Yes, Higher Ed Does Fear Accountability
The title of this post is an answer to a question posed by George Leef of See Thru Edu who recently had an (ahem) interesting exchange with a testy professor.
DOES HIGHER ED FEAR ACCOUNTABILITY?
Recently, I found myself embroiled in a controversy with an extraordinarily abrasive professor who evidently found any criticism of the higher education establishment to be intolerable – in particular, this Forbes article of mine. To him, my argument that we’re in a bubble with rising costs but declining educational results was “ignorant,” as proven by the fact that enrollments remain strong. (Actually, they are starting to decline, and rather sharply in law schools, but that didn’t shake him.)
More importantly, he was adamant that all the talk about poor academic results was unpersuasive. I noted that some senior academics have expressed dismay at the difficulty of teaching the typical college student today, such as Professor Jackson Toby of Rutgers, whose book The Lowering of Higher Education in America I recommended. He sneered back that he wasn’t interested in anecdotal and journalistic stuff.
I also mentioned the sharp decline in the literacy among college graduates according to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy but he retorted that it didn’t prove anything, because college graduates had better literacy than high school grads, so college is obviously accomplishing much good.
Seeing no point in continuing the exchange, I broke it off. Reflecting on it later, though, it occurred to me that I ought to have been demanding proof that college graduates actually do learn. In logic, after all, the burden of proof rightfully rests on the party who asserts the positive. It is difficult if not impossible to prove a negative and that is why, for example, in criminal proceedings the defendant enjoys the presumption of innocence. It is up to the prosecution to prove that the person committed the crime, not up to the defense to prove that he did not.
When it comes to the educational results of higher education, the same logical rule applies.
Comments
Aleister,
Several points – related directly to what you said:
1) Declining results vs. “strong enrollments” – Regardless of whether colleges are producing great “products” (well educated citizens) or dolts, enrollment will always be at a certain point. Right or wrong having a degree is almost always a pre-req to many jobs and pathways. There will always be a market for jobs as long as many of the best paying / best pathway-door-opening jobs require a college degree.
On a side note, but related, is that women currently make up 60%+ of incoming freshmen. Boy are being seriously hurt by our education system, and no one seems to care.
2) Poor academic results vs anecdotal / journalistic “stuff” : I notice that a good portion of people, be they from the left or right or [whatever] do not like anecdotes that dispute their world view. Sometimes this is true – as in the case where an extreme example makes a bad law. Other times it is highly instructive and a good example of a wider trend.
MANY colleges have had to institute remedial reading courses, have lowered writing requisites in even ENGLISH classes, and the college in many cases don’t mind, because while “student A” may now need 5 years to complete a college degree, the college is getting paid anyways. The same goes for math and other basic skills. Also – many who graduate FROM college are also having difficulty in the real world because of lowered expectations and grade inflation.
3) Adult literacy results vs “better than high school grads” reasoning: This is sad. I mean, really, c’mon. So, if “student A” is now reading at a 10th grade level, but came in at a 8th grade level, is that something to BRAG about? Either the “product” (student graduating) can read, write, research, footnote, and put together dissertation type paper or they cannot. Saying that you have raised the level from abysmal to simply poor is not something I’d want to put on the college website for possible recruiting. Does this man have NO pride in his work!?
4) Now, in fairness to the professor – I do understand his hesitation for having people decide that “accountability” needs to be built into the system. Having anyone come in and judge your work is always a crap shoot – people have agendas, a bias, and may or may not be fair.
That said – considering that so many college grads are graduating with a huge debt, and the “product” is clearly in decline, I would be open to having some accountability in our colleges as to education.
Steven
I don’t disagree with most of what you said but any college worth its salt (that is accredited) has to have an assessment procedure in place to test learning. The results aren’t public but they are known to SACS accreditors and to the faculty in those courses that are the focus of the assessment.
Healthguyfsu,
I “get” what you are saying, but, politely and with respect, re-assert that many many colleges have had to:
a) Institute remedial learning for incoming freshmen
b) Have graduated people with barely high school education levels of math and reading.
That’s not succcess. 🙂 – Steven