--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's a lot wrong [with American…" description: "\"There's a lot wrong [with American universities]. I'd remove 3/4 of the faculty - everything but the hard sciences. But nobody's going to do that, so w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8ea/charlie-munger-458_american-universitie_there-s-a-lot-wrong-with-american-univer_2372237.jpg" --- # There's a lot wrong \[with American universities\]. I'd… ![“There's a lot wrong [with American universities]. I'd remove 3/4 of the faculty - everything but the hard sciences. But nobody's going to do that, so we'll have to live with the defects. It's amazing how wrongheaded [the teaching is]. There is fatal disconnectedness. You have these squirrelly…” quote by Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8ea/charlie-munger-458_american-universitie_there-s-a-lot-wrong-with-american-univer_2372237.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8ea/charlie-munger-458_american-universitie_there-s-a-lot-wrong-with-american-univer_2372237.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8ea/charlie-munger-458_american-universitie_there-s-a-lot-wrong-with-american-univer_2372237.jpg) > “There's a lot wrong \[with American universities\]. I'd remove 3/4 of the faculty - everything but the hard sciences. But nobody's going to do that, so we'll have to live with the defects. It's amazing how wrongheaded \[the teaching is\]. There is fatal disconnectedness. You have these squirrelly people in each department who don't see the big picture.” [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critique of higher education emphasizing overstaffing and lack of focus on core sciences. **In simple terms:** Universities have too many faculty outside hard sciences, causing inefficiency. Key Takeaway Consider reforms to prioritize essential disciplines. Themes education efficiency discipline policy faculty Mood critical skeptical Type analytical commentary When to use this quote - university budgeting - curriculum planning - departmental restructuring Key Concepts institutional design resource allocation academic focus Questions to Reflect On - How can universities balance breadth and depth? - What incentives could reduce faculty bloat? A Different Perspective Hard sciences alone cannot address all societal needs; interdisciplinary work remains vital. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American universities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-universities/) [Big picture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/big-picture/) [Defects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [University](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/university/) ## Related quotes > [There is a sad disconnectedness that overcomes a library when its owner is gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-mcmaster-bujold/there-is-a-sad-disconnectedness-that-overcomes-a-library-when-its/) [Lois McMaster Bujold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-mcmaster-bujold/) > [Palestine is about how we drink the water, whether we are being ecological or not. Palestine is our way of exercising our daily living.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elia-suleiman/palestine-is-about-how-we-drink-the-water-whether-we-are-being/) [Elia Suleiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elia-suleiman/) > [“For centuries we have been ripped apart by the hands of others as well as ourselves. Our personalities have been conditioned to become disconnected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dacha-avelin/for-centuries-we-have-been-ripped-apart-by-the-hands-of-others-as/) [Dacha Avelin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dacha-avelin/) > [One of the things that people complain about is loneliness, disconnectedness. If you live in a society where your life is rarely threatened and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/one-of-the-things-that-people-complain-about-is-loneliness/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [In this time of globalization, with all its advantages, the poor are the most vulnerable to having their traditions, relationships and knowledge and skills…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wolfensohn/in-this-time-of-globalization-with-all-its-advantages-the-poor-are/) [James Wolfensohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wolfensohn/) > [I think part of the success which Structuralist or post-Structuralist thought in critical theory has had in literary studies in American universities is due…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-think-part-of-the-success-which-structuralist-or-post-structuralist/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are in the presence of a recruiting drive systematically and deliberately undertaken by American business, by American universities, and to a lesser extent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-hailsham/we-are-in-the-presence-of-a-recruiting-drive-systematically-and/) [Lord Hailsham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-hailsham/) > [It's no surprise that at the same time that American universities have engaged in a serious commitment to diversity, they have been thought-prisons. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/it-s-no-surprise-that-at-the-same-time-that-american-universities/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Kennedy was significantly different than Eisenhower before him, and different from Johnson after him. So those three years were the beginning of a détente…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-stone/kennedy-was-significantly-different-than-eisenhower-before-him-and/) [Oliver Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-stone/) > [The heads of leading American universities say that if they selected applicants based on grades alone, their student bodies would be 100 percent Asian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-achleitner/the-heads-of-leading-american-universities-say-that-if-they-selected/) [Paul Achleitner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-achleitner/) > [If you don't have to pay for everything you're providing, why in the world should you cut the cost of it, when it's gonna…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/if-you-don-t-have-to-pay-for-everything-you-re-providing-why-in-the/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Credentialing, not education, has become the primary business of North American universities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/credentialing-not-education-has-become-the-primary-business-of-north/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [American university presidents are a nervous breed; I have never thought well of them as a class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/american-university-presidents-are-a-nervous-breed-i-have-never/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [American universities have never considered academic merit the sole criterion for admittance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-knowles/american-universities-have-never-considered-academic-merit-the-sole/) [Michael J. Knowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-knowles/) > [After the Soviet collapse, Marxism is a relic, a pathetic anachronism reduced to its last redoubts: North Korea, Cuba, and the English departments of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/after-the-soviet-collapse-marxism-is-a-relic-a-pathetic-anachronism/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) ## More by Charlie Munger > [Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/almost-all-good-businesses-engage-in-pain-today-gain-tomorrow/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [If you want good behavior, don't pay on a commission basis. Our judges aren't paid so much a case. We keep them pretty well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/if-you-want-good-behavior-don-t-pay-on-a-commission-basis-our-judges/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behavior accordingly. If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group then to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/acquire-worldly-wisdom-and-adjust-your-behavior-accordingly-if-your/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [I think time and time again, in reality, psychological notions and economic notions interplay, and the man who doesn't understand both is a damned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-think-time-and-time-again-in-reality-psychological-notions-and/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-have-what-i-call-an-iron-prescription-that-helps-me-keep-sane-when/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [The tax code gives you an enormous advantage if you can find some things you can just sit with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/the-tax-code-gives-you-an-enormous-advantage-if-you-can-find-some/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [The great lesson in microeconomics is to discriminate between when technology is going to help you and when it's going to kill you. