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The Sound of a Bubble Breaking
It has been a hard week for those who insist that America's system of higher education is securely fixed as the best in the world. We know it is the most expensive in the world, but the quality factor is growing ever more doubtful. Academically Adrift, the meticulous study that demonstrated how little college actually contributes to many students' intellectual development continues to gain a wider and wider hearing. On Saturday, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert made it the subject of a hard-hitting op-ed, "College the Easy Way." Easy courses, lot's of partying, and grade inflation: it's all there.
On Wednesday, the online journal Diverse News, published an interview with North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, in which she referenced Academically Adrift, with the conclusion: "Students in higher ed don't gain the kinds of skills that they need to continue in the work world. So I think higher education is going to have to prove its worth in the future."
Is it coincidence that the day of reckoning is at hand? On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Governor Corbett announced his plan for a 50% reduction in state funding for public universities, and Moody's reported that more public institutions will announce dire financial exigency, prompting such measures as the layoff of tenured faculty. Moody's added a curious note to its grim prediction: "financial exigency is likely to be a positive step in terms of credit standing because it empowers management to take aggressive cost-cutting steps." The crisis may be the catalyst that higher education needs for long overdue changes.
Academic quality can rise while costs drop if institutions properly embrace program prioritization and consolidation and a core curriculum instead of long menus of esoteric, boutique courses. Higher education can emerge stronger from this crisis.
Posted by Michael Poliakoff on March 10, 2011 at March 10, 2011 03:31 PM
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