I'll Endorse This

Not usually a fan of Salon, but this take on the main problems on college campuses today is spot on.

When I think of the very legitimate problem of soaring college costs, I worry that we aren't even asking the right questions.  First, I don't think "free four year college tuition" is a good idea.  18-22 year olds loosed upon the quad without any sense of needing to justify their time in college?  I think we would be looking at a free rider problem of magnificent proportions.  Even tying free tuition to grades would simply create a perverse incentive to cheat and grade grub and pressure professors to inflate grades.  And it wouldn't just come from the students, the institution wouldn't want to lose too many of those tuition checks by being overly rigorous.

Some of this simply winds up merging with my worries about the changing nature of work and compensation.  Trust me, when I say it's not the adjuncts that are causing this upwards spiral in costs, but if we had more public goods - universal health and day care, for instance - then perhaps we could ease some upwards trajectory on labor costs.  The real issue on colleges seems to be the increasing "service" that are secondary to actual classroom experiences.  Some of these are quite valuable. Some are not. 

The broader question of a liberal arts education is, I suppose, up for debate.  But it seems as if there are three purposes for college.  First, it is to educate and enlighten the mind.  Second, it is to create networks and shared experiences with like peers.  Third, it provides a form of professional accreditation. 

The first is ultimately more dependent on the student than the institution.  Abraham Lincoln taught himself Euclid by candlelight.  You can educate and broaden your mind wherever you are, college just makes it easier.

The second is underrated, I think.  Most people learn from their peers.  You pick up as much from the informal debate in the dorms or from the behavior of your friends than you do in "Introduction of Philosophy."  The primary benefit of going to Harvard is that you are surrounded by people who could get into Harvard. Those peers become a network for you for the rest of your life.

The third really depends on why you are there and what you study.  The increased specialization of learning has penetrated into my school, and I can't say I like it. I'd prefer the enlightenment model of expanding a young person's ability to think and the scope of what they understand.  The truth, however, is that they simply want the MBA or the MD so that they can get about the job of making money.  One of our most popular electives is Economics - a course that wasn't even offered when I was in high school. Nothing wrong with offering Economics, at all, but the motivations of the students are pretty transparent.  They are not interested in grappling with Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes or Friedrich von Hayek.  They want to bank some coin.

As we grapple with how to arrest the spiraling costs of college, we almost have to start by trying to define for ourselves what college is really for.