What is a “strategic institution”?

An institution that channels a significant share of a society’s resources and that wields disproportionate influence over other institutions. If one wants to influence American society, banking is a more strategic institution than, say, professional sports. This is not to say professional sports is unimportant; it is only to say that banking ends up influencing more institutions more profoundly than professional sports does. The King’s College’s mission statement speaks of our hope that our graduates will help to shape and eventually to lead strategic institutions. That is why our curriculum focuses on a relatively small number of subjects that we examine intensively; and that is why we are so focused on the arts of writing and speaking, as the primary tools of shaping institutions.

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