Vembu was so opposed to the values of averagarianism that he decided not to operate the university according to the traditional standardize-and-rank mission of most schools. Almost all the instruction is self-paced and project based. There are no grades; instead, students get feedback on their projects. “We realize that students learn at their own pace, and you have to respect that,” Vembu emphasized to me. “If what you care about is how well students will do in your company over the next decade, you soon realize that fast and slow are useless distinctions to make. There just isn’t a
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