The College Fix

Professor Richard Vedder says eliminating the Department of Education is ‘long overdue’

Renowned economist Richard Vedder breaks down how the federal government is not serving students well and calls for education to become a “state and local responsibility” in his new book, “Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education.”

Vedder, (pictured) a professor emeritus of economics at Ohio University, told The College Fix his book focuses on the various ways that the federal government has failed college students.

In it, he explains how diversity, equity, and inclusion policies have been a “disaster” for students and why he believes the Department of Education’s power must be returned to state and local governments.

He also believes colleges should get rid of accreditors and the federal government should “get out of the student loan business.” Instead, Vedder writes that colleges should reduce their tuition costs and students should opt for private loans to keep the federal government separated from their educational journey.

One of the key problems that Vedder, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, said must be noted when looking at higher education reform is DEI policies.

“I think DEI has been a disaster, a huge mistake … for higher ed, and it’s caused a lot of problems,” Vedder told The Fix in a recent interview.

“It has led to replacing an emphasis on merit in the discovery of new ideas, and … dissemination of those ideas, replacing merit with … racial or gender criteria,” he said. “It’s identity politics.”

Vedder said he thinks what President Donald Trump has set out to do concerning the eradication of DEI policies is beneficial because of the copious amounts of money universities spend on politically ideological programs.

However, Vedder said it’s vital to understand that “not everything is happening on the national level.” He said “quite a number of states” including Florida and Texas have already begun to eradicate DEI from their state universities.

Vedder said dismantling the Department of Education has been “long overdue.”

In his book, he describes how the bill that led to the creation of the department came about in 1978. Early on, the U.S. House had a difficult time finding enough votes to pass the bill, and a majority of Democrats did not support the creation of the department. Even The New York Times released reports against the proposed federal agency.

However, the National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the U.S., supported President Jimmy Carter’s campaign in 1976 and pressured him to create the department, according to the book.

Vedder said he has been acquainted with several secretaries of the Department of Education throughout the years, including Betsy DeVos, Bill Bennett, and Margaret Spellings.

“I don’t know if any one of them would favor the department today. I think they’re all against it,” Vedder said.

Today, assessment scores from students aged K-12 are “mediocre,” and college students’ scores do not demonstrate any significant educational improvements, he said.

These statistics indicate that the department is not properly serving American children, and Vedder believes it should be eradicated.

“Do we really need the Department of Education? This is a local responsibility. There is not a word in the American Constitution about education, not a single word. This is a state and local responsibility and who is … to say that the people in Washington are brighter, know more … than the people in the various state governments?” he told The Fix.

A second key issue in his book is higher education accreditors.

Vedder told The Fix the fact that higher education institutions are in charge of the six leading regional accreditors is not right since these accreditors greatly influence universities’ educational framework.

“The universities sort of control these [accreditation] boards, and they run them like cartels. You want to start a new university? You’ve got to get accredited, you have to pass the credentials set by this board,” he said.

The extreme control and influence that accreditors have on universities does not help students in the long run, because they also have a “monopoly” on college students’ transcripts, Vedder said.

He said the accreditation process “needs to be reigned in” in order to reform the educational system.

Decreasing retention rates and students’ struggles to secure jobs in their fields are another sign that colleges are failing students, Vedder said.

“They’re failing in the sense that an increasing percentage of students who enter college don’t graduate or if they do graduate, they don’t get good jobs,” he told The Fix.

Of all the issues impacting the higher education sector, Vedder said he believes colleges must have intellectual diversity.

He said students should be introduced to a variety of perspectives and worldviews when they embark on their collegiate education, but he said professors today are not serving students in this fashion since many scholars favor a liberal viewpoint.

MORE: ‘Promote’ ‘inclusive language’ with ‘stringent mechanisms,’ Penn students demand

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Economist Richard Vedder is the author of a new book, ‘Let Colleges Fail: The Power of Creative Destruction in Higher Education.’ Independent Institute

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter