I think you're definitely on the right track. In my experience, one of the major tensions is between teaching people what to think and how to think. The esotericism you critique, in my experience, leads to students who have been told what to think lacking the skill to critique it. Students then either reject what they were taught outright (but may pretend during the term to get the grade) or accept it entirely, without realizing the weaknesses of the perspective. Teaching students instead how to think, by encouraging trying on different perspectives, allows people to develop intellectual qualities to engage with reality in creative ways. Another major tension, perhaps driven by my own experiences of elite institutions is getting the ends or the why wrong. Students become focused on expected utility and productivity over relationships and growth because the incentive systems they experience emphasize utility and productivity and undermine relationships (e.g., by treating success as competitive) and growth (because they often focus only on current performance). I find the work of groups like the Program for Education Research that Scales (perts.net) the start of a helpful corrective there, but there is lots more that can be done as well.
I think you're definitely on the right track. In my experience, one of the major tensions is between teaching people what to think and how to think. The esotericism you critique, in my experience, leads to students who have been told what to think lacking the skill to critique it. Students then either reject what they were taught outright (but may pretend during the term to get the grade) or accept it entirely, without realizing the weaknesses of the perspective. Teaching students instead how to think, by encouraging trying on different perspectives, allows people to develop intellectual qualities to engage with reality in creative ways. Another major tension, perhaps driven by my own experiences of elite institutions is getting the ends or the why wrong. Students become focused on expected utility and productivity over relationships and growth because the incentive systems they experience emphasize utility and productivity and undermine relationships (e.g., by treating success as competitive) and growth (because they often focus only on current performance). I find the work of groups like the Program for Education Research that Scales (perts.net) the start of a helpful corrective there, but there is lots more that can be done as well.