Great post Sean, you thoroughly outlined exactly what I've been trying to convey to my UM friends all along, the problem is, most of them are brainwashed and/or delusional like Brain Cook.
Stepping outside the twisted logic for a second, it's amazing to me that Michigan Alumni's(Jim Harbaugh) in house critique becomes a reach around dig on Notre Dame. Obviously Brian Cook is a just another hater.
This view by Michigan people is driven by the perception that a graduate school/research focused faculty, like that at Michigan, will inherently give undergraduates a better education than Notre Dame's undergraduate focused faculty because their faculty is just so darn smart and are great researchers.
My perspective, from attending a research-focused program at a Big Ten university for undergrad and Notre Dame for grad school, is that the quality of undergraduate education is a function of the importance the university places on it. I felt that Notre Dame was not only a good grad school experience, but the quality of undergrad education was also very good.
In short, assuming that the 95%+ graduation rate is a product of easy grading and low expectations is false. It is an outcome of
1. High tuition costs
2. Strong focus on undergraduate education (all professors have to teach. Period)
3. Strong support system for all undergraduate students, with particular emphasis on those in sports.
I always find these excuses about poor graduation rates amusing. Having done undergrad at ND and grad school at Michigan, and having taught at Michigan, I can tell you (insert sarcasm) how hard it is for students to do well at UM.
When I heard Brian say that, I thought, "that is so absurd that it's funny. Point to Brian." Then I caught up on the mgoblog comments and realized that some people ACTUALLY AGREE! I kept waiting for someone to reveal that they were just kidding, but that moment never came.
Sean, you're pretty caustic, but you're also right. Right or wrong, I lost a lot of respect for UM yesterday. "Low graduation rates means high academic integrity" sounds straight out of "1984," and I'm still in disbelief that college-educated people can believe that.
Thanks for highlighting that, Sean. I was shellshocked when he said that. This is who we're dealing with.
Hey Jay, I thought you did a great job on that program. Thanks for representing us with class.
Ivy League caliber education? Oooookay.
Look it up Benny my boy.
I think we need to track down Clare from ladiesdotdotdot.blogspot.com as well, and introduce her to a little year called 2005, when we doubled up her alma mater (Pitt) in the Wanny and Charlie's first year. She conveniently left that game out when discussing ND-Pitt. What a ho.
If Notre Dame is such a pushover academically compared to Michigan, why is it that most rankings of colleges and universities put Notre Dame in front of Michigan? Anti-Big Ten conspiracy?
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