INDUSTRY VERSUS ACADEMIA ...

Industry complains to universities that students don’t get enough “training” in valuable skills that will allow them to be immediate technical contributors. Universities fight back by responding that skills are not “scholarly” and that students are learning to be innovative critical thinkers.

“Oh really,” says industry. “How is that possible when the people teaching them have never been outside the safety of the walls of academia and have no idea what it’s like out there in the real world?”

One professor responded, “Why do you keep saying we don’t live in the real world?” The industry response: “Because in the real world, you can be fired from your job, and you actually worry about economic downturns.”

You can replace “academia” by “government” with no loss of accuracy or clarity.