Praview's motto is, praview produces productive people. We're looking to make sure that every single person who comes into this university is successful. So one model is about eliminating people, so that there is a special class of achievers at the highest end. The other model is about making sure everybody gets through.
We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige points. In the first episode of a special series, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)