College enrollments peaked about ten years ago and have been falling ever since. There has been much hand-wringing over that in “progressive” circles, where the assumption is that the more formal schooling people have, the better off they’ll be. (That just ain’t so.)
Are colleges themselves at fault? In today’s Martin Center article, Professor Alexander Riley of Bucknell argues that they are. He writes, “The economics are certainly a big part of what is going on. When a commodity becomes so expensive and its perceived value drops so low, a downturn in consumption is expectable. Economics is not everything, however. Unexplored in the Chronicle’s investigation of this matter is the way the culture of higher education has operated to undermine its own continuing existence.”
How so? For one thing, the overwhelmingly “woke” culture of higher education demonizes the very people who have long supported it. All that babble about “white privilege” and the need for a radical transformation of America was certain to repel some former supporters.
Moreover, scholarship and academic integrity have collapsed. Riley continues, “In most of the humanities and social sciences — especially the overtly political ‘Studies’ fields — rigor has fallen completely into the abyss. Social-science disciplines that were once oriented toward the scientific method and quantification are now essentially just applications of the catchall ’cause’ of oppression as the answer to all questions. Humanities fields that formerly required students to read the wide canon of Western literature and history now use graphic novels and television programs as their central texts.”
Surprise — lots of people don’t want to shell out big bucks for worthless propaganda.
Riley sticks the landing: “Sources like the Chronicle, so interested in talking about the demographic crisis, never mention the factors contributing to it that I have discussed here. Higher education is going to get what it deserves because it has failed to sustain its traditional mission and traditional culture.”