible with first-rate scholarship, and (3) develop a number of first-rate schools operated by and for conservatives?

Clingers operating at The Volokh Conspiracy level know the answer; they just don't like it, so they ignore the issue.

Carry on, conservatives . . . so far as nipping at the ankles of betters could carry anyone.

[Aubrey LaVentana]

"If conservatives find fault with America's stronger law schools and universities, why don't they" just go build their own?

We see how that worked for Parler.

"nipping at the ankles of betters" The 'betters' have not been covering themselves in glory.

[Aubrey LaVentana]

. . married to an HR outsourcing firm . .

[Aubrey LaVentana]

. . married to an HR outsourcing firm . . married to a CCP espionage operation . .