It's an interesting analysis of the current situation, but the proposed methods for changing the system are depressingly trendy:
Just as “flash mobs” summon young people to engage in some simultaneous bizarre act in a specified place at a specified time, the “flash seminars” alert students to an edgy topic -- no examples of how edgy -- that will be discussed in a professor's living room.
If they want a good model of popular education and intellectualism, they do exist. Take the amateur astronomy community, for instance, or Wikipedia culture.
Just as “flash mobs” summon young people to engage in some simultaneous bizarre act in a specified place at a specified time, the “flash seminars” alert students to an edgy topic -- no examples of how edgy -- that will be discussed in a professor's living room.
If they want a good model of popular education and intellectualism, they do exist. Take the amateur astronomy community, for instance, or Wikipedia culture.