John William Pope Center Guest Editorial
The university system in the United States has accomplished a great deal of good, but we believe that higher education in the United States, including North Carolina, has strayed from its chief goals of scholarly inquiry and responsible teaching.
All too often, universities allow teaching to become shallow and trendy, failing to challenge students intellectually and disparaging traditional principles of justice, ethics, and liberal education. Students know little about the history of their country or the institutions that led to this nation’s prosperity and liberty. Students can get by without taking rigorous courses, and non-academic activities overshadow scholarship. As a result, many college graduates have poor skills in computation, communication, and logical analysis. Faculty are allowed excessive latitude in what they teach and often get away with little teaching at all, because research is emphasized. Taxpayers as well as students and their families pay hefty prices to support a system that often appears to provide little educational value.
To address these and other problems, the Pope Center conducts studies in areas such as governance, curriculum, financing, access, accountability, faculty research, and administrative policies. We explore ways to increase the accountability of trustees, administrators, faculty, and students. And we engage in the broader dialogue about how to improve higher education around the nation.
In these endeavors, we are motivated by the principles that have traditionally guided public policy in the United States: limits on government; freedom to pursue goals through voluntary means, both for-profit and nonprofit; accountability through private property rights; and the belief that competition is an excellent regulating force.
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It often appears as if the country’s six regional accrediting agencies are the federal overseers of all things higher education. It’s time to put an end to their expansive role; doing so would very likely set off a great chain of positive reform. This is especially important now, as Congress is...
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It often appears as if the country’s six regional accrediting agencies are the federal overseers of all things higher education. It’s time to put an end to their expansive role; doing so would very likely set off a great chain of positive reform. This is especially important now, as Congress is...
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You can reform particular organizations - a university or a department - but you cannot reform education as a whole. Why? Because education is a spontaneous order.
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You can reform particular organizations - a university or a department - but you cannot reform education as a whole. Why? Because education is a spontaneous order.
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The term "spontaneous order" was coined by the economist F.A. Hayek to describe the market economy. He meant that no one designed the world of market exchange; it developed spontaneously as people sought to achieve their goals by coordinating with others in ways that they discovered over time.
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The term "spontaneous order" was coined by the economist F.A. Hayek to describe the market economy. He meant that no one designed the world of market exchange; it developed spontaneously as people sought to achieve their goals by coordinating with others in ways that they discovered over time.
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A large percentage of those Americans also know that government policy had something to do with that bubble, although you do encounter some who insist that it was entirely due to capitalistic greed. (Similarly, there used to be people who insisted that the poor harvests in the Soviet Union were...
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A large percentage of those Americans also know that government policy had something to do with that bubble, although you do encounter some who insist that it was entirely due to capitalistic greed. (Similarly, there used to be people who insisted that the poor harvests in the Soviet Union were...
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Once again, students are rejecting on-campus speakers who don't toe the politically correct line. At Brown University on October 29, a group of students shouted, chanted, and booed as New York police commissioner Ray Kelly began a lecture on "proactive policing," which includes the controversial...
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Once again, students are rejecting on-campus speakers who don't toe the politically correct line. At Brown University on October 29, a group of students shouted, chanted, and booed as New York police commissioner Ray Kelly began a lecture on "proactive policing," which includes the controversial...
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Students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) pay the highest debt service fee - the fee used to pay for past and future campus construction costs - in the UNC system. Out of the $2,390 that a UNCG student shells out each year in student fees, $707 is used to absolve the...
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Students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) pay the highest debt service fee - the fee used to pay for past and future campus construction costs - in the UNC system. Out of the $2,390 that a UNCG student shells out each year in student fees, $707 is used to absolve the...
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America's greatness is in danger, not because as a nation we are economically bankrupt. Not because China owns us and could cash in their vast holdings of U.S.
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America's greatness is in danger, not because as a nation we are economically bankrupt. Not because China owns us and could cash in their vast holdings of U.S.
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On October 25, a heated exchange took place at the meeting of the board of trustees at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW). The fireworks weren't about school finances, or plans for new campus construction, but rather the rights of students accused of non-academic...
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On October 25, a heated exchange took place at the meeting of the board of trustees at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW). The fireworks weren't about school finances, or plans for new campus construction, but rather the rights of students accused of non-academic...
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Every two years, the General Assembly appropriates money to the schools in the UNC system to cover the cost of instruction - primarily professors' salaries and benefits. But the formula used to determine how much money the system requests is outdated, opaque, and creates the wrong incentives for...
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Every two years, the General Assembly appropriates money to the schools in the UNC system to cover the cost of instruction - primarily professors' salaries and benefits. But the formula used to determine how much money the system requests is outdated, opaque, and creates the wrong incentives for...
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For those who remember general education in the distant past, let me spell it out a little more clearly. Courses such as Introduction to Sexuality Studies and American Environmental Policy replace broad survey courses like Survey of World History, American History before 1865, and American...
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For those who remember general education in the distant past, let me spell it out a little more clearly. Courses such as Introduction to Sexuality Studies and American Environmental Policy replace broad survey courses like Survey of World History, American History before 1865, and American...
