Episode 18: Interlocking Directorates of Control

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Previously, in Episode 16: Fast Track Education, I confessed ignorance about how colleges and universities—at least the private institutions—were funded, let alone founded. Since then, yet another Upton "Uppie" Sinclair book has filled me in on at least some of the particulars. Episode 18: Interlocking Directorates of Control dives into a bit of the history of how private fortunes and money managers start and direct the daily dealings at prestigious universities…and how this monied involvement can exert a veto power over everything from casual conversation to curricula not friendly to monied involvement in daily life.

I read several passages from the informing book, Upton Sinclair's "The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education", self-published, 1923. (Though I included the excerpts in the show notes previously, I will here refrain. I have planned several future episodes with notes and excerpts copious enough to match a doctoral dissertation-length screen dump—without, of course, the thinking behind a doctoral dissertation. If you, Gentle Listener, would like these excerpts, please let me know, and I will craft a way to include them in the notes without taking up all of the available screen space. -Jim.)

Audio excerpts include a few standards from the 1974 Mel Brooks classic "Blazing Saddles." Music includes Jupiter Makes Me Scream performing "Here and Now," and the theme to the 1965 Mel Brooks/Buck Henry creation "Get Smart."