Category: Commentary, Critique, and Response

—“For 17 years I had the opportunity to teach in the Liberal Studies Program at Georgetown. The program was designed for working adults who wanted to ‘read Plato’. It was expressly stated that there would be no vocational dimension to the program and that prospective students (who should be out of school for at least 3 years) should not expect to use it to secure employment or promotion. This was the largest liberal studies program in the country, with approximately 400 students (drawing from an area population of 4,000,000). It was the most memorable and gratifying teaching experience of my life. The students would routinely read the ‘recommended’ materials as well as the ‘required’ ones and saw their classes as the most interesting and engaging part of their week.”—

—“students now spend a minimum of time studying and a maximum of time socializing he does not emphasize two facts: lax standards are the order of the day among the professoriate, lax standards which are pressed on them by corporatist administrators who seek to maximize tuition whatever the academic cost. These administrators are now largely bureaucrats rather than academic leaders and they are best served by a growth in ‘direct reports’ and ‘programs’ for which they can take credit when seeking their next job. Such non-line administrators as assistant vice provosts have increased by 91% in recent decades; non-teaching academic staff have increased by 240%. These individuals want to swell the ranks of tuition-payers at any cost. With regard to the faculty: two anecdotes. When I took my first serious course in the second half of the 18thc (an over/under course for undergrads as well as master’s students), the teacher had the registration staff hand out notes at the registration table, informing us that we should have read Boswell’s LIFE OF JOHNSON (1400 pp. more or less) by the first class. This represented perhaps 20% of the total course readings; now no one would dream of doing that unless the book was the only text in an entire course. Second anecdote: just before his recent death M.H. Abrams (the first editor of the Norton Anthology of English Literature) discussed the book with its current editor, Stephen Greenblatt. Abrams commented that a book that was once a standard text in freshman and sophomore survey courses is now used by advanced doctoral students to prepare for their comprehensive exams.”—

EDUCATION IS UNFIT FOR MODERNITY
–“Employers seek three characteristics in potential employees: intelligence, conscientiousness and the ability to conform. They want bright people who have demonstrated their ability to apply themselves, keep on task, do what is expected of them, take orders from superiors and operate successfully in an environment which might be dull, soporific and tedious. Being able to secure a high school diploma and/or being able to secure a college degree are central to that process. Formal education, which is completed, signals the student/ applicant’s abilities in this regard. What you learned is of far less importance than what you have demonstrated that you are able to do (in a setting that may well bear no relationship to the job for which you are applying). Professor Caplan estimates the amount of ‘return’ based on signaling at approximately 80%.”–