I recently had the opportunity to attend a fascinating lecture by Eric Olander, Chief Editor of the China Global South Project, on China's economic engagement in Africa. It was a deep dive into a relationship often painted with broad strokes, revealing a far more complex and nuanced reality. Forget simplistic narratives – this is a story of multifaceted interactions, opportunities, and challenges.
Henri Kissinger, the former Harvard professor, famously quipped, "Academic politics is so vicious because the stakes are so low." While the collective stakes in education might seem low, especially in monetary terms, the individual professor vying for a tenured position faces a high-stakes battle. After all, lifetime employment for a multiple of the average salary is something some people would kill for.
This disconnect highlights a core problem in education: the tension between individual ambition and the need for systemic change. Remember the MOOC craze of 2012? Pearson's "A Tsunami is Coming" event predicted a revolution that never materialized. Why? Because the forces driving real change in education are often too weak to overcome deeply entrenched institutional inertia.
