Free Republic

As political pressures for equity—equality of outcome—have grown in recent years, traditional methods of evaluating college students have come under threat. As the proportion of the population going to college has increased, the proportion of students who are not equipped to succeed has also increased. Dealing with an increasing number of marginal students in an equity-charged environment is one factor that has favored grade inflation. But there is a contributing factor that is built into the American system and has taken some years to reach fruition. When I first came to this country from Britain, I was surprised to find...

Ralston College counts among its first graduates a 24-year-old man who, in his third term of study, asked me what he could do to help ensure our fledgling institution would endure for 100 years. His query deepened a conviction that had guided me for the previous decade as I traveled the world in search of philanthropists and world-class academics to help found a university dedicated to preserving and advancing knowledge: It is what young people want but cannot easily find. Answering their call has been inspiring and, at times, challenging. While it is a challenge that my colleagues and I...