Higher education in decline

[Ishmael]

Walter E. Williams Higher education in decline

December 8, 2004

College costs have risen dramatically over the last several decades. In many cases, it's difficult to find a college where per-student costs are under $20,000 each year. Most often, tuition doesn't measure the true cost because taxpayer and donor subsidies pay part of the expenses. While costs are rising, education quality is in precipitous decline, particularly at the undergraduate level. Part of the reason is the political climate on college campuses, where professors use their classrooms for proselytizing and indoctrination and teach classes that have little or no academic content. Let's look at some of it.

In a study to be published in Academic Questions, sociologist Charlotta Stern and economist Daniel Klein found in a random national sample of 1,678 university professors that Democratic professors outnumber Republican professors 3 to 1 in economics, 28 to 1 in sociology, and 30 to 1 in anthropology. As George Will said in his Washington Post column, "Academia, Stuck to the Left" (Nov. 28, 2004): "Many campuses are intellectual versions of one-party nations."

That strong campus leftist bias goes a long way to explain mindless university courses like: "Canine Cultural Studies" (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), "I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy" (Harvard), "History of Electronic Dance Music" (UCLA), "Rock and Roll" (University of Massachusetts) and "Hip-Hop: Beats, Rhyme and Culture" (George Mason University). There are many other examples documented by Accuracy in Academia.

A Zogby survey was commissioned by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) to compare the general cultural knowledge of today's college seniors to that of yesteryear's high school graduates. The questions for the survey were drawn from those asked by the Gallup organization in 1955 covering literature, music, science, geography and history. The results were reported in a NAS publication titled "Today's College Students and Yesteryear's High School Grads." It concludes that "Contemporary college seniors scored on average little or no higher than the high-school graduates of a half-century ago on a battery of 15 questions assessing general cultural knowledge."

A 1990 Gallup survey for the National Endowment of the Humanities, given to a representative sample of 700 college seniors, found that 25 percent did not know that Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere before the year 1500, 42 percent could not place the Civil War in the correct half-century, and 31 percent thought Reconstruction came after World War II.

In 1993, a Department of Education survey found that, among college graduates, 50 percent of whites and more than 80 percent of blacks couldn't state in writing the argument made in a newspaper column or use a bus schedule to get on the right bus, 56 percent could not calculate the right tip, 57 percent could not figure out how much change they should get back after putting down $3 to pay for a 60-cent bowl of soup and a $1.95 sandwich, and over 90 percent could not use a calculator to find the cost of carpeting a room. But not to worry. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni's 1999 survey of seniors at the nation's top 55 liberal arts colleges and universities found that 98 percent could identify rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg and Beavis and Butt-Head, but only 34 percent knew George Washington was the general at the battle of Yorktown.

Americans as donors and taxpayers have been exceedingly generous to our universities. Given our universities' gross betrayal of trust, Americans should rethink their generosity as well as rethink who serves on boards of trustees that, in dereliction of duty, permit universities to become hotbeds of political activism and academic fraud. There are a few universities where there's still integrity and academic honesty, and they don't cost an arm and a leg. Among them are: Grove City College, Pa., Hillsdale College, Mich., Franciscan University, Steubenville, Iowa, and others listed at the Web page of Young America's Foundation.

First the public schools, then the Universities. The "dumbing down" of the US is accelerating.

Ishmael

 

[marshalt]

If I had the money, I'd start my own university. I'd get rid of all the shit like sports, clubs, allumi centers, frats, and all that other bullshit that drive tuition through the roof.

There would be classes, and only classes the were specific to your major.

The current post-secondary system in this country is a hundred years out of date. Kids aren't coming from one-room school houses anymore. They know about history, they know about literature, they know about the world outside of their home town. All those waste of time enrichment classes need to go.

 

[Ishmael]

If I had the money, I'd start my own university. I'd get rid of all the shit like sports, clubs, allumi centers, frats, and all that other bullshit that drive tuition through the roof.

There would be classes, and only classes the were specific to your major.

