Mel’s Ten Reasons Why the Ivory Tower Doesn’t Budge

The term “ivory tower” comes from chapter VII of the Song of Songs. The poem is thousands of years old. Seems like the universities are like that too. No wonder this phrase has come to refer to the academic disconnect from society.

שׁוּבִי שׁוּבִי הַשּׁוּלַמִּית, שׁוּבִי שׁוּבִי וְנֶחֱזֶה בָּךְ, מַה תֶּחֱזוּ בַּשּׁוּלַמִּית, כִּמְחֹלַת הַמַּחֲנָיִם. מַה יָּפוּ פְעָמַיִךְ בַּנְּעָלִים בַּת נָדִיב, חַמּוּקֵי יְרֵכַיִךְ כְּמוֹ חֲלָאִים מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי אֳמָן. שָׁרְרֵךְ אַגַּן הַסַּהַר, אַל יֶחְסַר הַמָּזֶג, בִּטְנֵךְ עֲרֵמַת חִטִּים סוּגָה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים. שְׁנֵי שָׁדַיִךְ כִּשְׁנֵי עֳפָרִים תָּאֳמֵי צְבִיָּה. צַוָּארֵךְ כְּמִגְדַּל הַשֵּׁן, עֵינַיִךְ בְּרֵכוֹת בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן עַל שַׁעַר בַּת רַבִּים, אַפֵּךְ כְּמִגְדַּל הַלְּבָנוֹן צוֹפֶה פְּנֵי דַּמָּשֶׂק. רֹאשֵׁךְ עָלַיִךְ כַּכַּרְמֶל וְדַלַּת רֹאשֵׁךְ כָּאַרְגָּמָן, מֶלֶךְ אָסוּר בָּרְהָטִים. מַה יָּפִית וּמַה נָּעַמְתְּ אַהֲבָה בַּתַּעֲנוּגִים. זֹאת קוֹמָתֵךְ דָּמְתָה לְתָמָר וְשָׁדַיִךְ לְאַשְׁכֹּלוֹת. אָמַרְתִּי אֶעֱלֶה בְתָמָר, אֹחֲזָה בְּסַנְסִנָּיו, וְיִהְיוּ נָא שָׁדַיִךְ כְּאֶשְׁכְּלוֹת הַגֶּפֶן וְרֵיחַ אַפֵּךְ כַּתַּפּוּחִים. וְחִכֵּךְ כְּיֵין הַטּוֹב הוֹלֵךְ לְדוֹדִי לְמֵישָׁרִים דּוֹבֵב שִׂפְתֵי יְשֵׁנִים. אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְעָלַי תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ. לְכָה דוֹדִי נֵצֵא הַשָּׂדֶה נָלִינָה בַּכְּפָרִים. נַשְׁכִּימָה לַכְּרָמִים, נִרְאֶה אִם פָּרְחָה הַגֶּפֶן פִּתַּח הַסְּמָדַר הֵנֵצוּ הָרִמּוֹנִים, שָׁם אֶתֵּן אֶת דּוֹדַי לָךְ. הַדּוּדָאִים נָתְנוּ רֵיחַ וְעַל פְּתָחֵינוּ כָּל מְגָדִים, חֲדָשִׁים גַּם יְשָׁנִים דּוֹדִי צָפַנְתִּי לָךְ.

1. Becoming more and more irrelevant to the real world.

The World Economic Forum recently listed the top skills necessary in the workplace of 2020. Have a look below. In how many of them do we become proficient during our university/college studies? Practically none.

Complex problem solving

Critical Thinking

Creativity

People management

Coordinating with others

Emotional intelligence

Judgement and decision making

Service orientation

Negotiation

Cognitive flexibility

2. Universities are lousy in what they were once best at – sharing “knowledge”

Universities for centuries passed knowledge (whatever that is) on to their students. Today the universities no longer have the monopoly on knowledge, and often lag behind other online sources in providing updated information.

3. Multidisciplinarity? Just in thought, not in action.

To beat a robot or app you need to think between the boxes, to connect disciplines and ideas, and think between them. Universities are built vertically, with faculties and individual departments that compete for budgets and fame, and rarely find clever ways of working together. Many courses taught by more than one department fall between the cracks and are doomed to failure. Even colleges that call themselves ‘interdisciplinary’ are vertical troughs.

4. Universities and Colleges are Monopolies

Universities and colleges receive state licences which give them a monopoly on granting degrees. Government bodies often determine the core curriculum for each discipline. The members of such bodies are professors who are elected because of their conservative approach to education. As long as companies require a college degree (and most still do) this is not likely to change dramatically.

5. Teaching is not a Priority

Most colleges and universities hire professors according to their academic background, not whether they are outstanding educators. In most universities that I know you can be a lousy or just a boring teacher, but still enjoy rapid promotion based on research capabilities.

6. Getting the Right Answer

Students get to university following their studies in kindergarten, grade skill and high school (organizations which I have referred to as “correctional institutions”. They learn for thirteen years that the way to succeed is to get the ‘right’ answers to the questions posed by the teachers. No wonder that this continues through university. Divergent thought is not encouraged when you have exams to pass. Neither the students nor the teachers are interested in changing the system. It works in everyone’s ‘interest’.

7. Science is Like Religion

When you read an academic paper or hear a lecture, don’t you feel sometimes that you were in a house of prayer. “The animals were sacrificed.”  “We believe….”. I’ve written a whole essay on this. Science and religion are beliefs. They are both hard to change. Just ask Spinoza or Martin Luther.

8. Universities are hierarchal, and the politics are awful. 

“Academic politics is much more vicious than real politics,” [Richard] Neustadt once explained. “We think it’s because the stakes are so small.”  Innovators and inventors are usually persecuted by the more mainline academic community.

9. No fun and games

Creativity depends on tapping into the childish mind. Silliness rules when it comes to new ideas, unconventional hypotheses. In academia, silliness is cause for expulsion.

10. Donors and benefactors don’t like change. 

They want the buildings, departments, corridors, classrooms that they donated to stay the same. Forever. With their names on them.