In the Pre-modern Age, we assumed that all was governed by some force from afar – fate, the gods, whatever – and our responsibility was to discover the will of the force and to comply (to live happily) or to fight it (in cosmic struggle).

The Modern Age brought science and humanism, resulting in commerce and invention.

The Post-modern Age is upon us – turbulent, fast, living in a simultaneous multitude of cultures, expectations, desires, and draws. Individuation (and innovation as a repsonse) is pre-eminent.

Arguably (according to philosophers, anyway) we are in the dawn of the Age of Irony, in which we learn to hold all of these conflicting, opposing values and trends in consciousness all at once.

Given these assumed ages, then, B-school is a Modern phenomenon (and functioned very well there). MBA’s are provided a set of tools to measure, calculate, and arrive at a risk assessment to help predict outcomes. That works fine in a relatively stable environment; trouble is – we’ve picked up the pace since the 1970′s. Change happens much more quickly and in unpredictable directions. The tools of the MBA, then, are declining in utility (and that’s being kind).

Sounds like the scenario is that B-schools need to change or die; and the latter appears to be the option of choice.

If your son wants to get a degree in business (to follow in his Dad’s footsteps?), I suggest looking at a place like Berkeley, where they are designing programs to train Business Transofrmation Architects – a new role crossing the Consultant with the technology Architect to find new ways to help businesses incorporate technology to generate business change. Check out the curricula – are they teaching the same old B-school stuff, or skills to accommodate the post-modern (and perhaps even the ironic) world?

Whatever you or he decides now, do not fret too much. It is speculated that today’s graduates will change careers (not just jobs, but careers) at least 5 times over their professional lives.