Thinking about a college education for the kids

John J. Miller of National Review‘s phi beta cons blog linked to a very interesting article at the Inside Higher Ed website about a tenured college professor at a liberal arts college who has given up on the system. He says,

After too many years at this job (I am in my mid-40s), I have grown to question higher education in ways that cannot be rectified by a new syllabus, or a sabbatical, or, heaven forbid, a conference roundtable. No, my troubles with this treasured profession are both broad and deep, and they begin with a fervent belief that most of today’s college students, especially those that come to college straight from high school, are unnecessarily coddled. Professors and administrators seek to “nurture” and “engage” and they are doing so at the expense of teaching. The result: a discernable and precipitous decline in the quality of college students. More of them come to campus with dreadful study habits. Too few of them read for pleasure. Too many drink and smoke excessively. They are terribly ill-prepared for four years of hard work, and most dangerously, they do not think that college should be arduous. Instead they perceive college as an overnight recreation center in which they exercise, eat, and in between playing extracurricular sports, they carry books around. If a professor is lucky, the books are being skimmed hours before class.

How do I know that my concerns are not unique to my employer, or my classroom? My students are brutally honest–they tell me with candor and without shame that their peers think of college as a four year cruise without a destination.

This weekend, I had the pleasure to discuss the state of the education system with my niece Julia.  She just completed a degree in education at an Ivy League school. She is very passionate about her chosen field of study and expects to continue on to graduate school after she works for awhile.  I am confident she is a great teacher. It was good for me to speak with her because it has helped me focus on what I want for my own children.

It seems that many students view a university education as an end onto itself with the social aspects of the schooling on par or even more important than academics.  A degree is viewed as a higher goal than the learning required to achieve the degree.  It is made the more frustrating because of the many politically correct classes that both denigrate the values of those who hold to a Christian worldview and elevate fringe behaviors that are reliable markers of a civilization in decline.  So, the options available to us are over-priced private schools run by organized religion that provide an education that, while not perfect, are more or less in line with our worldview or government run schools that are reasonably priced, but require attendance at hedonistic brainwashing sessions.

All that, and it turns out that the people who teach the classes are more interested in leading a cushy life than teaching students while the students themselves are generally more interested in self-actualization and partying than getting an education.  This is going to take some additional thought.

Update: I like this article a lot.

October 28, 2004 – Dayanita and her parrot (photo)
October 29, 2004 – Harvest party tonight