Gee, mainly that there were only a few sons of aristocrats going to the few universities in the country, and all they did there was read Great Books. Today universities are centers for research and have much broader educational missions.
um....history would like a word with you.
I do however agree that Sciff's assertions on this matter are grossly oversimplified.
this is annoying. there's a bug where i often don't get "reply" buttons on replies to my own comments.
anyway, yes the problem with this topic is that it is a synthesis of so many things that you could literally write several books on the subject. the modern college system is a leviathan in its own right.
Is it just your comments, or were you trying to reply too quickly? In April, PG added a delay on the "reply" links for deeply nested comments in order to prevent flame wars.
I realize I oversimplified my point there, but I think it's hard to argue that the Yale of 1810 has the same educational and social mission of the Yale of 2010.
um....history would like a word with you.
I do however agree that Sciff's assertions on this matter are grossly oversimplified.