As promised … the provocative piece on the future of higher education, written by Clay Shirky, whom you’ve read in other contexts.

Shirky has thrown a bit of gasoline onto the fire over online education and Massive Open Online Courses. He’s making comparisons between higher ed and other industries challenged by upstart online models, including newspapers and the record industry. I found it fascinating, not least because of the evidence he provides to distinguish institutions like ours from other public two- and four-year programs and a for-profit system he refers to as “bottom-feeding scum … just asset-stripping student loans.”

How to Save College | The Awl.