The "New" UChicago

KnowThyself
Fri, 18 May 2012 03:13:17 +0000

@JHS Wow. Way to spin very a very realistic perspective into a more favorable light for UChicago. That a professor is a “very big deal” at a particular university does not mean that he or she should be a big deal for the rest of the world. You seem willing enough to imply that Rutgers students aren’t actually learning, but what proof have you that Chicago students actually are, as implied, other than its rise in the USNews ranking and other recent successes (the “New” UChicago)?

Said professor may be chair of “this committee” or a throwback, in your favorable opinion, to “whenever,” but the only argument that you have made is that “He’s flamboyant” and a preppy aristocrat. And this statement only agrees with said professor’s own statement that I quoted: “It’s just a grand public performance.” All for show. You are arguing that, because he is an authority at Chicago, he should be respected as really cool, flamboyant, and knowledgable authority elsewhere. But this is hardly the impression that the interview conveys on the whole, for the excerpt you quoted is discussing how to make the university more profitable. And the except I quoted discusses how all of higher education is seeking to make a profit off of people’s desire to “find” and display their own intellectualism–as a means to jobs, security, or high-flying purpose.

My excerpts were not misleading. Your “part of the interview” was not “really pertinent” at all. At the very least, you should explain why the part of the interview you quoted is pertinent. But we already understand why he’s “a big deal at Chicago,” so you can leave that out.