The Modern University Is Failing Students in Every Respect

Here’s the subtitle from the above titled post by Victor Davis Hanson: “From cost to employment prospects, the state of American higher education is dismal for students.”

I’d sent the post to a friend via email, and received a response back that Rush Limbaugh was reading it aloud on his radio show. Great minds…

As usual, Victor covers the topic like it should be — here is his opening — which is where he educates even as he berates higher education:

Modern American universities used to assume four goals.

First, their general education core taught students how to reason inductively and imparted an aesthetic sense through acquiring knowledge of Michelangelo, the Battle of Gettysburg, “Medea” and “King Lear,” Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” and astronomy and Euclidean geometry.

Second, campuses encouraged edgy speech and raucous expression — and exposure to all sorts of weird ideas and mostly unpopular thoughts. College talk was never envisioned as boring, politically correct megaphones echoing orthodox pieties.

Third, four years of college trained students for productive careers. Implicit was the university’s assurance that its degree was a wise career investment.

Finally, universities were not monopolistic price gougers. They sought affordability to allow access to a broad middle class that had neither federal subsidies nor lots of money.

The American undergraduate university is now failing on all four counts.

A bachelor’s degree is no longer proof that any graduate can read critically or write effectively. National college-entrance-test scores have generally declined the last few years, and grading standards have as well.

Read more: VictorHanson.com

In addition to VDH’s suggestions at the end of his article, you might want to read this bit of good news from Richard Vedder: Creative Destruction Coming to Higher Education.

Image credit: lastresistance.com.