The chief role of the universities is to prolong adolescence into middle age, at which point early retirement ensures that we lack the means or the will to enforce significant change.

In this sardonic formulation, Ballard treats the modern university less as a place of intellectual formation than as a social mechanism that delays adulthood. “Prolong adolescence” suggests a culture of managed dependency—credentialing, sheltered debate, and extended student life—while “into middle age” implies the pattern continues through professionalized academic careers. The final clause links this prolonged immaturity to political quietism: by the time people might have authority or clarity to act, they are either economically cushioned into “early retirement” or psychologically exhausted, leaving them without “means” (resources, leverage) or “will” (motivation) to force “significant change.” The quote fits Ballard’s broader critique of affluent late-modern societies that neutralize dissent through comfort and institutional routines.