The current post-secondary system in this country is a hundred years out of date. Kids aren't coming from one-room school houses anymore. They know about history, they know about literature, they know about the world outside of their home town. All those waste of time enrichment classes need to go.

Did you get your tenses mixed up there?

I agree about the "feel good" bull shit courses. However those kids coming out of the one room schools knew more about the world around them, and their language/math basics than todays high school grads. (Except those that still come from the equivalent of the one room school who consistently score higher on the SAT's than the large district graduates.) Todays high schools are turning out little more than a servant class of student.

Ishmael

 

[*******]

Drudge has a link to an article about a study that somewhat props up my basic assumption: The introduction of and reliance on computers in the classroom is making us dumber as kids stop thinking and start searching for answers.

It started with replacing the slide rule with the calculator...

 

[*******]

Hear! Hear!

Get the pro sports out of the colleges...

 

[Hamletmaschine]

Is Mr. Williams as stupid as his article makes him seem, or does he know he's lying but toeing the neocon propaganda line anyway?

There is no third choice.

 

[Ishmael]

Drudge has a link to an article about a study that somewhat props up my basic assumption: The introduction of and reliance on computers in the classroom is making us dumber as kids stop thinking and start searching for answers.

It started with replacing the slide rule with the calculator...

Perhaps, I think it started with parents who could give a shit less about the education of their children and allow their children to take any course they want in both High School and college. Not while I'm writing the check.

Ishmael

 

[*******]

Is Mr. Williams as stupid as his article makes him seem, or does he know he's lying but toeing the neocon propaganda line anyway?

There is no third choice.

Spoken from his 30-year old professor's handbook on how to describe non-liberals, especially those off the plantation...

Props Prof!

 

[*******]

I would put the blame on the Liberal Welfare state and kickiing the man out of the household in order to get bennies and live on the dole...

The soft slavery of Liberalism.

 

[*******]

In the article I pointed out, the computer actualy seemed to help affluent families...

 

[linuxgeek]

The priorities of the universities is just special too. Our local university found it perfectly fine to hire a football coach who was fired from his previous coaching job for lying on his resume. Paid him and his staff hundreds of thousands of dollars. He did such a good job that that football team didn't win a single game this year.

Then there the decisions of how to use the university property. Even though there is strong, constant community protest and central Florida probably has the highest density of golf courses in the US, the university recently approved a Master Plan which has plans to level a large precentage of the protected wetlands on university property to put in a golf course.

This at a university which at least this calander year has had problems offering enough classes so students can actually have a chance to complete their BS in 4 years, and gave the adminstration an average of a 9% raise with some administrators receiving as much as 43% while the faculty and support staff were given only a flat 2% raise.

I have to wonder if this university is an isolated case. I suspect not.

 

[*******]

It goes further and deeper than that. Years ago I posted a conversation I had with a local elected official. The affluent highschool was faced with cutting costs and were asked to list their priorities for cuts.

#1 priority - hiring more football coaches.
Lowest prioroties - Anything to do with teaching...

So the HS recommended massive teacher cuts so they could hire a new assistant and buy new equipment for the team.

 

[Hamletmaschine]

I have to wonder if this university is an isolated case. I suspect not.

No, that's fairly standard. Now that universities have adopted the corporate business model, they've picked up on the corporate practice of paying administrators and ancillary personnel obscene amounts of money while pissing on the people who do the work.

 

[Ljbonobo]

If I had the money, I'd start my own university. I'd get rid of all the shit like sports, clubs, allumi centers, frats, and all that other bullshit that drive tuition through the roof.

There would be classes, and only classes the were specific to your major.

The current post-secondary system in this country is a hundred years out of date. Kids aren't coming from one-room school houses anymore. They know about history, they know about literature, they know about the world outside of their home town. All those waste of time enrichment classes need to go.

Wow

So you'd rather someone only know that which they will need for their major, and not have a clue about the world around them?

I'll come back to this when I have the time, and am not so pissed off that I make unnecessary comments.

