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Veblen’s The Higher Learning in America offers a comprehensive diagnosis of higher education’s corruption by business norms. It details how universities adopt corporate hierarchies, turning scholars into employees and knowledge into a product. The emphasis on vocational training and profit-driven research not only distorts academic priorities but also erodes the autonomy of scholars, who are now judged by marketable outputs rather than intellectual contributions. Veblen’s call for a return to "disinterested knowledge"—pursued for its own sake—remains a radical challenge to the prevailing ethos of education as a mere instrument of economic growth.