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I just finished Theo Baker's combination documentary/memoir of how he, as a 17-year-old freshman, forced Stanford's president to resign. The book, "How To Rule the World," is well worth reading, and is amazing in two respects.
First, it shows how Stanford has changed since my day -- when the School of Humanities and Sciences dominated. About the time I graduated, computer science was just beginning to attract many of the brightest science and math majors. Stanford graduates ultimately spawned Silicon Valley, adjacent to the campus -- often on land rented from the campus. Baker shows the present symbiotic relationship between the Valley and the University, where incredibly wealthy agents roam the campus virtually at will, discerning the best and the brightest -- whose brilliance is stunning -- and inducing them to quit school and accept venture capitalist money for new start-up enterprises. The amount of money at stake is unbelievable. So is the level of stress among students aspiring to become billionaires. Also incredible (and sad) has been the effect on the campus. The history department -- my own major, and a popular major in my day -- is now miniscule in its enrollment.
Even more interesting is the author himself. As the 17-year-old son of two prominent journalists for the Washington Post, he was determined to avoid journalism and choose computer science as his major. By his account, at least, he was a brilliant coder, but not at the very highest level in his class. He made the mistake during his first weeks as a freshman of dropping by the Stanford Daily offices, and volunteering to write a few innocuous articles on campus activities. Then he ran into rumors of irregularities in the work of the university president, before he became president -- work that had won renown because, based on doctored research, it had suggested a new cure for cancer -- and had prompted his hiring as the university's president.
Baker was fascinated. Baker was hooked.
When I was 17, I was editor of my high school paper, working on stories about the school play and behavior at football games. At 17, Baker was interviewing renowned biological and medical experts across the country, and digging into how scientific journals checked the validity of underlying research before publishing articles. His articles were spread across the front page of the Stanford Daily, week after week, and quoted nationally. From the very first article, he was contacted by scientists across the nation. He developed specific scientific expertise that rivaled or exceeded many of the persons he interviewed.
I'm jealous! An amazing kid! The book ends with his graduation from Stanford, and his follow-up interviews with the new president, who remains president today. The new president
"reflected on the ways Stanford's modern culture puts so much pressure on today's students, pushing them to think about career from the minute they arrive on campus. "I don't think it's particularly healthy, and I think having more space at the university for just calm and fun, for that matter, is a good aspiration""
Lots to think about.
Photo: From the book, the author in his younger years.