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/the-great-lesson-in-microeconomics-is-to-discriminate-between-when/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [Some years ago one oil company bought a fertilizer company, and every other major oil company practically ran out and bought a fertilizer company.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/some-years-ago-one-oil-company-bought-a-fertilizer-company-and-every/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [ They \[Mc Donalds\] take people and give them a first job, which enables them to get a second job. They do a very good… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/they-mc-donalds-take-people-and-give-them-a-first-job-which-enables/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [What good is envy? It’s the one sin you can’t have any fun at.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/what-good-is-envy-it-s-the-one-sin-you-can-t-have-any-fun-at/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [We believe that almost all really good investment records will involve relatively little diversification. The basic idea that it was hard to find good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/we-believe-that-almost-all-really-good-investment-records-will/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [It is way less certain to be a wonderful business in the future. The threat is alternative mediums of information. Every newspaper is scrambling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/it-is-way-less-certain-to-be-a-wonderful-business-in-the-future-the/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [In the corporate world, if you have analysts, due diligence, and no horse sense, you've just described hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/in-the-corporate-world-if-you-have-analysts-due-diligence-and-no/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [We have to have a special insight, or we'll put it in the 'too tough' basket. All of you have to look for a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/we-have-to-have-a-special-insight-or-we-ll-put-it-in-the-too-tough/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [I've heard that one-half of the students at elite schools want to go into private equity or hedge funds. They want to keep up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-ve-heard-that-one-half-of-the-students-at-elite-schools-want-to-go/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) [Explore all 544 Charlie Munger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) ## More American universities quotes > [American universities have never considered academic merit the sole criterion for admittance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-knowles/american-universities-have-never-considered-academic-merit-the-sole/) [Michael J. Knowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-knowles/) > [American university presidents are a nervous breed; I have never thought well of them as a class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/american-university-presidents-are-a-nervous-breed-i-have-never/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Credentialing, not education, has become the primary business of North American universities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/credentialing-not-education-has-become-the-primary-business-of-north/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [If you don't have to pay for everything you're providing, why in the world should you cut the cost of it, when it's gonna…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/if-you-don-t-have-to-pay-for-everything-you-re-providing-why-in-the/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [The heads of leading American universities say that if they selected applicants based on grades alone, their student bodies would be 100 percent Asian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-achleitner/the-heads-of-leading-american-universities-say-that-if-they-selected/) [Paul Achleitner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-achleitner/) > [Kennedy was significantly different than Eisenhower before him, and different from Johnson after him. So those three years were the beginning of a détente…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-stone/kennedy-was-significantly-different-than-eisenhower-before-him-and/) [Oliver Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-stone/) > [It's no surprise that at the same time that American universities have engaged in a serious commitment to diversity, they have been thought-prisons. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/it-s-no-surprise-that-at-the-same-time-that-american-universities/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [We are in the presence of a recruiting drive systematically and deliberately undertaken by American business, by American universities, and to a lesser extent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-hailsham/we-are-in-the-presence-of-a-recruiting-drive-systematically-and/) [Lord Hailsham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-hailsham/) > [I think part of the success which Structuralist or post-Structuralist thought in critical theory has had in literary studies in American universities is due…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-think-part-of-the-success-which-structuralist-or-post-structuralist/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [After the Soviet collapse, Marxism is a relic, a pathetic anachronism reduced to its last redoubts: North Korea, Cuba, and the English departments of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/after-the-soviet-collapse-marxism-is-a-relic-a-pathetic-anachronism/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [To a true-blue professor of literature in an American university, literature is not something that a plain human being, living today, painfully sits down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/to-a-true-blue-professor-of-literature-in-an-american-university/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [You know there are very few Marxists left in the world... they're all in American universities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milton-friedman/you-know-there-are-very-few-marxists-left-in-the-world-they-re-all-in/) [Milton Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milton-friedman/) > [ What \[American universities\] need, and would much benefit from, is more Marxists, radicals, leftists - all terms conventionally applied to those who fight against… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grover-furr/what-american-universities-need-and-would-much-benefit-from-is-more/) Grover Furr > [American universities are organized on the principle of the nuclear rather than the extended family. Graduate students are grimly trained to be technicians rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/american-universities-are-organized-on-the-principle-of-the-nuclear/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [American universities are so expensive. My family couldn't afford to send me, so I took out student loans and had to pay my own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-chalamet/american-universities-are-so-expensive-my-family-couldn-t-afford-to/) [Pauline Chalamet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-chalamet/) [Browse all 19 American universities quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-universities/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There's a lot wrong [with American universities]. I'd remove 3/4 of the faculty - everything but the hard sciences. But nobody's going to do that, so we'll have to live with the defects. It's amazing how wrongheaded [the teaching is]. 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