I only demur slightly on the metaphors about Kool Aid. The original drinkers of that metaphorical Kool Aid, in 1978, thereby put an end to themselves and to their entire project. They didn’t die from the Kool Aid, but from their willingness to obey the command to drink it. The physical Kool Aid could even be described as a sort of functional circuit-breaker, ensuring that none of them would be left behind to continue the campaign– whatever it was. The forces that we often now accuse of “drinking the Kool Aid” may not convince a high percentage of their intended audiences, per utterance, but they just continue to express the same banalities. If they’re only as successfull, percentage-wise, as spam e-mailers, they do at least perpetuate their crazy projects. I like better the trope of the “Reagan Pods,” from a classic c. 1981 Saturday Night Live sketch, to convey the ability of the holders of inane ideas to keep their designs at least alive in the public arena. I wish somebody could recover that item and put it on YouTube. It resonated like crazy with everone who assumed that everyone they knew had voted against Ronnie, only to hear one of their friends say something like, “you know, it really *is* time that we get the government out of every little corner of our lives.” You can’t do that with Kool Aid, you need Pods!

Love it. SUBPRIME COLLEGES!!! Thanks so much, Grantastic!

I understand your point, but I vastly prefer the term “subprime colleges.” It contains the correct reference points: lax regulation, artificial government support (and bailout), disproportionately screwing minorities, single moms, vets, older people, and others who are genuinely seeking a more financially secure life for themselves and their children (and have been told that college, like home ownership, is the way to do that).

I don’t know any true educator who drinks this Kraptastic Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid only nourishes brainless and soulless educrats.

As President Former-Speaker-of-the-State-House told us recently, “We need to stay ahead of the curve.” Next step: farming out our general education courses to some creepy on-line institution called Everspring. Just remember, don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

I was reminded of the time I told a student that her essay read as if she had used the thesaurus function on her word processor without knowing what the substitute words were; she couldn’t figure out how I knew! (I knew because the words were just slightly off.)

True believers about pedagogy and educational practice are like the old line: if your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.