Jingoism Ate My Baby

Another Zach stopped by to ask me a few questions about my previous post. That such questions were asked indicates that I'm either talking about an entirely alien concept or I'm not communicating well or (most likely) both.

• He asked, "[The reasons for not publishing anything negative about a school are,] As you mentioned, the emotional investment in the school, and the hope for improved ratings. Why cheer against the home team?" Flip the question. When did it become the responsibility of every student at a school to do PR for that school? School spirit is understandable, but when it blinds you to real problems it becomes a problem. As the Patriot Act and other freedom-limiting legislation so amply demonstrates, there's such a thing as too much spirit. It doesn't matter if you love your country, your religion, your business school or your own mother, nothing is beyond reproach and a critical eye never hurt anyone.
• Zachary also noted that "many students rely upon alumni for job leads, and many alumni would frown upon someone dissing the school." I think there's a difference between unsubstantiated complaints or rants and well-written accounts of one person's experience with a school. I think also that if I were to expose some atrocity (e.g., that Huntsman Hall were warmed in winter by a large pig farm deep within its cellars and that these pigs were maltreated) that alumni would join me in calling for reform. Why should Business Week be the only publication that can effect change on business schools? It took a dismal review of Wharton's career services to spur the institution into hiring Peter Degnan to reform it. What if one of the students prior to Degnan's arrival had been a vociferous critic? Might this reform have happened sooner? Might more students have benefitted from it?
• He asked me to explain "the productive benefit of rabble rousing" as well. I think that I've miscommunicated. I'm not interested in stirring the shit just to see how it smells. I'm not malicious. I'm going to try to be fair. But I completely disagree with Zachary that "99% of the MBA experience" is going to be pleasant, no matter where you go. No school has it 99% right, and any school that thinks it's got things nearly perfect is in danger of one of the worst crimes that an individual or institution can commit: complacency.
• I was asked, "If no other bloggers are writing bad things about their schools, would you want to be the first one to do so?" Yes! What's the point of being a yes-man? Of saying things that only others say? Of being bland? Of carefully navigating life afraid of offending anyone in the slightest? Of silencing your reservations and opinions just so you don't stick out? I'm the guy wearing a sparkly miniskirt, garter belt, lipstick, and nipple clamps on Halloween. I'm the guy that will contradict you in case discussion if I think what you just said makes no sense. I celebrate diversity of opinion and am driven mad by the lack of it in our blogosphere. Look at the fledgling lawyers! Now they know how to argue and have diverse opinions. There's no reason why business school students (of all people) have to look, talk, walk and sound the same from sea to shining sea.
• Finally, writing with balance is just a helluva lot more interesting. There's a reason why PR Newswire puts limbs to sleep while the Economist, WSJ and New York Times have won the respect of readers all over the world for their attempt to report in a fair and balanced way. I suppose I consider myself a reporter, with a duty to my reader (and to myself) to accurately portray reality as I perceive it. Snapshots from Hell wouldn't be widely read had it been titled Snapshots from Just Another Business School Where Everything Is Peachy Keen and Where Conflict Is Never Discussed.