An article on men losing interest in universities pulled my attention back to one of my basic themes. Universities were NEVER meant for everyone. They arose from two parallel institutions, the monastery or seminary for priests, and the finishing school for aristocrats. Both have the same function. Both refine and certify elites, religious or secular.
Universities still serve those two core functions. Other purposes are loosely attached accessories. “Free debate” was NEVER the basis of universities. The idea that everyone needs college was a national publicity effort mounted after WW2.
Men are losing interest first because universities became uniquely unwelcoming for men, and because the jobs that require a degree are ALSO unwelcoming. In other words, men recognize the original purpose of a university, which doesn’t need any special explanation and certainly doesn’t need a solution!
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New thought: The oldest US colleges were founded as seminaries, and some of the Ivies retain their seminary departments. Most newer colleges were founded for different reasons, but the two colleges I know best were founded the old way.
Phillips was a training school for Disciples ministers, with a few other subjects overlaid. The majority of its focus and quality remained in the seminary, and after Phillips closed in 1990 the seminary moved to Tulsa and continued. The accessories detached, leaving the core function. Phillips also had an unexpected connection to the Ivies. We assume that the name must come from the Phillips petroleum family, but in fact it was founded by the Phillips family of Phillips Andover.
K-State was founded by Isaac Goodnow as a Methodist seminary. It was later taken over by the state and turned into a land-grant college, but the transformation was difficult and gradual. John Anderson, the visionary re-founder, had to pare off the remaining orthodoxy to transform the college into a trainer for real life and real jobs.
Polistra's Mill 