NYT's Room for Debate Looks at the Results of Higher Education

George Leef


In today's New York Times Room for Debate feature, the topic is how much college students learn. It was prompted by the furor over the recent book Academically Adrift in which the authors conclude that many students learn little or nothing. I'm one of six contributors, but there is remarkably little debate here. Apparently the editors at the Times could not find anyone willing to argue that the authors are mistaken and that college students are actually learning a great deal. It's often said that the U.S. is such a wealthy nation because we "invest" so much in the education of our citizens, but the truth is actually the other way around. Only a very wealthy nation could possibly afford to have an educational system that costs so much and delivers so little as ours.

  • Share

Most Commented

July 30, 2024

1.

Don’t Cry for Them, Academia

The dark secret of anti-Semitism is that ignorance alone cannot explain it away or absolve those who adhere to it. If anything, the most vivid episodes of history’s anti-Semitism have......

June 6, 2024

2.

Backlash: Sometimes It Hurts So Good

We have undermined the leftist status quo in higher education for decades with the persistence of Morlocks. You really should be more alarmed about us than you are. Not that I’m going......

August 6, 2024

3.

An Elephant Walks into Class

An assessment of the Republican higher education platform....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

September 6, 2024

2.

Professor Alleges "Widespread" Discriminatory Hiring Coverup at University of Washington

Audio acquired by the National Association of Scholars describes allegations of coverup race-based hiring coverup at the University of Washington...

October 12, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...