There comes a point when costs outweigh benefits. The point of diminishing returns comes in a college career. Granted, that point comes sooner for schmucky journalism majors with George W. Bush GPAs, who care a helluva' lot more about rock n' roll bands, school papers, and college radio than they do about any class they've taken ever. But it should come for everybody. As cheesy as it sounds, there is a bigger world outside the collegiate bubble.
College is a microcosm of the world, but that's all it is, a microcosm.
The University of Montana is a pretty skewed microcosm at that. If UM was populated to scale, we'd have 100 Rob Natlesons, a business school the size of the Sears Tower and enough College Republicans to chase down every naked protester like a swarm of hornets. Maybe this goes against the Harvard professor's theory that there are seven different methods of learning, but there's only so much knowledge one can learn in a classroom. Plus, until students spend enough time away from college that they can come back and join in the Phoenix club, they really run dry of interesting conversation. Talking about college, and things one does in college, just gets boring after a while.