The "New" UChicago

dunbar
Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:02:38 +0000

My guess is that the increased interest in finding a career where a UChicago student can make money is directly related to the changes in the economy that the current crops of students witnessed first hand over the past few years. My parent’s view of the economy and the need to pinch pennies was shaped by their growing up during the Depression. Today’s college student sees the growing inequality of income and wants desparately to be part of the 1% rather than the 99%

No, I don’t think this can be right. The change has to lie much deeper than events of the past few years in order to fundamentally alter the general expectation for a college degree. For one thing this change has already been taking place, well before the financial crisis. But also, you don’t get people like Drew Gilpin Faust suddenly talking about the practicality of education because of one crisis, and you don’t get students suddenly making the conscious decision that they need to earn a spot in the “1%.” My cynical guess is that the new, more “practical” view of a college education is directly linked to hypercapitalism and a generally greater emphasis on wealth.