 

[linuxgeek]

It amazes me the high priority which is put on football. At the university level, the only reason I've heard which makes any sense is if the football team gets any TV showing other than a cable access sympathy showing, it means money to the schools who are playing. However, I just don't see that being a high enough return to justify the millions of dollars spent on the program. At a high school level, I understand it even less.

 

[*******]

Wow

So you'd rather someone only know that which they will need for their major, and not have a clue about the world around them?

I'll come back to this when I have the time, and am not so pissed off that I make unnecessary comments.

Linux, my forefathers would consider it a sin.

All apologies "Lj," but I returned to college later in my life (after having established myself) and what is being taught in the name of Liberal Arts in no way reflects accurately the real world or the forces within it. It is pure socialist drivel.

You get more real information on the learning channel or by watching Faulty Towers...

 

[Ishmael]

Wow

So you'd rather someone only know that which they will need for their major, and not have a clue about the world around them?

I'll come back to this when I have the time, and am not so pissed off that I make unnecessary comments.

You mistake "do nothing" college courses for learning. For the most part they're mutually exclusive.

Ishmael

 

[Guest]

If I had the money, I'd start my own university. I'd get rid of all the shit like sports, clubs, allumi centers, frats, and all that other bullshit that drive tuition through the roof.

There would be classes, and only classes the were specific to your major.

The current post-secondary system in this country is a hundred years out of date. Kids aren't coming from one-room school houses anymore. They know about history, they know about literature, they know about the world outside of their home town. All those waste of time enrichment classes need to go.

We have those already...they're called community colleges. I agree, get rid of all of those bullshit "liberal studies" classes. I'm going to school to become an expert in a specific field. I don't need to know the history of music in society to be a well-rounded nurse. Those programs get implemented for one reason only-- to create more capital for the school. Oh, and maybe to keep kids with bachelor's degrees from entering the workforce longer.

 

[sigh]

From Ish's article:

That strong campus leftist bias goes a long way to explain mindless university courses like: "Canine Cultural Studies" (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), "I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy" (Harvard), "History of Electronic Dance Music" (UCLA), "Rock and Roll" (University of Massachusetts) and "Hip-Hop: Beats, Rhyme and Culture" (George Mason University). There are many other examples documented by Accuracy in Academia.

How exactly does a strong leftist bias go a long way toward explaining anything? Assuming the stats are true on the political leanings of professors, where is the cause and effect relationship between political leanings, and academic standards and performance?

All you have is assumptions, correlation and a continuing PR program by conservatives that keep this notion alive, and that, dear Sirs, is bullshit. Show me a mechanism. Show me proof that this grand conspiracy of the left you keep harping about is true.

And you know, those course names are catchy (marketing is important everywhere, you know) but the "I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy" (for instance) sounds like a cultural study of the 50s to me, and that's certainly valid coursework. The 50s were a pivotal time in our history. It's when America exploded into an economic giant and world superpower, when the "greatest generation" took their dream to the heights. But it was also a time of McCarthyism and the first of America's undeclared wars. It was a fascination piece of American history. You have to look beyond a course name to see its worth. I don't know what's in that course any more than you, but at least I don't automatically assume the worst, just to make a point.

 

[Hamletmaschine]

John Dewey put the matter quite simply and eloquently when he noted that there are basically two attitudes to education: there are those who want society to be a function of education, and there are those who want education to be a function of society. Many of those who work in education are in the former camp, many of those who do not are in the latter. This creates an oppositional relationship in society, one that is (or can be) healthy--just as any sane leader appoints a devil's advocate as one of his/her closest advisors. (Are you listening, Dubya?)

In recent years, this relationship has become increasingly antagonistic thanks to the likes of Mr. Williams, who resorts to name-calling, card-stacking, glittering generalities, and all the usual propaganda techniques in an attempt to inflame those outside of education to use their political muscle to stifle oppositional thinking. If there has been a dumbing-down of higher education, perhaps Mr. Williams and his ilk should look in the mirror to find one of the major causes, since that is precisely what they have been working for since the 1970s.

