All good executives know that markets aren’t found in nature—people aren’t born wanting a Mercedes or the stuff they buy at Walmart. Desire and demand must be created and nurtured in the media, through government lobbying, and with big advertising budgets. And of course the best advertising is always that which doesn’t seem like advertising at all.

Such is the case with Andrew S. Rosen’s book, Change.edu: Rebooting for the new talent economy and the echo chamber of reviews and discussion surrounding it, including a Washington Post puff piece by Bill Gates, Jr. The book is a well-written but pretty orthodox manifestation of the well-funded web of foundations, think tanks, and task forces whose job it is to demonize public colleges and universities and expand the for-profit higher education market.