Nerd News: Universities vs. Student Self-Reliance?

Here is an interesting little piece. Blurb:

Modern universities are providing a failure-free existence that eliminates an important component of a free society: self-reliance.

At this point, I'm just going to say the following, because I've read a lot of op-ed pieces from both right and left about large groups and social impact/engineering. And I am kind of tired of everybody. So here is what I have to say, as a lowly teaching nerd in the trenches with the undergrads.

It is all well and good to talk about general campus culture and such, but in the end, what matters is the individual classroom with the individual instructor and how he or she runs it. Universities are comprised of individuals, be they in the administration, the faculty, or the student body. Just as we should combat apparently faceless, unaccountable bureaucracies by calling out specific scoundrels BY NAME, we should do the same with academia. It's too easy to slam in general "universities" (if you are a conservative) or "Republicans" (if you are a leftist) or "whatever large organization here" (if you are anybody at all), but in the end, the rubber meets the road in the individual.

So let's go to the individual level. For the record, if you come into my class and expect to be babied and pampered and coddled, if you think you can slack off, skip class, not study and not face the consequences of your own actions and choices, you are in for the shock of your LIFE. There is no such thing as "a failure-free existence" in my classroom. That's all I can do. I treat my students like responsible adults whether they are or not. I find this approach makes people grow up. Coddling them just makes them more infantile and whiny than ever.

Let's not all sit around and point fingers at whatever faceless group. Go out and do something practical as an individuals with/for (or even, sometimes against, though I hate to say it) individuals.