It’s been a long thread and I might have missed something, but what I did read in the criticism of universities was not the sort of thing implied above. For my part, I have no problem with teachers knowing more than students and imparting that knowledge using a hierarchy. What I do question are the ideas that educational institutions teach critical thinking, that they perform some sort of valid ranking of individuals, and that meritocratic ranking is even a useful tool when evaluated against larger goals than pushing the capitalistic system further along.
—ravi