The introduction of the GI Bill following WWII transformed college education. Universities were no longer a possibility for only the upper class. Instead, people from all walks of life were given the opportunity to further their education. Now, college is an expectation of the middle class. Kids graduate from high school and don’t consider whether or not to go to college. They just go.
On a recent episode, Andrew Ferguson, author and senior editor at The Weekly Standard, discusses his latest book, Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College.
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Ferguson talks about the intense salesmanship each university partakes in – selling a lifestyle and an environment (along with, of course, an education) to graduating seniors. One of their most significant marketing tools is the US News and World Report rankings . Schools pretend to hate them, and yet fall all over themselves to move up the chart.
While rankings do have some positive impacts on education (smaller class sizes, more office hours, etc.), they don’t have any way of measuring if learning is actually taking place. Part of the problem is that nobody knows the real purpose behind college. Is it to train for jobs? To create good citizens?
He goes on to discuss the liberal nature of academia, the high cost of a degree, and shares his own experience during his son’s college search.
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