Mark C. Taylor, the chairman of the religion department at Columbia, offers a radical proposal in The New York Times for the restructuring of the American university system. Two key components of the proposal entail ending tenure and shuttering academic departments—replacing disciplines with problems, and then tackling them with a cooperative and multidisciplinary approach, e.g. The Department of the Future of Water made up of geologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and ethicists. Should we End the University as We Know It?
posted by Toekneesan on Apr 27, 2009 - 84 comments

Training toddlers to compete. This reminds me of the Dilbert episode where Dogbert holds training sessions for toddlers. I know parents often want to realize themselves through their children, but aren't we going a bit overboard here?
posted by jedrek on Sep 5, 2000 - 4 comments