Sure, Ruskin probably got laid on his Grand Tour

by IrishGuard, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 15:43 (4 days ago) @ PMan
edited by IrishGuard, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, 09:10

(or maybe not, in his case, actually). My point is that it's one thing to grow, develop, and learn a ton during college--and have a lot of fun doing it--and it's another to so crassly put the dessert first, as it were. I loved my time at ND, but I didn't choose it so I could tailgate, and it certainly didn't have anything to do with the amenities of Keenan Hall or the Huddle.

The consumer mindset is a major driver in what's destroying higher ed. Obscene sports expenditures, every campus a construction site, gaudy dorms. All the carts are before the horse, which in any case has rickets now and is being dragged along by an army of exploited adjuncts who lack health insurance. Meanwhile, a refreshed climbing wall just went up next to the PF Chang's in the student center to better attract students who are, well, basically just shopping for fancy digs. And this is what the tuition is for.

Kid in my class yesterday: Saw some colleges over spring break.
Me: Oh, yeah? Which ones?
Kid: TCU and SMU.
Me: Gee, you don't say...well, how were they?
Kid: Awesome. It was warm and everything was super new.

Now, obviously this is a function of the kind of extreme privilege that would allow one to spend 400k to study marketing and party for four years in a place with few regional connections to, and little name recognition in, Chicagoland. They just have too many safety nets for it ever to constitute any kind of risk. But I've taught this demographic for a long time and the conversations have increasingly shifted away from majors and "finding the right fit" to, again, warmth, football, new facilities, etc. Is it ennui in the face of a hopeless work future? Is it AI addiction that's sidelined the desire (and ability) to learn and do hard things? Is it a Trump thing--going South to escape northern "wokeness"? Whatever it is, it's dumb as fuck.