From the learning team retreat to the Pub Controversy, it's all here.

http://www.phillymag.com/ArticleDisplay.php?id=569

can't believe the reporter wasted a year of her life "researching" that piece. decent nugget that wharton undergrads seem to be more driven than the mba students, but the story rambles on with no upshot. we're left to conclude that, in the writer's opinion, wharton undgergrads are relentlessly driven and amoral, while the mbas are lazy and amoral. so what? it's one person's opinion, a limited, potentially slanted view into one business school. are there fiercely honest and moral people at wharton who are trying to change the status quo? what is the administration doing to attack this "problem"? how does this issue fit into the larger landscape?

mostly the story struck me as a hack job. i've got nothing in the tank for wharton, but i don't see much in this piece besides the reporter found some evidence that wharton isn't the great place it's reputed to be. she painted some very broad strokes with that little bit of information.

Foldesy,

If you read the story again, I think you'll find all the answers to your questions. But in case you don't, I read the story and found the answers for you.

The "so what" here is first that the MBA degree has more value as a career credential than an actual process through which a student learns something, and second, that the people who will soon fill the upper ranks of American business lack courage, imagination, and reasonable sense of right and wrong.

You ask whether there are fiercely honest and moral people at Wharton. If there are, they weren't fierce enough to make themselves known to the reporter during the entire year she spent at their school.

You ask what the school's doing to attack the problem. Good question. If the story doesn't have an answer it may be because the school doesn't either, aside from sending their students down to Antartica to learn about "leadership" and drink Scotch.

And you say this is just one business school. Well yeah, it's only the most prestigous business school in the entire country. If you wanted to figure out what MBAs are about, where else would you start?

There are things you can't do at the Journal, and writing "reported essays" about jargon crazed ROI slaves is one of them.

I will say that the number of times I found myself in a Wharton MBA class desperate for someone to raise his hand and advance the discussion was astonishing even to a career misanthrope like me. That's the only really surprising thing I found. Oh, and also the fact that multiple Wharton MBAs, during a three month period, required hospitalization for binge drinking at MBA sponsored events -- that sort of surprised me. Your point about the relative vacuousness of the upper middle class, however, probably applies here.

with all due respect, here's my perspective on your opinions:

1. mba has more value as a career credential than actual process where student learns something. this is probably true. in fact, i'm getting ready to start my mba in the fall and i've pretty much accepted this is the case. furthermore, i was flat-out told this by one of the few b-school grads i talked to as i considered this career move. coming from a non-business b/g (journalism), i'm sure i'll learn more business basics than my peers, many of whom are coming from the business world. but i don't give much credit in the "so what" category here because, well, it's conventional wisdom.

2. that the people who will soon fill the upper ranks of American business lack courage, imagination, and reasonable sense of right and wrong. come on. is there an impending crisis as mbas reach the upper level of corporate america? even if there were, it would be a problem with mbas taught 20 years ago, not those matriculating at wharton right now. this is another easy generalization that someone could lob at the mba community without doing any real research, let alone an ostensible year's worth.

3. they weren't fierce enough to make themselves known to the reporter during the entire year she spent at their school. wharton graduates 800 or 900 people a year. you're telling me there's not one decent soul among them? please. i met a lot of very sincere, very impressive people the two times i visited wharton. a lot of people reflected the negative traits the reporter described, too. i wouldn't argue that. but this goes to my fundamental contention that the story lacks balance.

4. if the story doesn't have an answer it may be because the school doesn't either, aside from sending their students ... etc. or the reporter didn't bother to shore up both sides of the story. (detect a theme here?)

5. it's only the most prestigous business school in the entire country. If you wanted to figure out what MBAs are about, where else would you start? here i'll admit that the story is written for a philadelphia magazine and thus has limited interest in describing a broader theme. but there were statements made about a broader theme, and clearly the idea is to use wharton as a proxy for what is wrong with business schools in general. and that's once again where i'd attack the article.

give you an example: wharton students were described as casual in class. in fact, i observed some of those traits when i visited the school. so i can't criticize there. but i observed the opposite when i visited, for example, chicago (where i'm headed). and darden. and michigan. at those schools i saw a sincere, scholarly atmosphere.

so are b-school students, across the board, ignorant of learning? are the ranks of corporate america doomed to be filled with executives who "lack courage, imagination, and reasonable sense of right and wrong?" maybe. maybe i'll be looking for a refund in two years. but this story certainly doesn't make it, to me at least, in any sort of convincing way.

There are things you can't do at the Journal, and writing "reported essays" ...

and this is a good point, too. at day's end, this isn't so much a hard-news story as an investigative commentary. so maybe there's no expectation of balance. it was a good read and maybe that's enough.