Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Can a Group of MIT Professors Turn a White Paper Into a New Kind of College? | EdSurge News

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I always roll my eyes when I read about "a Group of MIT Professors" or some such thing. It's the way such pronouncements are treated with reverence in the media (and the current post is no exception). I mean, get this: "The MIT professors who authored the white paper tried to make clear that even though they'™re from an elite university, they do not have all the answers." I would like to advise readers that even though I live in rural Canada, I don't have all the answers either. In fact, as we read in this article, the impetus behind this initiative isn't the oversized brains of our intellectual masters at all; it's funding from Bruce Rauner, a businessman and philanthropist, and a former Republican governor of Illinois. And that might explain the interest in supporting higher education for the well-to-do. Not the elite institutions, of course - they're untouchable. But "the next rung down." I wish Jeffrey Young would be more critical of these initiatives - though I guess if he were, he wouldn't get to attend invitee-only events.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 1:53 p.m.

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