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Lewis and Summers speak out
What will it take to turn higher education around--to return structure and rigor and integrity to a college education?
In two speeches scarcely a day apart, Harvard professors Harry Lewis and Larry Summers had some answers--and they are worth noting.
At a conference sponsored by ACTA and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, Lewis--a former dean of Harvard College--placed the blame for curricular incoherence at the feet of faculty unwilling to put student needs ahead of faculty self-interest. "[U]niversities have to realize that they have a social contract with American society and they are not holding up their end of the deal," he said. "We owe it to the country to teach students how democracy works--why we have the freedoms we happily enjoy." And in the absence of faculty willingness to take the lead, Lewis said it was imperative that alumni and trustees put pressure on the universities to do the right thing: "That's where your alumni and trustee voices have to come into play," he told the audience.
And in a speech at Tufts University, Summers--who needs no introduction--in turn pointed to the need to motivate change.
"If there is no incentive to change curriculums, if there is no reward for educational innovation...then change will come very, very slowly," he said. "When university faculties are unwilling to take a stand on what constitutes the undergraduate experience for students, on what, if anything, somebody needs to function in today's world, they license a position that all ideas are equally valid."
Lewis and Summers make it clear: Without strong incentives, higher education cannot be expected to "improve itself." Non-academics--alumni, trustees, parents, students, and the public--can and must help address these problems, in appropriate ways. That is why ACTA exists, and these high-level endorsements lend urgency to our efforts.
Posted by aneal at March 15, 2007 04:09 PM
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