This post is why I like Victor Davis Hanson WAY better than John Derbyshire. I get the satisfaction of good writing about the evils of our education system (something on which Derbyshire is not so bad) without the pretensions strawman arguments and pseudo-math-geek posts for which Derbyshire is so infamous.
Day: September 7, 2011
Day 16 of 1000
Anyone who has read this blog knows I am a big fan of higher education. John Miller of National Review Online pointed to an article about Rick Perry’s record on higher education in such a way to make me believe it held some valid arguments about. Rick Perry’s record on higher education. It was written by a Jessica Huseman, a Journalism student. The article was filled with quotes about the apocalyptic changes Rick Perry is making to the Texas higher education system. This was the money quote for me:
“Running a university like a business is ridiculous,” Wintz said. “Since
social sciences or arts research doesn’t generate a lot of money,
should that just go away? Should we just focus on research that will
make money for universities? I think that is a mistake.”
No one is talking about making the social sciences and arts research “go away”, but the amount of funding should be tied to their contribution in terms of dollars. One huge problem with higher education is that such a heavy focus is put on social sciences and the arts that there is not enough time to focus on math, chemistry, and physics. I am a big fan of true liberal arts education where students get a well rounded education that includes the arts, literature, government, philosophy, etc. The problem is that the arts and social sciences often crowd out math, chemistry, and physics in many of the liberal arts degrees offered in America today.
To her credit, Huseman started quoting a more reasoned voice or two toward the end of the article. I am liking Rick Perry more and more all the time. Especially when he is talking about that $10K thing.