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How Our Higher-Education System Could Put Students First: A new book provides a number of ideas.
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 30, 2022 | George Leef

Posted on 12/05/2022 8:23:46 AM PST by karpov

American higher education is a stunning success, but mostly for the people who work in it. Faculty members and administrators enjoy employment that pays pretty well and is more secure than jobs in most other fields. The working conditions are pleasant, and the perquisites are often alluring.

The purpose of colleges and universities, however, is not to provide a comfortable living for the faculty and staff but to educate students. In that regard, they have been doing worse and worse for the last 50 years. The cost of education (or at least of obtaining a degree) has risen enormously, while the value of the education for many students has perceptibly fallen—the opposite of what has happened in most other markets.

That’s because the sellers of other goods and services have to put the interests of their customers first. Those who fail to do so are swiftly penalized in competition and driven out of the marketplace if they don’t adjust. But education, sadly, isn’t much of a competitive market.

In short, colleges and universities do not put their students first. That is the point of a recent book by Paul LeBlanc, president of the University of Southern New Hampshire. In Students First: Equity, Access, and Opportunity in Higher Education, LeBlanc explains why our higher-education system so badly underperforms and why we need an educational “ecosystem” in its place.

Before going into the book, it’s important to note that Paul LeBlanc cannot be dismissed as a “right-wing” critic who’s eager to tear down higher education. Besides serving as president of SNHU, he was an advisor to Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell during the Obama administration and is a member of NACIQI, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.

(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education
KEYWORDS: college

1 posted on 12/05/2022 8:23:46 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

Students do not belong “first”.

Truth and beauty come first. The students gather because of that.

No truth and no beauty? They’re just wasting their time.


2 posted on 12/05/2022 8:40:21 AM PST by Jim Noble (The Decline of America is a Choice )
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To: karpov

Thanks


3 posted on 12/05/2022 8:41:57 AM PST by Conservat1
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To: karpov

Parents first - vouchers for parents and the rest of the crap - up and down the system - will take care of itself.

(Also dump commies running Teacher’s Unions.)


4 posted on 12/05/2022 8:44:28 AM PST by GOPJ (Has Biden had dinner with an anti-evangelical? Will Schumer condemn him if he has?)
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