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A student at UNC-Chapel Hill recently asked me to comment on a survey of employers that had been featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education. She suggested that perhaps the Board of Governors is giving too much emphasis to technical skills when, she said, "employers value good communication...
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A student at UNC-Chapel Hill recently asked me to comment on a survey of employers that had been featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education. She suggested that perhaps the Board of Governors is giving too much emphasis to technical skills when, she said, "employers value good communication...
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Major college sports like football and basketball produce revenue streams in the billions. In recent years, the NCAA, powerhouse conferences, teams, television stations, and coaches have profited at an unprecedented rate. In North Carolina, for example, the highest-paid public official is not...
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Major college sports like football and basketball produce revenue streams in the billions. In recent years, the NCAA, powerhouse conferences, teams, television stations, and coaches have profited at an unprecedented rate. In North Carolina, for example, the highest-paid public official is not...
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The front cover of the September 16 Time magazine issue features a picture of Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and arguably college football's most controversial player. The headline, "It's Time to Pay College Athletes," raises a long-standing controversy that has...
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The front cover of the September 16 Time magazine issue features a picture of Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and arguably college football's most controversial player. The headline, "It's Time to Pay College Athletes," raises a long-standing controversy that has...
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Higher education used to be a quiet sector of American life, seldom disturbed by anything but academic disputes. It was like Gettysburg in June of 1863. Then the armies arrived to fight tooth and nail - this time over the issue of affirmative action. Two major battle actions are going on right now..
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Higher education used to be a quiet sector of American life, seldom disturbed by anything but academic disputes. It was like Gettysburg in June of 1863. Then the armies arrived to fight tooth and nail - this time over the issue of affirmative action. Two major battle actions are going on right now..
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In 2011, President Obama called for a more civil discourse to "make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds." Unfortunately, Gene Nichol, Boyd Tinsley Distinguished Professor - and former dean - at UNC-Chapel Hill's law school, appears to have no...
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In 2011, President Obama called for a more civil discourse to "make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds." Unfortunately, Gene Nichol, Boyd Tinsley Distinguished Professor - and former dean - at UNC-Chapel Hill's law school, appears to have no...
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One of the most famous phrases in American oratory is the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement in his March on Washington speech that he looked forward to the day when all people would be judged not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.
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One of the most famous phrases in American oratory is the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement in his March on Washington speech that he looked forward to the day when all people would be judged not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.
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For many college students, the road to a bachelor's degree is not a straight one. Academic and non-academic detours can alter a student's collegiate trajectory, turning what might have otherwise been a four-year experience into a five- or six-year extended stay.
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For many college students, the road to a bachelor's degree is not a straight one. Academic and non-academic detours can alter a student's collegiate trajectory, turning what might have otherwise been a four-year experience into a five- or six-year extended stay.
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I bear good news about a bright spot in higher education. In early 2013, Texas Tech University joined the ranks of world-leading institutions studying and teaching about free markets.
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I bear good news about a bright spot in higher education. In early 2013, Texas Tech University joined the ranks of world-leading institutions studying and teaching about free markets.
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In the movie Catch Me If You Can the protagonist does a number of things he legally isn't allowed to do because he doesn't have the right education and license. The movie was based on the actual exploits of Frank Abagnale who, among other things, got a job in the Louisiana attorney general's...
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In the movie Catch Me If You Can the protagonist does a number of things he legally isn't allowed to do because he doesn't have the right education and license. The movie was based on the actual exploits of Frank Abagnale who, among other things, got a job in the Louisiana attorney general's...
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Shortly before he died this year at the age of 102, Ronald Coase and a colleague, Ning Wang, published a book about capitalism in China. There may be lessons in it for higher education in both the United States and China.
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Shortly before he died this year at the age of 102, Ronald Coase and a colleague, Ning Wang, published a book about capitalism in China. There may be lessons in it for higher education in both the United States and China.
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Indeed, even in our state of North Carolina, where the first solidly Republican government in over 100 years won monumental victories, such as the end of tenure in K-12 education and major changes to the tax code, there was almost no reform for higher education.
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Indeed, even in our state of North Carolina, where the first solidly Republican government in over 100 years won monumental victories, such as the end of tenure in K-12 education and major changes to the tax code, there was almost no reform for higher education.
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The September issue of Money (a Time, Inc. publication) featured an article titled "Busting the 5 Myths of College Costs" by Penelope Wang. It claimed that many of the assumptions that parents hold on how to reduce the cost of college are outdated or wrong. Wang promised to give the...
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The September issue of Money (a Time, Inc. publication) featured an article titled "Busting the 5 Myths of College Costs" by Penelope Wang. It claimed that many of the assumptions that parents hold on how to reduce the cost of college are outdated or wrong. Wang promised to give the...
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In recent days, we've heard a lot of talk about reforming college athletics. By and large, there are three competing approaches. The first involves tweaking, or modestly attempting to improve upon, the existing status quo. The second is tougher: it urges a hard-line return to amateurism. The...
