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Let's restrict the type, for now, to those institutions of higher learning that offer so much, yet seem out of the loop, to boot, which isn't a bad thing.
We've said that we need a sandbox in order to separate out the gamers from the savers. The latter group gets sacked while the former blaze out their glories. And, the gamers get their gains; we bail out the failures with no provisions for claw back. Oh yes, we could do that with the proper accounting.
So, why can't universities provide the sandboxing? That they are open about their endowments, to some extent, allows us to see gains and losses. That some have bled through the nose this year is something to look at closely. Did those who led toward risk do any payback?
Note: Much more can be said on this subject. In engineering, one sees collaborative work between school labs and business. In fact, it's almost an accepted way of life. What happens in finance that is similar? It's not analogous to export out mathematical quasi-geniuses whose shenanigans put the rest of us in some type of situation where we need to bail them and their fat cat bosses out of trouble. No, we need more than that. Computation has helped screw up the world; schools are a major factor in this unleashing of the beast; they have the duty to help us get things balanced.
Remarks:
10/17/2011 -- If we're to challenge Harvard on its duty, then we'll need to beef this up. For one, is education only operationally important, measured in bucks? Ah, so much to discuss.
05/25/2010 -- Who will (or can) lead out of the morass?
09/12/2009 -- Forgot to mention Economists in the list. As well, sandbox was used without definition. Let's discuss that concept.
Modified: 10/17/2011
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