On Columbia University and Coach Handbags
https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-columbia-university-and-coach-handbags-protests-degree-value-israel-2d33c84d
A degree’s value, in both money and status, depends on the reputation of the institution’s brand.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-columbia-university-and-coach-handbags-protests-degree-value-israel-2d33c84d
A degree’s value, in both money and status, depends on the reputation of the institution’s brand.
The leakage of universities’ prestige amid protests
is most welcome
George Will:
In 1961, full-time students studied an average of
about 40 hours per week; by 2003, the figure was 27 hours. It is likely fewer
two decades later. Time-use data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that,
from 2003 to 2014, full-time college students devoted an average of 2.8 hours a
day to classroom instruction, homework and other educational activities.
Unsurprisingly, the decline of studiousness has
coincided with rampant grade inflation. At Yale in the 2022-2023 academic year,
only prodigies of underachievement managed to miss the bounty: Almost 80
percent of grades were A’s or A-minuses.
The decline in students’ academic efforts has also
coincided with the rise of their performative politics. “Activism” — an
interestingly contentless category — can fill the vacuums in the lives of bored
students who are unchallenged by unexacting academic standards, and who have
been indoctrinated by teachers to think highly of themselves as political
moralists.
Elite Colleges Need to Offer Less Affirmation. And
Insist on More Work.
Frederick M. Hess:
…while workloads are down, grades are way up. Although
the editorial board of the Harvard Crimson has fretted that Harvard’s students
are subject to the “absurd expectation of constant productivity,” grade
inflation has been pervasive at selective colleges in recent decades.
(Harvard’s average GPA climbed from 3.0 in 1967 to 3.8 in 2022). And elite
college students know that, once admitted, they needn’t worry about earning a
diploma—since their institutions brag about their 96 percent completion rates. …
If students aren’t studying, working, or hanging out
with friends, what exactly are they doing? That’s the question. For one thing,
college-age youth spend an extraordinary amount of time online, swiping through
videos and scrolling social media.