Are students and taxpayers getting their money’s worth as student tuition costs rise at our colleges and universities? The Washington-based American Council of Trustees and Alumni has done its homework in answering this question, and the results are especially instructive for Georgians.
What is especially startling and disturbing is that, of the nation’s 52 top-ranked public universities reviewed by ACTA researchers, not ONE requires an economics course, let alone a course in private market/capitalist economics. Only FIVE require a survey course in U.S. history.
Our founding fathers hoped that an informed citizenry would translate into good citizens and voters, but clearly all too many public universities are now failing in this core mission. The study of the nation’s top universities discovered many schools also fail to provide students with key skills they will need in the 21st century, such as competence in a foreign language.
It is always sad to see a journalist visit with a group of college students asking them basic questions about our government and our economic system – and to see how badly all too many respond.
The good news, however, is all is not lost. There are some bright spots found in the ACTA study and some are right here in Georgia.
ACTA’s “What Will They Learn” researchers recently reviewed the core curriculum of Georgia’s institutions of higher education in the following key categories: composition, literature, foreign language, economics, mathematics and science. Four Georgia educational institutions were graded with an “A”– the flagship University of Georgia, Clark Atlanta University, Kennesaw State University and Morehouse College.
ACTA especially singled out UGA’s core curriculum as “magnificent,” saying:
“As a public ‘Ivy,’ it has a core curriculum that outshines all of the actual Ivies. Students at UGA take a two-semester sequence that integrates composition and literature; they also study foreign languages, American history and the U.S. Constitution, mathematics and the natural sciences.”
Morehouse University notes that its educational core curriculum “consists of 53 semester hours of required coursework in humanities, mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences plus a set of other educational experiences which, all together, are intended to produce learning outcomes in the following areas: critical thinking, analytical abilities and problem-solving; citizenship; communication; ethical judgment and behavior; knowledge of the natural world; leadership; philosophy and religion; and the interdependence of nations and cultures.”
Other Peach State colleges and universities should be taking notes on how these four schools do such a good job preparing their students for the outside world.
A final note. Thirty-one of the nation’s 52 “top” public universities in traditional surveys pay their presidents a base salary equal to or higher than that of President Barack Obama. At half of those schools, growth in administrative spending outpaced growth in instructional spending.
ACTA concludes: “Too many of America’s great public universities are trapped in an old mindset that prioritizes inputs over outcomes and prestige over fulfilling their mission to taxpayers. It is time that students, parents and taxpayers get what they are paying for.”
