In today’s Pope Center Clarion Call, I write about a splendid new book published in the U.K., The Broken University by James Stanfield. The title hints at the author’s approach: He repeatedly applies Frederic Bastiat’s admonition (most famously expressed in his essay on the Broken Window Fallacy) to think not only about the seen effects of some action, but also of the unseen consequences. Stanfield argues that higher ed in the U.K. is made to look good by focusing only on its obvious and favorable results and ignoring its many unseen costs.

That’s precisely the case in the U.S. as well. On higher education (and all other public-policy issues), people look at the positives without considering whether they’re outweighed by the largely hidden costs.