<p><a href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2114139/%5B/url%5D">http://slate.msn.com/id/2114139/</a>
Purportedly a book review of a recent biography of Larry Summers, but also an entertaining rant about elite education. </p>
<p>Excerpt: "Is it any wonder that the mania to denounce universities as overpriced corrupters of the young is rivaled only by the mania to get one's children in? The so-called "meritocracy" is in crisisand Harvard, its flagship brand, is hardly being spared. . . Quite the opposite. As Harvard can afford to staff its faculty almost exclusively with superstars, and as superstars are loath to teach, the gap between the global power of the brand and the actual quality of the education delivered is quite large. If you want to impress a shopkeeper in Yemen, by all means go to Harvard. If you want the best education for the money, you might want to consider Swarthmore or Williams. But for many of its students, Harvard is not so much an experience as an entrée. For them, the Harvard name doesn't represent Veritas, but the current education mania on steroids, whereby the hyper-deserving earn the chance to enter the ranks of the hyper-rich. "</p>
<p>Please note: Even though I'm not a Summers fan, I don't have any quarrel with a Harvard education one way or another. I just found this article amusing.</p>
<p>As an interesting aside, the author of the book reviewed, Richard Bradley, was formerly named Richard Blow and wrote the sensationalist tell-all bio of John Kennedy, Jr. He says changed his name after the unrelenting humor became less funny but others may say he's trying to evade low credibilty. I think he went to Yale.</p>