WSJ April 21, 2017
This weekend amidst studying for the Level III CFA Exam, I had a rare moment to peruse the Review section of the Wall Street Journal. I came upon this article regarding MBA programs - although it used the example of Harvard, and HBS (Harvard Business School) has undoubtedly had a great impact on Wall Street and the world, the implications the article conveyed are applicable to any business school program.
I was drawn to this article because I will begin my MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of business this September, and was curious to learn what this book, "The Golden Passport," could teach me.
Essentially, the author argues that business schools try and fail to teach good values to their students. They pretend to teach ethics and to imbibe goodwill into their students, to do what they are passionate about, such as working for a non-profit or using their newfound knowledge for help others, but in the end, people go to business school for one reason - to earn more money afterward. Therefore, they are not interested in working in fields that are low-paying.
"As the economic system veers toward destabilizing levels of inequality, [Mr. McDonald, the author] observes, the high priests of Harvard serve up reckless platitudes about the impeccable justice of the marketplace. Their sacred spreadsheets have all the answers and yet nothing to say when powerful business interests, for instance, promote deregulation schemes that privatize profits and socialize losses."