Response to “Duke in 2012” column

As someone who cares deeply about Duke and the Duke community, it was difficult for me to read Tegan Joseph Mosugu’s Feb. 3 column “Duke in 2012” without shaking my head. In the column, Mosugu makes the claim that “Duke needs to hold fast and maintain its rank.” This, he says, is the attitude that will ensure Duke has a successful 2012. Not only do I disagree with Mr. Mosugu’s viewpoint, but I would go so far as to say that, should Duke adopt this attitude, it will be the reason that the University will not be successful.

Ostensibly, an ideal university exists to provide each student with an individual education. Insofar as it cannot provide each student with an individual education, it fails. On the other hand, if a university can provide each student with an individual education, it succeeds. For Duke, and for every other institution of higher learning, this should be the definition of success.

By buying into the concept of rank, however, one accepts that there are certain objective criteria on which an education can be ranked. Given the definition of success for an ideal institution, this is a flawed outlook. Education is not an objective experience, but a subjective one. Duke does not exist to be prestigious, but to provide the resources that facilitate learning of all kinds.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I plan on learning whether my school is in US New and World Report or not. And I’m not just talking about the kind of learning that can be ranked, but other learning, life learning, the kind of learning that comes from social interaction, internal reflection and new experience. If we want Duke to be successful in 2012, this is the kind of learning that we need to promote. Let us be a community of students who bond over experience, not circumstance.

Rankings, those angry quantifiers, speak not toward education, but toward ego. If you need something as jejune and inaccurate as a sticker, certificate or number to tell you that you’re getting an education, I suggest you part ways with this institution and go collect a few gold stars from your local preschool.

Kenneth Gould, Trinity ’13