Articles

Articles

Jul 27, 2006 ·

An Essential Book on Education

Does education matter? That is the title of an absolutely essential book by Professor Alison Wolf.

Yes, of course education matters. The author, who holds the Sir Roy Griffiths professorship of public sector management at King’s College, London, is not questioning whether education is good at all. Rather, she questions whether governmental efforts to expand “access” to higher education and public training programs are justified. The book’s subtitle – myths about education and economic growth – suggests that her answer is in the negative. It certainly is. In my view, Professor Wolf has given us one of the most useful books on education policy in many years because she quietly and carefully demolishes the conventional wisdom that it is imperative for government to “invest” more in higher education. After reading the book, I believe that most people will agree that the best we can do is to provide a solid education in each child’s early years and forget about trying to manage higher education and workforce training.

·

NCAA should leave academic requirements to schools

It must be getting close to college football season, because my mind keeps wondering to all things college football, the NCAA, and the Fiesta Bowl.

Yet, when I think of the NCAA today there are more important things that come to mind besides if West Virginia University have a shot a national championship. With recent actions to declare some high schools as ineligible to receive accreditation from the NCAA because of weak academics, making it harder for their students to participate in college sports, we are left scratching our heads. Where do concerns about academic quality fit into the realm of the NCAA?

Jul 25, 2006 ·

Does Education Matter?

Does education matter? Alison Wolf addresses the question in her new book, “Does Education Matter: Myths about Education and Economic Growth.” The author, who holds the Sir Roy Griffiths professorship…

Jul 20, 2006 ·

Drafts give glimpses into higher education report

Higher education institutions in the United States must improve in “a drastic way,” according to a draft version of the commission that has been given the task of assessing American higher education and its future. The final version of the report is expected sometime in August, but even the draft has sparked great interest.

The draft has been circulating since the end of June and is seen as a glimpse into the recommendations that will be included in the final version. The report is being produced by a national committee initiated by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Among the members of the commission is former North Carolina governor Jim Hunt.

A second draft has begun to circulate. Missing from the second draft are some of the more hard-hitting criticisms of the current higher education system.

Jul 13, 2006 ·

John Edwards wants “greater access to college” – good policy or bad?

In an interview published in the July 7th The Chronicle of Higher Education, former North Carolina senator John Edwards set forth his views on higher education, arguing in favor of federal policies to make college education nearly as universal as K-12 is, with the government picking up the expense for students who can’t afford it.

Let’s take a look at his arguments, which are similar to those of former governor Jim Hunt and others who think that the country needs to “invest” more in higher education.

The first question from the interviewer asked how important a college education is for the poorest students to succeed. Edwards replied, “It’s everything….Education is absolutely critical…and that’s going to be more intensely true going forward than it is today….”

Jul 6, 2006 ·

From the home office in Chapel Hill, the top 15 pork barrel higher education projects

At some point today, legislators will give final approval to the budget compromise that was hatched out before the Fourth of July weekend. It marks the end of the budget process that began in May and extended just days past the start of the 2007 fiscal year.

Like any governmental budget, this one has enough pork to make a pig farmer smile. This year’s higher education budget contains many generous helpings.

In honor of the passage of the state budget, the Pope Center unveils its list of the top 15 pork barrel projects. We determined projects for the list based on two questions. Is the project really needed? Should it be privately funded? While some of the projects in the list seem worthwhile, it would be better if they were funded through voluntary contributions.

So without further adoo and in true David Letterman style, from the home office on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, here is this year’s “Top 15 Higher Education Pork Barrel Projects.”

Jun 29, 2006 ·

Does America need a National University?

An idea dating from 1789 has recently been resurrected – the creation of a national university for the United States. George Washington proposed exactly that in his first inaugural address and two young idealists have now set up an organization that will push for the creation of such a university.

Writing in the June 16th Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), Chris Myers Asch, chairman of the Campaign for a U.S. Service Academy argues that the U.S. needs to have a national university “designed to cultivate a steady flow of first-rate young leaders dedicated to civic leadership.” (Another article on the subject is available here.) Asch and Shawn Raymond, both of whom taught in the Teach for America program and subsequently founded a non-profit group to provide after-school tutoring to low-income students, are promoting the establishment of a United States Public Service Academy because they think it’s time to “tap into a renewed sense of patriotism and civic obligation among young people.”

Jun 22, 2006 ·

Why college graduates don’t write well

We keep hearing that America’s colleges and universities are the envy of the world, which seems to imply that they impart to students an extremely high level of knowledge and deep, refined skills necessary for success in today’s world. The trouble with that idea is the fact that many students manage to obtain college degrees despite the fact that they don’t even have the basic language and math skills that would have been taken for granted among high school students fifty years ago. Last year’s National Assessment of Adult Literacy report showed that basic literacy of college graduates is low and falling and a new paper released this week by the Pope Center shows that college graduates also have weak writing skills and explains why that is the case.

In “English 101: Prologue to Literacy or Postmodern Moonshine?” retired English professor Nan Miller, who taught writing for twenty-six years, examines the changes in the typical freshman composition course. She laments that those crucial courses are now dominated by “composition theorists.” Miller writes that “Composition is now taught according to their vision, in spite of evidence that shows a sharp decline in literacy among college graduates.” The ideas of the theorists, she contends, “hold students hostage to a bad idea.”

Jun 20, 2006 ·

Miller Discusses Problems with College Writing

This is a portion of Nan Miller’s speech to the John Locke Foundation Monday. Miller discussed a recent study examining college writing courses to a crowd of 40 people. This excerpt shows typical conversations one may have about college writing programs.

Imagine for a minute that you have a daughter who is a freshman at Carolina. That�s the question I put to you. What if� (when the ink is barely dry on the tuition check) you had this conversation with your daughter. I�ll call her Page, and let�s say that she has been at Carolina for about a month and has left Chapel Hill for her very first weekend at home. She might be bursting with the details about her social life, but you are impatient to hear about the courses you just wrote the big check for. So you interrupt