 

[linuxgeek]

We have those already...they're called community colleges. I agree, get rid of all of those bullshit "liberal studies" classes. I'm going to school to become an expert in a specific field. I don't need to know the history of music in society to be a well-rounded nurse. Those programs get implemented for one reason only-- to create more capital for the school. Oh, and maybe to keep kids with bachelor's degrees from entering the workforce longer.

Having a diverse background, i have to disagree. The general education & "fluff" courses do provide things to the students. If nothing else, it helps train them how to think and gives them a chance to learn how to think outside of the limited parameters they will be taught in their major courses.

Considering learning actual thinking is not even a side note in K-12, it has to be taught somewhere. Without it, if the major course work ever become obsolete or outsourced, the person will have to start back at square one to learn something new.

 

[Ishmael]

From Ish's article:

That strong campus leftist bias goes a long way to explain mindless university courses like: "Canine Cultural Studies" (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), "I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy" (Harvard), "History of Electronic Dance Music" (UCLA), "Rock and Roll" (University of Massachusetts) and "Hip-Hop: Beats, Rhyme and Culture" (George Mason University). There are many other examples documented by Accuracy in Academia.

How exactly does a strong leftist bias go a long way toward explaining anything? Assuming the stats are true on the political leanings of professors, where is the cause and effect relationship between political leanings, and academic standards and performance?

All you have is assumptions, correlation and a continuing PR program by conservatives that keep this notion alive, and that, dear Sirs, is bullshit. Show me a mechanism. Show me proof that this grand conspiracy of the left you keep harping about is true.

And you know, those course names are catchy (marketing is important everywhere, you know) but the "I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy" (for instance) sounds like a cultural study of the 50s to me, and that's certainly valid coursework. The 50s were a pivotal time in our history. It's when America exploded into an economic giant and world superpower, when the "greatest generation" took their dream to the heights. But it was also a time of McCarthyism and the first of America's undeclared wars. It was a fascination piece of American history. You have to look beyond a course name to see its worth. I don't know what's in that course any more than you, but at least I don't automatically assume the worst, just to make a point.

LOL.

You were the only one that caught that sigh. I was waiting for a cause/effect realtionship myself. Perhaps by inference?

Unfortunately there is considerable interjection of political ideas into the ciriculum of even those courses that are not political in nature by the prof's of the leftmost persuasion. (While it's been a while since I've attended, my sons experiences are a little more recent. Fortunately they were mature enough to shake messges off for the drivel they were.) And this at a Univ. that Linux is very familiar with.

Ishmael

 

[Ishmael]

Having a diverse background, i have to disagree. The general education & "fluff" courses do provide things to the students. If nothing else, it helps train them how to think and gives them a chance to learn how to think outside of the limited parameters they will be taught in their major courses.

Considering learning actual thinking is not even a side note in K-12, it has to be taught somewhere. Without it, if the major course work ever become obsolete or outsourced, the person will have to start back at square one to learn something new.

Sooooooo, we can look forward to a "The Judeo/Christian Ethic's" course soon, right?

Horse shit Linux, they're thinly veiled indoctrination courses where some prof can soapbox. And some jackass is going to get a 43% raise for teaching it.

Sorry dude, it's all part and parcel with your observations in a previous post.

Perhaps one day it will dawn on people that it is incumbent on the minority to learn and integrate itself into the majority. It is the moral requirement of the majority to allow the minority the opportunity to do so.

Ishmael

 

[Hamletmaschine]

We have those already...they're called community colleges. I agree, get rid of all of those bullshit "liberal studies" classes. I'm going to school to become an expert in a specific field. I don't need to know the history of music in society to be a well-rounded nurse. Those programs get implemented for one reason only-- to create more capital for the school. Oh, and maybe to keep kids with bachelor's degrees from entering the workforce longer.

Please tell me you're joking.

What business wrought

 

[SleepingWarrior]

Odd... in this area there are precious few colleges that even approach that 20k a year price tag.