Whither Academia?

Universities began as small communities of scholars, coming together to share the results of their study.  Senior scholars became faculty; junior scholars were students.

Perhaps from the very beginnings the seeds of downfall were present: as soon as students were certificated for completion of prescribed courses of study, universities became credentialing organizations as well as centers of learning.

Whatever the history, the reality of today's universities is deplorable.  Despite the immense expansion of scholarly work, there is no agreement on the need to seek truth.  In fact universities sacrifice truth on the altar of power.

Universities (like other large organizations) have grown top-heavy, with ponderous committees and myriad deans, provosts, directors, and chancellors, together with assistants and associates thereof.  Salaries have ballooned at the top, and the quest for money occupies the time of the leaders.  Besides grants and titled chairs, universities have become professional sports empires.  The search for truth is lost in the noise of power.

Students are not well-served by expensive institutions that do little to help graduates find employment commensurate with their education.

All the sadder is that politicians and businesses may buy the support of universities.  Every crackpot theory of science or psychology or biology or economics can find both supporters and detractors within the halls of academe.  The message to the public is -- there is no truth, just what you pay to have "supported by scientific research".

Meanwhile, human society continues to be plagued by the rampant illiteracy and innumeracy of the general public; the leading scholars of the world are incapable of seeing to the successful education of the masses.

Finally, universities, which ought to be bastions of open inquiry, do little to stand up to the predations of governments and other large  and powerful organizations, which obscure the truth behind the twin veils of censorship and secrecy.