“College isn't the place to go for ideas.”

Depending on the author's definition of 'ideas', to the extreme, this could be absolutely true or false. College does seem to inforce uniformity, killing, out or the box creativity.

Helen is correct, it is the place to go for indoctrination.

universities certainly no longer, if ever, deserve to be termed so. just as the human faculties need to work together constantly to function at all, so should there be ongoing syncretic work between those of universities. then the confluence of corporate funding and recruiting acts like a pincer attack of influence on the mind of the student body.

Joe is correct, indoctrination, Nick, your explanation is, Spot on ! Pincer attack of influence on the mind of the student body. Our imagination so often used for weapons of war, guard it well, for good.

I had to pay for college myself so I decided to take the classes I wanted to take even though I would not get a degree. I had to get loans and work full time also in addition to meeting the partying demands of my fraternity. ;-) I quit after 3 years, worked odd jobs until I got something in my field, ended up learning everything that I would ever need to be in high demand on the job. Before my peers graduated, I was working on Wall Street as a computer consultant making more money than both my parents combined. I never needed that degree and it certainly wasn't worth what they were charging for it.

Today, I now learn everything new from books and the internet. The purpose of college was to prepare people for the corporate world in which a degree is required to get in the game, particularly in the fields of law and medicine. But now, all you need is the internet and a will to learn. You can learn ANYTHING now right in your own home. Why borrow thousands of dollars to be given a book, told to read it, and then prove you read it? Just read the damn thing! ;-)

I have a child currently going for yet another degree with / from what is touted as experts in the field (having nothing to do with that child's livelihood). Admittedly, more anti-Christian religion and PC is the main stay of the curriculum rather than a true depiction of the subject matter or ideas.