My point of view is different from yours. The country benefits from a variety of different viewpoints.
I am 74 years old, multimillionaire, did a full career as a computer researcher establishing new methods and standards for navigation worldwide and am enjoying a second career as a self-made landlord and property manager.
I did attend much better than average public schools. I tried out a couple of colleges but I found them, in the seventies, to not be worth what they cost, which just got worse and worse and worse as time went on. Besides, most of the students were more into narcissism and parties than higher education. I certainly do not have or need any college degrees.
I have thought for a long time that the USA would benefit greatly from fewer colleges and universities and fewer students and most of all from fewer faculty. Certainly the past 8 years are proof of that.
I really like the mention about an obsession to football and the associated money. It reminds me of the fall of the Roman empire. Too many oafs addicted to being spectators and exhibiting clinical signs of codependency to an athletic event 😅 It's just as concerning as the idiocracy that the progressives have created in higher education.
I agree with Michael, student loans worked just fine till the government took over. I applaud you for writing this piece. I hope the current administration can shake this up a bit. While I don’t expect miracles I like what I’m hearing. Thanks for shining a spot light on this Roger.
Like big business and their "boards, education is an incestual system. As in all such perverted endeavors, it will fail under it's own weight. Even in fly over country of Nebraska, the legislature has passed legislation to bring trade class' back to high school.
Many graduates are not in intelligent enough to monetize their degrees to live even a simple life. Yet they can shut down these elite universities for weeks at a time. And the college administration has to forced into the realization that it is their job to stop them, when the pressure of the money from government becomes threatened.
And here in Canada, Simon Fraser University is now inviting Black Scholars to apply for a tenure-track position in hydrogeology. We face many of the same issues as our American colleagues.
Excellent piece. I noticed one chart had a left vs right scale. I find that the definition of left vs right differs with different people. I would appreciate a quick description of what Roger means when he uses the terms. As an example I think of small government/individual freedom as defining the right. Others define anti immigration or racism as signifying right wing thinking.
Excellent article. When you have the time, I would like to know where you think it goes from here. There isn't any pressure for universities to change other than interventions by federal or state governments.
The university as a thing no longer is fit for purpose except in the sciences and at a very high level IMO. I have been witness over the last 35 years to the inertial pull of rank liberalism from being a peripheral thing to now a powerful, fast moving train. Unlike the 1970s and earlier, smart liberals now often don't read the books and papers of their conservative counterparts in universities beyond the effort needed to castigate them as being morally bankrupt. Someone like Thomas Sowell who is smarter and better prepared than most any PhD I've ever witnessed when grilled by an opposing view makes hash out of the irrational discourse of someone who wants things to be how they imagine them as opposed to what they really are.
When I graduated college, the convocation speaker at my mid-level Catholic university was a pro-life advocate, though not a censorious or a strident one. That said, there were student demonstrations through the last month of classes and many graduates were moved to not attend the ceremony - all because they disagreed with the moral position of a speaker. Her speech had nothing to do with abortion. She was simply dismissed as a non-person at my CATHOLIC college. The leftward drift of academia has been much longer and more insidious than pretending it's a thing of today. My brother studied then taught comparative lit at Cal State in the mid 90's and his professors were mostly expats from the likes of Harvard, Chicago, etc. They all had grown weary of the need to publish or perish and from the creep of politics into the study of English and Russian literature. What is the feminist view of Shakespeare? How do we deconstruct Dickens through a black American lens? How do we examine Tolstoy from a post-modern perspective?
Academia has been rounding up sacred cows and deifying them for more than just the 21st C. and now the chickens have come home to roost. Religion has a new name and it is liberalism; Tip O'Neil, DP Moynihan, and JFK must be rolling in their graves.
Well said. Michael Shellenberger often points out that although people claim to be secular... they are not. Instead, they swap one religion for another. The new "religion" is wokeism... with Transgenderism, Racism, and Radical Environmentalism as the new "trilogy."
This series is very timely and should lead to interesting discussion/debate in the comments section.
The WSJ has an interesting piece on Chris Rufo today: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/christopher-rufo-education-trump-dei-bb9e7178?mod=hp_lead_pos5 I expect that the new Trump Administration will be proactively addressing a lot of the issues/problems that Roger will be discussing in this series. I am a Founding member of Rufo's Substack as well as Roger's. It's interesting that this kind of discussion goes on at Substack but not much elsewhere.
I serve with several other retired faculty members on the advisory board for one of the new colleges trying to provide non-political education focused on learning (specifically Reliance College). While my retirement was for health reasons, a number of the other advisors retired to escape the "woke" environment.
Wow, 87% for Conservatives in 2012 and 81% for Liberals (college = good value). I'd look at the prevailing ethos of Academia in the 2010s and you'll get your answer for why it declined in popularity so rapidly.
It goes by many names... but Wokeism is a catchall that summarizes it pretty well.
