The College Fix

The National Association of Scholars is celebrating its 25th anniversary as one of the nation’s leading advocates for better higher education policy. In celebration of the big two-five, they’ve published a list of 100 very short essays by leading authors, educators and policy experts on how to improve the state of higher education in the U.S.

This special publication includes contributions by some big names, such as Tom Wolfe, Victor Davis Hanson, and even Jill Biden, along with contributions by a few lesser names such as yours truly. Some of the ideas on the list are quite intriguing and other quite provocative.

Here are some brief excerpts–a few glimpses of the “great ideas” on the list:

– REQUIRE PUBLIC SPEAKING
Will Fitzhugh, Founder, The Concord Review“It would be great and interesting for all concerned if every college student had to present a one-hour talk on some topic on which he had recently done research…”

– INSTITUTE A FACULTY DRESS CODE AND REQUIRE USE OF STUDENT SURNAMES
Joseph Epstein, Author, most recently of Essays in Biography
“The condition of undergraduate education strikes me as so sad, so wildly screwed up, and so heavily screened off from reality that no single sweeping reform is likely to help. A number of small reforms, though, might make for a beginning. Two I suggest are a dress code and a rigid protocol of address. I suggest these not for students, but for faculty…”

– ABOLISH BIG-TIME SPORTS
George Dent, Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
“Big-time sports are corrupting higher education. They should be abolished…”

– PUBLISH EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES
Andrew Gillen, Research Director, Education Sector
“As college costs continually rise, students are increasingly concerned with the impact attending college will have on future jobs and earnings. Yet virtually no data exist to help inform this important decision…”

– REQUIRE PHYSICAL LABOR
Charles Mitchell,Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Commonwealth Foundation
“Five words: mandatory physical labor, every student…”

– LIMIT A AND B GRADES
Charles Murray, W.H. Brady Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
“Pass a federal law that no teacher in a college or university that receives federal funds shall be allowed to award an A to more than 7 percent of the students in any course…”

– BANISH TEXTBOOKS
Bradley C. S. Watson, Philip M. McKenna Professor of Politics; Co-Director, Center for Political and Economic Thought, Saint Vincent College
“Rely on primary sources exclusively. This can be done readily in most social sciences and humanities disciplines. Even most natural science disciplines could assign more primary source readings to good effect…”

And finally, the always lively T. Wolfe:

CUT UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION IN HALF; LIMIT THE CURRICULUM; INSTITUTE A DRESS CODE
Tom Wolfe, Ph.D., American Studies, Yale, 1957; Author, Back to Blood

“1. Cut undergraduate education from four years to two…

2. Limit the curriculum, over the two years, to remedial education and core subjects…

3. Male students will have a dress code requiring long-sleeved cotton shirts (ties optional) and conventionally cut jackets—e.g., no jacket collars wider than the lapels—whenever they are on campus. Female students will abide by a dress code that, without saying so, makes it impossible to dress in the currently highly fashionable (among young women) slut style.

If the students complain that these codes make them look different from most other people their age, the reply is, ‘Now you’re catching on.'”

A lot to chew on in this list–occasions to either nod in agreement, or shake one’s head in disbelief. It’s a lengthy but stimulating read.

See the full article at the National Association of Scholars website.

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