Just because the Internet gives scholars and students access to a "digital library of Alexandria" of unsurpassed power does not mean that education and research are improving, said Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In fact, Mr. Gregorian said he is worried about what he called an emerging "Home Depot approach to education," in which there is no distinction made between information and learning.
Mr. Gregorian made his remarks as a keynote presentation at the Higher Education Leadership Forum, a two-day event sponsored by The Chronicle and Gartner, a technology-consulting firm. He noted that, as a result, though there are more and more well-educated specialists, there are fewer "cultured" academics, who work to place what they know in context.
"There’s no such thing as neutral knowledge," he said. "All knowledge has implications." Likewise, he added, "all technology has implications."
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