The Deflated College Degree
From Wall Street Journal 1/11/99, p. A23

Your Dec. 14 editorial "Core Curriculum" implied that college educational systems would be improved by tougher standards from outside agencies but would keep the lazy faculty in line. Faculty members who face the daily problems of the classroom really do understand the problems with higher education, and they come from sources that you failed to mention.

The major problem with higher education is unrealistic expectations on the part of the students. The concept of a four-year degree has been around for decades, but there is a lot more to learn now than when Woodrow Wilson was president. Many students also work part- or full-time to offset the cost of college, but this further reduces the time they have to study. This is a vicious spiral that forces students to get by rather than get educated. Add to this that secondary schools seem to be more concerned with socialization skills than mathematics and reading, and you can see why a lot of the limited time students have at the college level does not result in college-level education.

The problem is made worse by the college by the college administrators. They must market their institutions in an increasingly difficult market,  so they perpetuate the fantasy of walking out the door in four years with marketable job skills. Not one of them has the courage to tell the clients, the students, that the result of the college experience is directly proportional to the effort made by the student.

Faculty members from all disciplines welcome the opportunity to teach rigorous courses. If we go to all the trouble to get a Ph.D., it is because we really like what we do. Do not kid yourselves for one moment- anyone who has a terminal degree would make more money in private industry than in education. We are here because we love to teach. But when we teach tough courses to students who are unprepared and do not have the time to study, the resulting poor grades upset the students, who then complain to the administrators who then pressure faculty to find the least common denominator of educational experience.

The reason that college degrees seem to be worth less than they were in the past is because they really are not as good. But this problem is more than a faculty problem that can be solved by the oversight of well-intentioned people. It is a problem of unrealistic expectations and institutional failure to seek excellence rather than mere survival.

 


IDEA : Bias Higher Than Previously Said

Society for a Return To Academic Standards 

 


Last Updated: 9 July 1999