"Not only a system of indoctrination, but also a system of marginalization and classification according to usefulness in the economic system. For example, At University of Illinois from 1940's through the 1980's there was a regular academic policy in the School of Engineering of flunking out 10 - 15% of each class every year. The result of this policy is that only 50% of the incoming freshmen received B.S. degrees from the Engineering College at the University of Illinois. This was a regular academic policy based on percentages. The result was a crop of educated and reliable young engineering candidates and an equal size group of students whose academic career, and most likely professional career were ruined forever. Was the success of the University college of Engineering school and its graduates worth the destruction of an equal number of lives? No one ever told any freshman student in my class that they had only a 50% rate of survival at University of Illinois. No one ever told any college applicant that they had only a 50% rate of survival.
This "academic strategy" can only be described as "a crime against humanity." To destroy the lives of hundreds of unknowing young men, just because you want a better reputation and a little more money is a crime against humanity. It is a deceit, and a deception and a cruel administrative strategy that I experienced first hand at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Some of my room mates from that era are deceased and no longer with us and it is in their memory that I dedicate this essay." - William Schaeffer
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