How to Produce Students Who Can Change the World

Those familiar with Mr. Sternberg won’t be surprised by his provocativeness. Over an extensive career, he has challenged orthodoxies on admissions, standardized testing, and academic culture.Some colleges are dynamic. Others, says Robert J. Sternberg, rust or calcify, becoming places where people feel hopeless or, oddly, wedded to tradition, even if it’s one of mediocrity. Getting them to change, he says, is like trying to move a graveyard.