(2006-09-29) Okeefe Higher Ed Report

Bryan O Keefe on a new government report reviewing the College Education environment. In the same vein, the report ignores areas such as grade inflation, the unnecessary increase in university bureaucracy, the explosion of labor unions on college campuses, the shift from faculty instruction to faculty research, and the growing costs for non-academic activities such as intercollegiate athletics and the construction of Taj Mahal dorms and fitness centers. The commission's work would have been significantly stronger if they would have at least examined these issues... Regretfully, many in the higher education establishment do not seem interested in pursuing this path. David Ward, President of the American Council of Education and the unofficial spokesman for the status quo higher education establishment, served on the Commission and voted against the final report because it was too critical. His opinion is widely shared by many in higher education, where the prevailing wisdom is that very little is wrong, and that more subsidies from the government can solve whatever problems exist.