I cannot help but think that social media had a large part in this. Why? Because it drives social contagion (e.g., cancel culture)... and people are absolutely terrified of such things. These platforms are designed to be addictive and can whip a minority of radicals into a frenzy, like a mob, that goes around terrifying everyone else into submission. They are a minority, so before social media they didn't have the numbers (or the coordination platform). Now they do. Plus, it enables vast echo-chambers where the dialogue gets progressively crazier due to lack of "checks and balances."
This kind of philosophy tends to take hold in younger generations (and therefore college campuses) because they haven't yet acquired the collective wisdom for nuanced debate. They're there to learn, not drive. So, it's on the "adults" (professors/administrators) to do the course correcting... and they shouldn't have to be so scared of doing so.
DEI and CRT are toxic poison to the western enlightenment, because they were designed to be toxic poison. Why sugar coat it, many of these people explicitly state their intention is to destroy western civilization?
When I went away to university at 17, it was to get a good job. Indeed, I graduated and did get a good job.
That has changed. My wife and I fund 529s for all our grandchildren, so far only one has used hers for a Bachelor and Masters. The others, who are old enough, have gone to trade schools (which we also help fund). Guess which one of the group, is the poorest and makes the least?
Economic opportunity upon graduation matters as well. I do not see a bright future for our universities.
My best friend went to university to learn a classical education. While at GU he learned how to think and defend his thinking as a rational proposition. That work informed his approach to a career and I respected him for it. But for most Americans, the call of "everyone should get a college degree" had much more to do with getting a job than becoming fully human. I congratulate anyone who decides against further school and opts for the trades. Whatever the income earned, there is nothing to be apologetic for in learning how to do something that doesn't require higher math, engineering, etc.
I agree the trades are a great option, and the income isn't necessarily less than a college educated person will achieve in their career. I'm in the HVAC biz and our techs and plumbers are earning $200K before 30. Salespeople $350K+. Who needs college?
My daughter is in grade 12 and is accepted for trade school, culinary in her case. I pointed out to her that she can get 3 trade diplomas in the time it takes to get a degree and for far less $$. She gets it.
My point of view is different from yours. The country benefits from a variety of different viewpoints.
I am 74 years old, multimillionaire, did a full career as a computer researcher establishing new methods and standards for navigation worldwide and am enjoying a second career as a self-made landlord and property manager.
I did attend much better than average public schools. I tried out a couple of colleges but I found them, in the seventies, to not be worth what they cost, which just got worse and worse and worse as time went on. Besides, most of the students were more into narcissism and parties than higher education. I certainly do not have or need any college degrees.
I have thought for a long time that the USA would benefit greatly from fewer colleges and universities and fewer students and most of all from fewer faculty. Certainly the past 8 years are proof of that.
Great stuff This has to be said.. we have a problem that will rot us out if we don't fix it.
I really like the mention about an obsession to football and the associated money. It reminds me of the fall of the Roman empire. Too many oafs addicted to being spectators and exhibiting clinical signs of codependency to an athletic event 😅 It's just as concerning as the idiocracy that the progressives have created in higher education.
I agree with Michael, student loans worked just fine till the government took over. I applaud you for writing this piece. I hope the current administration can shake this up a bit. While I don’t expect miracles I like what I’m hearing. Thanks for shining a spot light on this Roger.
Is it a coincidence that the federal government took over student loans in 2010 with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA)?
Like big business and their "boards, education is an incestual system. As in all such perverted endeavors, it will fail under it's own weight. Even in fly over country of Nebraska, the legislature has passed legislation to bring trade class' back to high school.
Many graduates are not in intelligent enough to monetize their degrees to live even a simple life. Yet they can shut down these elite universities for weeks at a time. And the college administration has to forced into the realization that it is their job to stop them, when the pressure of the money from government becomes threatened.
And here in Canada, Simon Fraser University is now inviting Black Scholars to apply for a tenure-track position in hydrogeology. We face many of the same issues as our American colleagues.
Excellent piece. I noticed one chart had a left vs right scale. I find that the definition of left vs right differs with different people. I would appreciate a quick description of what Roger means when he uses the terms. As an example I think of small government/individual freedom as defining the right. Others define anti immigration or racism as signifying right wing thinking.
Excellent article. When you have the time, I would like to know where you think it goes from here. There isn't any pressure for universities to change other than interventions by federal or state governments.
The university as a thing no longer is fit for purpose except in the sciences and at a very high level IMO. I have been witness over the last 35 years to the inertial pull of rank liberalism from being a peripheral thing to now a powerful, fast moving train. Unlike the 1970s and earlier, smart liberals now often don't read the books and papers of their conservative counterparts in universities beyond the effort needed to castigate them as being morally bankrupt. Someone like Thomas Sowell who is smarter and better prepared than most any PhD I've ever witnessed when grilled by an opposing view makes hash out of the irrational discourse of someone who wants things to be how they imagine them as opposed to what they really are.
