The noise of the evolution of education grinding to a bloody and devastating halt.
This sycophancy is hardly confined to leaders trying to stay in the government’s good graces. It’s a plague in the classroom too. When students earn A’s just by enrolling in a class and handing in assignments, sycophancy reigns. When professors’ jobs depend on their popularity with those they grade, the incentives align for mutual back-scratching. When teachers are afraid to tell someone “that’s a really dumb idea,” or even “that’s wrong,” education gives way to customer satisfaction. This reticence does nobody a favor. Dispensing praise instead of provoking learning may be comical in an AI chat, but it’s poisonous in the classroom. [“The epidemic of toxic flattery is spreading,” Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University, WaPo]
I recall writing a post, many years ago and apparently unfindable, that concluded one does not buy an education; one merely buys access to that education, and it’s up to the student to utilize it.
