For the last 20 years, I have been arguing that the U.S. has badly oversold higher education, luring in lots of students who don’t have the ability or determination to do college-level work. I’m happy to say that economist Arnold Kling shares this view. In this post, he argues that higher education is stuffed with students who don’t belong, administrators who needlessly push paper, and faculty who use their classes as soapboxes for their opinions.
Regarding the students, Kling writes,
When I was an adjunct at George Mason, most of my students could not write or do math. Reading their essays or grading their exams was painful. I wanted to forward them to the admissions department and ask, “What are you doing?” It was the rare student who could actually think at a level that justified being in a college-level course.
That’s a truth that few within the higher-ed establishment will utter — that many students should not have been admitted. Schools want students because they mean revenue, but when those students have the academic level of middle-schoolers, they cause serious problems.
What about the faculty? Kling continues,
There are also many faculty members who do not belong on college campus. Obviously, you have the grievance studies departments. But if you were to dial back the number of students in the humanities and social sciences to a number that is actually qualified to study those subjects, you would have to cut the majority of faculty positions.
Again, bull’s-eye.
You’ll want to read the whole thing, which is not long.