Noted: For example, Iâ??m writing this from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Iâ??ll be knocking around for the next couple of days and speaking on Thursday. The university is really kind of awesome, full of museums and theaters and grand buildings, packed with bright, energetic people trying to make the world a better place.
But thereâ??s a downside to all of this: Institutional and societal interests arenâ??t always aligned. For example, itâ??s good for a universityâ??s reputation and bottom line to focus on enrolling lots of rich smart kids, but frankly what we need are more colleges that are good at, and want to be good at, teaching students at the median (among the population of potential college students, which isnâ??t the whole population) or below.