Posted on 09/22/2009 5:09:21 PM PDT by jazusamo
There is so much for high school seniors and their parents to know about colleges that they not only need to get a lot of information but also need to make sure it is the right kind of information.
A number of college guides have useful information but, unfortunately, the best-known and most pretentious of these guides — "America's Best Colleges"— is grossly misleading.
There is no such thing as a "best" college, any more than there is any such thing as a "best" wife or a "best" husband. Who would be best for a particular person depends on that person.
Would we not consider it absurd if someone collected statistics on people and then used those statistics to rank individuals according to who would make the "best" wife or husband? Yet that is the approach "America's Best Colleges" is based on.
A college that would be best for a particular student could be a terrible place for that student's brother or sister. One of them might find West Point a great experience, while the other would fit in perfectly at Reed College— and each might be miserable at the other institution.
Choosing the college that is right for a particular person is not about the rankings of institutions. It is about matching a student with an institution that can enable that person to flourish while there, and to graduate with an education that is a foundation for a fulfilling life in the years ahead.
Among the things you need to know about a particular college is whether it has a real curriculum or just a smorgasbord of courses, so that it is possible to graduate knowing nothing about history, economics or science, for example. Some of the most prestigious colleges in the country are places where you can graduate completely ignorant of such fundamental subjects.
What also matters is whether the intellectual atmosphere is one in which competing ideas are explored and debated, or one in which there is a prevailing orthodoxy of political correctness that a student can challenge only at the risk of being ridiculed by the professor, given a low grade or— in some places— suspended or expelled for violating a campus speech code by giving an honest opinion about things where an orthodoxy is imposed, such as issues involving "race, class and gender."
In short, what is important is not choosing the "best" college, according to some statistics that conceal the arbitrary choices behind the objective-looking numbers. What is important is choosing the right college for you.
The best of the college guides reflects that difference in its title— "Choosing the Right College." Its latest edition has just been published. Like people, it has put on some weight over the years and its seventh edition is now 1,140 pages long. Unlike some of us, however, its additional weight is muscle rather than fat.
"Choosing the Right College" tells you whether there is or is not a curriculum at each of the colleges it covers and whether classes are taught by professors or by graduate students.
It also tells you whether the intellectual atmosphere is free or is hidebound with political correctness, and plagued by professors who think their job is to use the classroom as a place to sound off about their political ideology to a captive audience, even when the course is about chemistry or accounting.
"Choosing the Right College" also presents information on such things as black separatist organizations at Lafayette College, for example. Whether you are for or against such things, you need to know about them, in order to choose what you think is right for you.
Co-ed living arrangements are also discussed, including just how co-ed they are— that is, whether males and females simply live in the same dormitory and/or share the same room and/or use the same bathrooms and showers. It also mentions some colleges where you don't have to live co-ed at all, if you don't want to.
If you want to get more than one college guide, there is also "Barron's Profiles of American Colleges" which has much more statistical detail and can be a useful supplment. But "Choosing the Right College" is a must— even if it is not carried in your local bookstore, and you have to order it on-line or from its publisher, ISI Books in Wilmington, Delaware.
Also check Costoco out. :)
That’s the take I’ve always heard on St. John’s. The program is great, but the environment would be hard for a traditional kid to adapt to. Too bad, too.
Ping for later.
We heard through the grapevine that it was kind of a goofy environment, particularly one of the campuses (I honestly can’t remember if it was the one in the east or the one out west that they were talking about). But it was way too ‘hippie’ for my strait-laced Catholic daughter!
My daughters at Providence College in Rhode Island which is run by the Dominicans. They teach a 2 year mandatory Western Civilization course for all freshman and sophomores students.
Hillsdale is not always a clear imprimatur. We hired a Hillsdale grad a few years ago knowing the curriculum and orientation. I was very disappointed at his level of critical thinking. Nice guy, but a lightweight. Alas Hillsdale is not well enough known yet to attract enough talented students (not great SATS yet) to make grads sure hires. The sad thing is that smart, ambitious and clear thinking grads from top schools are rare and need a little time to recover from the brain-washing they receive and look for at college.
***Hillsdale College, a fine conservative liberal arts college, totally independent of any federal funding, which means independent of any federal control.***
Add GROVE CITY COLLEGE it has a fine engineering program and pre-med, pre-dent programs that can’t be beat.
Check out GROVE CITY COLLEGE
Sowell rocks!
One of my sons looked there because of the program, but it wasn’t for him, either. Funny thing is .. my father-in-law was president of St. John’s class of ‘28. Looooong before it got hippie. Heck, long before anyone knew the word ‘hippie.’
Check out College of the Ozarks in Missouri for a great, no-cost Christian education. It is called “Hard Work U” because all students have to work on the campus in one of its various programs (run the hotel/restaraunt, work on the dairly, etc.) Students even built the chapel they use on campus!
Thanks for the ping jaz.
Thanks, that’s interesting and I’m passing this to my daughter to look into for my granddaughter.
Mark Levine thinks HIGHLY of Hillsdale.
It is a conservative college.
Impris is a GREAT READ!
July/August 2009
Jeremy Rabkin
George Mason University
PRINTABLE PDF
AUDIO PODCAST provided by OutloudOpinion.com
The Constitution and American Sovereignty
http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp
Anoreth is having a really nice time on her boat in Seattle. My impression is that every day she wakes up that she’s *not at home* is a good day! (I’m naturally conflicted about this, but her departure freed up a room, so ...)
Anoreth was talking about getting more college education (she has 30 hours from Central Piedmont CC) before she even finished Basic. I don’t know when she’ll get to it - probably when she decides on something she wants to pursue for a long-term career in the Coast Guard. If nothing jumps out, I expect her to save up her benefits and go to college as a civilian in 4 years.
She was interest in taking Theology at Belmont or Franciscan/Steubenville, and the military benefits would pay for a large part of it. But honestly, I think she’s a lifer in the military with the slightest encouragement.
While academic rigor is the order of the day, from day one until graduation, St Johns has turned out a large number of liberals.
At least now I know that I don't know much. That's an improvement.
OH, me too! SAT scores out the wazoo, but I was clueless. I’m not sure how that happened actually, with my mother ... at least I could do laundry!
Another good college that does the “Hard Work U” approach is Berea near Lexington KY. There’s no tuition. You work. Preference is given to folks of limited means.
Thankfully I haven't wasted the intervening 35 years and have actually learned some practical stuff. I wouldn't starve to death if I wound up on a desert island a la Robinson Crusoe . . .
Amazing, isn’t it? My grandfather was GA Tech ‘18, he wouldn’t recognize the place now.
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