Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Caliber of Teaching at Colleges

Over 4,000 colleges and universities enroll over 17 million students. It’s a huge industry that has become a boondoggle with little oversight.

One example: Colleges are in the business of acquiring students, differing in their approach to marketing. Some do so as research centers. They may boast professors with science awards and Nobel Prizes. These can be very appealing marketing devices. Such esteemed faculty also attract grants and endowments as well as students.

The truth is, very few undergraduate students have celebrity professors. They often are taught, instead, by graduate students.

Parents and taxpayers cough up billions of dollars to the nation's colleges and universities. Schools make money whether students learn or not, whether students graduate or not, and whether they get good jobs after leaving, or not.

Colleges and universities engage in "bait and switch," confer fraudulent degrees and engage in other practices that would bring legal sanctions if done in any other business.

No comments:

Post a Comment