Home Is Where The Heart Dwells

Scandals of Higher Education

By Andrew Delbanco

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20011

The enduring theme in the US Higher Education is equality–although people may disagree in what aspect equality should be addressed . Sex, race or class? Some writers consider this situation problematic, because one aspect could be used to misdirect people’s attention.

“In the transformed world of what was once an old boys club, “feminism,” he writes, “is what you appeal to when you want to make it sound as if the women of Wall Street and the women of Wal-Mart are both victims of sexism.” In fact, few of the former are victims of sexism and many of the latter are victims, first and foremost, of poverty. In short, Michaels thinks the academic left willfully misses the point —that the big obstacle to equal opportunity is not race or gender, but class.”

I have a similar observation on Chinese Higher Education.  There are at least two themes today: freedom and equality.  The freedom theme is intentionally avoided in public discussions, while the equality theme is welcomed.

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