Dear Ann Landers: "Midwest Parents" recently posed two questions that prompted me to write. They asked, "What is happening to our universities and colleges? Are they so afraid of losing students that they are lowering their standards?"
The answer is a resounding YES. Our system of higher education is a mess, and the blame must be shared by administrators, teachers and students.
I have been a college professor for 30 years and have witnessed the relentless deterioration of "the system." Administrators used to be educators and scholars. Today, they are, with few exceptions, bureaucrats and business executives with their eyes on the bottom line.
Teachers no longer want to teach. Students paying megabucks for education are frequently taught by graduate students. This, of course, suits administrators fine since graduate students cost less than faculty.
Students believe that paying tuition entitles them to a degree. Many colleges and universities treat them like customers in a department store when they ought to be treated like clients in a health club -- no effort, no result. No one shapes up simply by taking one exercise class, and no one learns by merely enrolling.
Education has been turned into a business. The product is no longer an educated person but a "degreed" person. Too many college degrees are fraudulent documents, testifying to an education that never happened. The sooner the American people realize this, the sooner there may be some changes in a system that is riddled with corruption. Otherwise, we might as well issue a Ph.D, with each birth certificate.-- Depressed Old Prof in New Orleans.
Dear Old Prof: I've heard that criticism before but never so well expressed. Thanks for a provocative letter. Rebuttal, anyone? September 4, 1995.
Professors need the heart of a lioness, the thick hide of a rhinoceros, and the patience of a saint to deal with students and administrators.
Society for A Return to Academic Standards
See the Responses to Ann Landers
Last Updated: 14 November 1996
