ACTA's Must-Reads
« Excerpts from the Intelligent Donor's Guide | Main | Don't Forget US Heritage or its Architects »
Trustees--It's Time to Raise Expectations
Articles in the New York Times and Inside Higher Ed offer yet more damning evidence that our colleges and universities have lost their way. According to recent research, nearly half of the students in college today receive A grades. And are they smarter? No way.
The explanation offered: "diminished academic expectations." Yes, that's right. Our research shows that colleges and universities have dramatically lowered expectations for students, except when it comes to bigger tuition checks. Rather than insisting on curricular requirements and rigorous education, many have made college a virtual six-year party. Findings at www.whatwilltheylearn.com show that many students can graduate today without ever taking a course in college level math, economics, or American history. Instead they’re given hundreds and hundreds of choices in what amounts to a do-it yourself education--with some paying $50,000 a year for such empty-headed meandering!
There's not a single school in Pennsylvania, for example, that requires its college graduates to take a well-structured survey of American history or economics. In New York, the finance capital of the world, a mere three schools out of 59 surveyed, expect their graduates to study economics. It should surely come as no surprise that a recent nation-wide study by NYU Professor Richard Arum and UVA Professor Josipa Roksa found that 45% of college students didn't get smarter --at all--in their first two years of college.
And who's to blame? Quite frankly, unengaged and uninformed trustees. Trustees are, after all, legally responsible for the academic and financial well-being of their institutions and they simply can't look the other way. That's why we've prepared a special booklet for trustees on grade inflation. And it's why we have recently coordinated a letter to trustees from professor Arum outlining the troubling findings of his research and demanding action.
The world of corporate governance has been transformed--as regulators and stockholders demanded real and engaged stewardship. It's time the public--families, taxpayers, and governors--demanded the same in higher ed!
Posted by Anne D. Neal on July 15, 2011 at July 15, 2011 09:46 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.goactablog.org/blog/mt-tb.cgi/972