Coming Meltdown in Higher Ed
Since The Agitator has heaps of readers with .edu email addresses, I thought I’d pass along a blog post by Seth Godin especially for you!
It’s called The Coming Meltdown in Higher Education (as seen by a marketer), and while it gives Godin’s full critique of today’s higher ed offering, here’s an especially pertinent excerpt for our readers:
"Why do colleges send millions (!) of undifferentiated pieces of junk mail to high school students now? We will waive the admission fee! We have a one page application! Apply! This is some of the most amateur and bland direct mail I’ve ever seen. Why do it?
"Biggest reason: So the schools can reject more applicants. The more applicants they reject, the higher they rank in US News and other rankings. And thus the rush to game the rankings continues, which is a sign that the marketers in question (the colleges) are getting desperate for more than their fair share. Why bother making your education more useful if you can more easily make it appear to be more useful?"
Whoa! Tough critique.
Tom
One response to “Coming Meltdown in Higher Ed”
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Tom,
I wouldn’t call this a tough critique. I call this naming the elephant in the living room! Good for you.