You Say You Want a Revolution. A new book makes the case for dramatic change in higher education.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | December 21, 2022 | George Leef

[karpov]

American higher education has changed drastically over the last half-century or so. It used to be that relatively few people thought postsecondary education was necessary; for those who did, college was not terribly expensive and mostly offered serious courses based on fields of knowledge. If you asked college or university presidents what the purpose of their institutions was, they’d say something like, “To help people understand the world through teaching and research.”

The authors of Don’t Go to College: A Case for Revolution lament that few of our colleges are still like that. Instead, they are intent on changing the world, and the ideas they promote are ruining society.

Those authors are Michael Robillard and Timothy Gordon. They’ve both been to college, with each holding a bachelor’s degree and three advanced degrees. Both have college teaching experience. And both have become utterly disillusioned by higher education as it now exists.

The opening sentences of the book set the tone.

"The average American college hopeful would be better off drilling a hole in his head than attending a present-day university. He’d learn about as much, wouldn’t be financially crippled with student debt, and would likely avoid acquiring a variety of sexually transmitted diseases. And if a drill to the head sounds like self-harm, what do you think four to six years of safe spaces, trigger warnings, grievance studies, and neo-Marxist indoctrination amounts to, if not an expensively acquired ritual lobotomy?"

Going to college (the great majority of them, anyway) is a detriment to anyone who wants a happy, successful life, the authors argue. Students learn little of value and absorb a lot of terrible ideas that leave them feeling entitled, self-righteous, and aggrieved.

[karpov]

My eldest son was able to graduate in 2.5 years by using Advanced Placement credits and taking 5 courses each term. You can look up school policies on accepting AP and CLEP credits. State schools are more likely to give credit. My friend, an adjunct professor, said there are jobs paying almost $100K for graduates with 2-year associate degree in some tech specializations. A relevant article is at https://www.zdnet.com/education/computers-tech/cybersecurity-associate-degree-salary/.

[marron]

Four years in the navy and a set of Harvard Classics.

[ckilmer]

the simplest way to change colleges is to make colleges co signers of student loans.

[lizma2]

“the simplest way to change colleges is to make colleges co signers of student loans.”

Yep. My first year of grad school the Guaranteed Student Loan went into effect. My tuition more than doubled every year after that.

[cgbg]

Poor white families have been discriminated against in college admissions for decades.

It is reparations time—all private colleges should have their full endowments liquidated and distributed to poor white families.

[lurk]

The uni system is gangrenous. But institutional reform takes decades.