<p>One of the things that strikes me as typical about that article is the attitude of the sole student quoted in it: I came here in spite of the teaching, not because of it. The classroom isn’t important; doing things with your amazing classmates is. I have actually been very satisfied with the teaching because I have sought out great professors. But everyone else must be suffering.</p>
<p>That is pretty much what I have heard from almost everyone, going back 40 years. </p>
<p>The teaching at Harvard isn’t anywhere near as bad as it is made out to be. The exceptions, however, are probably giant intro survey social science classes or pre-med requirements that everyone takes because they think they have to. Those are basically going to be mediocre experiences everywhere, unless you really work at it. And I am sure that in some of the concentrations – Government, Economics, various Biologies – there are plenty of people whose academic attitude is “Let’s get this over with so I can get to my prestigious professional school/job.” But Harvard is also a place where you get scores of people volunteering to spend 50-60 hours a week on Math 55 (at least for a few weeks, until 2/3 of them quit). Those aren’t students who are disengaged from their classes.</p>