When I graduated college, the convocation speaker at my mid-level Catholic university was a pro-life advocate, though not a censorious or a strident one. That said, there were student demonstrations through the last month of classes and many graduates were moved to not attend the ceremony - all because they disagreed with the moral position of a speaker. Her speech had nothing to do with abortion. She was simply dismissed as a non-person at my CATHOLIC college. The leftward drift of academia has been much longer and more insidious than pretending it's a thing of today. My brother studied then taught comparative lit at Cal State in the mid 90's and his professors were mostly expats from the likes of Harvard, Chicago, etc. They all had grown weary of the need to publish or perish and from the creep of politics into the study of English and Russian literature. What is the feminist view of Shakespeare? How do we deconstruct Dickens through a black American lens? How do we examine Tolstoy from a post-modern perspective?
Academia has been rounding up sacred cows and deifying them for more than just the 21st C. and now the chickens have come home to roost. Religion has a new name and it is liberalism; Tip O'Neil, DP Moynihan, and JFK must be rolling in their graves.
Well said. Michael Shellenberger often points out that although people claim to be secular... they are not. Instead, they swap one religion for another. The new "religion" is wokeism... with Transgenderism, Racism, and Radical Environmentalism as the new "trilogy."
This series is very timely and should lead to interesting discussion/debate in the comments section.
The WSJ has an interesting piece on Chris Rufo today: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/christopher-rufo-education-trump-dei-bb9e7178?mod=hp_lead_pos5 I expect that the new Trump Administration will be proactively addressing a lot of the issues/problems that Roger will be discussing in this series. I am a Founding member of Rufo's Substack as well as Roger's. It's interesting that this kind of discussion goes on at Substack but not much elsewhere.
Great work, Roger. Keep them coming!
I serve with several other retired faculty members on the advisory board for one of the new colleges trying to provide non-political education focused on learning (specifically Reliance College). While my retirement was for health reasons, a number of the other advisors retired to escape the "woke" environment.
I'm a physical geographer and was finishing graduate work in 2012/2013. I decided NOT to pursue a career in academia for these very reasons.
Wow, 87% for Conservatives in 2012 and 81% for Liberals (college = good value). I'd look at the prevailing ethos of Academia in the 2010s and you'll get your answer for why it declined in popularity so rapidly.
It goes by many names... but Wokeism is a catchall that summarizes it pretty well.
I cannot help but think that social media had a large part in this. Why? Because it drives social contagion (e.g., cancel culture)... and people are absolutely terrified of such things. These platforms are designed to be addictive and can whip a minority of radicals into a frenzy, like a mob, that goes around terrifying everyone else into submission. They are a minority, so before social media they didn't have the numbers (or the coordination platform). Now they do. Plus, it enables vast echo-chambers where the dialogue gets progressively crazier due to lack of "checks and balances."
Dr. Jonathan Haidt has an excellent piece on this decade in the Atlantic and I recommend checking it out: "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid" https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
This kind of philosophy tends to take hold in younger generations (and therefore college campuses) because they haven't yet acquired the collective wisdom for nuanced debate. They're there to learn, not drive. So, it's on the "adults" (professors/administrators) to do the course correcting... and they shouldn't have to be so scared of doing so.
I recall that Roger has deep and wide experience with the online mob and cancel culture, continuing and accelerating today.
He won't say it, but the election results this month gives him a reprieve, but nothing has been won yet.
Agreed. It's very tough to see how this can "course correct" with so much of it decaying. It could be that we'll need to found new institutions: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uatx-college-teaching-inaugural-class-60-minutes/
Bari Weiss helped lead that push, it is a big deal, i hope it succeeds.
DEI and CRT are toxic poison to the western enlightenment, because they were designed to be toxic poison. Why sugar coat it, many of these people explicitly state their intention is to destroy western civilization?
Why would we let them?
Great idea for a series. Looking forward to the next installment.
When I went away to university at 17, it was to get a good job. Indeed, I graduated and did get a good job.
That has changed. My wife and I fund 529s for all our grandchildren, so far only one has used hers for a Bachelor and Masters. The others, who are old enough, have gone to trade schools (which we also help fund). Guess which one of the group, is the poorest and makes the least?
Economic opportunity upon graduation matters as well. I do not see a bright future for our universities.
My best friend went to university to learn a classical education. While at GU he learned how to think and defend his thinking as a rational proposition. That work informed his approach to a career and I respected him for it. But for most Americans, the call of "everyone should get a college degree" had much more to do with getting a job than becoming fully human. I congratulate anyone who decides against further school and opts for the trades. Whatever the income earned, there is nothing to be apologetic for in learning how to do something that doesn't require higher math, engineering, etc.
I agree the trades are a great option, and the income isn't necessarily less than a college educated person will achieve in their career. I'm in the HVAC biz and our techs and plumbers are earning $200K before 30. Salespeople $350K+. Who needs college?
My daughter is in grade 12 and is accepted for trade school, culinary in her case. I pointed out to her that she can get 3 trade diplomas in the time it takes to get a degree and for far less $$. She gets it.