Profscam

A hard-working reporter, Charles J. Sykes, has published an extraordinary book about higher education in America. The book is Profscam, subtitled Professors and the Demise of Higher Education. Mr. Sykes demonstrates with abundant evidence that teaching, actual teaching, has been negatively rewarded in the period since World War II. Hours spent with students do not advance a professor’s career. Grantsmanship does. High prestige in the academic profession correlates with a low teaching “load.” What counts is “research,” which is often fraudulent. Molière would have written well about the academic comedy known as “citation.” The professors “cite” each other in their “research,” and a score card is kept administratively on the number of times a professor is “cited.” Of course there is a lively racket in citations: you cite me, and I’ll cite you.

In order to accommodate all this “research,” a forest of academic journals has grow up, the function of which is to provide space for articles that will add to the professors’ bibliographies. Mr. Sykes estimates, in my opinion accurately, that less than 10 per cent of this research material adds anything at all to the sum of human knowledge. Furthermore, no one can read all of it. College administrators, in effect, simply weigh it by the pound when deciding on promotions and pay raises.

About the Author

Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

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A hard-working reporter, Charles J. Sykes, has published an extraordinary book about higher education in America. The book is Profscam, subtitled Professors and the Demise of Higher Education. Mr. Sykes demonstrates with abundant evidence that teaching, actual teaching, has been negatively rewarded in the period since World War II. Hours spent with students do not advance a professor’s career. Grantsmanship does. High prestige in the academic profession correlates with a low teaching “load.” What counts is “research,” which is often fraudulent. Molière would have written well about the academic comedy known as “citation.” The professors “cite” each other in their “research,” and a score card is kept administratively on the number of times a professor is “cited.” Of course there is a lively racket in citations: you cite me, and I’ll cite you.

In order to accommodate all this “research,” a forest of academic journals has grow up, the function of which is to provide space for articles that will add to the professors’ bibliographies. Mr. Sykes estimates, in my opinion accurately, that less than 10 per cent of this research material adds anything at all to the sum of human knowledge. Furthermore, no one can read all of it. College administrators, in effect, simply weigh it by the pound when deciding on promotions and pay raises.