ABSTRACT
To those outside the academy, it may seem strange that there is so much discontent and turmoil within it. Politicians, media pundits, and business leaders share a remarkable consensus that education-and higher education in particular-is indispensable to the future of individuals and nations alike. If our gross national product grows too slowly, the solution is to use education to create a more productive workforce. If we want to live better than our parents did, then we must go to college. If there is to be something resembling racial equality in this country, then access to education must be equalized. If a backward region or country wants to reach new levels of prosperity, then it must educate its citizenry. If a politician wants to capitalize on discontent over stagnant living standards, then expanding access to higher education through tax credits or a similar mechanism will gain more support than the “class warfare” approach of taxing the rich or reversing the flight of American capital overseas. The United States even exports much of this philosophy abroad. We have truly liberated Afghanistan, we tell ourselves, because Afghani women and girls can again go to school.
