Posted on 06/27/2026 3:57:41 AM PDT by karpov
Suppose you have a friend who knows little about American higher education but is eager to learn about it. You might want to recommend to him a book that introduces the subject with readily understood essays covering the range of problems we face. A good choice would be Higher Education in America: It’s Worse Than You Think. The book consists of nineteen essays by people who have been on the front lines in the battle to rescue our colleges and universities from the menaces of mediocrity and politicization.
So, what has gone wrong with American higher education?
One theme that recurs throughout the book is that most of our colleges and universities have lost their sense of mission. As Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn writes in the foreword, they have converted the “sublime activity of education” into a “manufacturing operation.” Rather than working with young minds to help them learn how to discover truth, most colleges just want to process through as many graduates as possible. And worse, instead of enlightenment, students are often steeped in conflict, taught that certain groups are oppressors and others oppressed.
In his introduction, Christopher Rufo observes, “The great project of liberal education, designed to inculcate knowledge of the truth, appreciation of the beautiful, and the civic virtue necessary to advance both, has been replaced by bureaucracies, activism, anti-Western ideology and empty credentialism.” College degrees that used to betoken a wide range of knowledge and skills now signal nothing. Rufo argues that education and liberty are inextricable and we need to worry for our civilization because many students now graduate without the slightest appreciation for liberty.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
“Higher Education in America: It’s Worse than You Think”
Available at Amazon for the low-low price of $27.28 - no thanks...if you have to buy a book that tells you haw bad it is, you haven’t been paying attention.
There is only one thing that will save education: freedom on the net.
The problem is they have chosen woke ideology over obvious truth and proper thinking. It’s absurd to think there are no differences between men and women but that’s what woke ideology DEMANDS that you think. Same is true of gay/straght, black/white, skilled/unskilled and, if there is any difference, it’s the minority that is given greater glory.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Pick an American ailment. The root cause is Democrats.
Back in 1954-1956 we went to GREAT New Mexico schools and the state had great jobs!
Then Dad got a wild hair and decided to move us to the Ozarks. Poor schools, no real paying jobs.
NM still had great schools and jobs when I went back in 1959-1962, and 1973-1977.
Now the NM Democrats have killed the Great Jobs in oil, gas, power production and mining. And their schools are rated the worst in the nation.
https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/study-ranks-new-mexico-as-state-with-the-worst-school-system/
Where I live again in the Ozarks has Great Jobs and Great Schools. They voted in Republicans and all that Walmart Money and a tax base for schools helped a lot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.