Hello, Everyone:
There seems to be a huge disconnect in all the discussion about the quality of higher education. For virtually my entire adult life, I've been reading reports about the poor quality of education and training people receive in college and yet over that same time period we've seen incredible improvements in a wide variety of indicators of American happiness and success that should be related to the quality of education. More people (as a percentage of population and total number) have college degrees today and the state of our economy in terms of income and wealth is at the highest level its ever been. America still leads the world in a wide variety of intellectual indicators (patents, technological innovation). More people than ever participate in "high art or cultural events" (art museums, classical concerts, book readings). And so on.
What gives?
If American higher education has been this constant failure churning out millions of morons, how can this society be so successful? Immigration?
My take on it is that most academics measure indicators of success that have nothing to do with the real world. Clearly the kids can't read or write very well. So, when they leave the U and get a job, they use word processors with spell check or better still, take advantage of the great strength of a free market - specialization. They hire somebody who can write and let them do that job while they do something they are better at.
IMO the claims about the failure of higher education are like the claims about global warming. Hot air.