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In recent days, we've heard a lot of talk about reforming college athletics. By and large, there are three competing approaches. The first involves tweaking, or modestly attempting to improve upon, the existing status quo. The second is tougher: it urges a hard-line return to amateurism. The...
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Skyrocketing tuitions. Degree inflation. Politicized curriculums. Lowered job expectations upon graduation. Higher education in America is tangled with problems to such a degree that many have started to ask the question: is getting a traditional college education still worth it? So far, most...
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Skyrocketing tuitions. Degree inflation. Politicized curriculums. Lowered job expectations upon graduation. Higher education in America is tangled with problems to such a degree that many have started to ask the question: is getting a traditional college education still worth it? So far, most...
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I confess! I am an atypical sociologist - an iconoclast. I fail miserably to toe the party line, and have suffered for it. It has made finding work difficult; and made gaining respect among other sociologists even harder.
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I confess! I am an atypical sociologist - an iconoclast. I fail miserably to toe the party line, and have suffered for it. It has made finding work difficult; and made gaining respect among other sociologists even harder.
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In the six years I've been at the Pope Center, I've seen a number of new higher education reform organizations emerge. I view the growing numbers of allies as a sign that higher education reform is an idea whose time has come.
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In the six years I've been at the Pope Center, I've seen a number of new higher education reform organizations emerge. I view the growing numbers of allies as a sign that higher education reform is an idea whose time has come.
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I am honored to be here today. Alas, my message is not altogether pleasant. Indeed, it may be the intellectual equivalent of having a hemorrhoid operation performed by an unlicensed French physician just returned from a wine-laden lunch.
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I am honored to be here today. Alas, my message is not altogether pleasant. Indeed, it may be the intellectual equivalent of having a hemorrhoid operation performed by an unlicensed French physician just returned from a wine-laden lunch.
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Nearly a decade ago, I wrote a paper on the problem (at least I see it as a problem) of grade inflation. Just as with monetary inflation, I think that bad things ensue from awarding students grades that are higher than they've truly earned.
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Nearly a decade ago, I wrote a paper on the problem (at least I see it as a problem) of grade inflation. Just as with monetary inflation, I think that bad things ensue from awarding students grades that are higher than they've truly earned.
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Tenure-track faculty openings attract scores of applicants. Sometimes the decision makers look for the most competent individuals. Often, however, colleges "recruit" faculty members on the basis of ideological considerations that have nothing to do with true professional standards.
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Tenure-track faculty openings attract scores of applicants. Sometimes the decision makers look for the most competent individuals. Often, however, colleges "recruit" faculty members on the basis of ideological considerations that have nothing to do with true professional standards.
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Internet commerce is the ultimate creative destroyer: the Web's immediacy, flexibility, and ability to eliminate the fixed costs of "brick-and-mortar" outlets has humbled a multitude of traditional commercial enterprises. It draws modern entrepreneurs the way new finds of gold drew adventurers in...
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Internet commerce is the ultimate creative destroyer: the Web's immediacy, flexibility, and ability to eliminate the fixed costs of "brick-and-mortar" outlets has humbled a multitude of traditional commercial enterprises. It draws modern entrepreneurs the way new finds of gold drew adventurers in...
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Academia's leftist tilt creates unique challenges for conservative students. While liberal students are taught by faculty who largely share their political and ideological worldview, conservatives students are often forced to take courses from faculty who fundamentally reject their core beliefs.
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Academia's leftist tilt creates unique challenges for conservative students. While liberal students are taught by faculty who largely share their political and ideological worldview, conservatives students are often forced to take courses from faculty who fundamentally reject their core beliefs.
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Like teachers in many states, North Carolina public school teachers have historically received an automatic 10 percent salary increase by earning a master's degree. Now North Carolina is believed to be the first state in the nation to eliminate the financial reward for earning the master's.
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Like teachers in many states, North Carolina public school teachers have historically received an automatic 10 percent salary increase by earning a master's degree. Now North Carolina is believed to be the first state in the nation to eliminate the financial reward for earning the master's.
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An education in law is meant to teach the law and legal reasoning. To learn basic skills is the aim of primary and secondary schooling. Yet here at Leiden Law (part of Leiden University, the Netherlands' oldest and most prestigious university), we are increasingly sacrificing the law to teach...
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An education in law is meant to teach the law and legal reasoning. To learn basic skills is the aim of primary and secondary schooling. Yet here at Leiden Law (part of Leiden University, the Netherlands' oldest and most prestigious university), we are increasingly sacrificing the law to teach...
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The labor market for college professors has long been distorted. Tenure is a major factor; another is the presence of a massive labor supply glut, in the form of too many aspiring faculty members for too few full-time jobs. In some ways, the faculty labor market now resembles the market for...
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The labor market for college professors has long been distorted. Tenure is a major factor; another is the presence of a massive labor supply glut, in the form of too many aspiring faculty members for too few full-time jobs. In some ways, the faculty labor market now resembles the market for...
