The Commission on the Future of Higher Education has released another Issue Paper that deals with the problem of college costs. Much of the

blame is placed on exorbitant labor costs, which is to say that faculty

members are paid a lot, but don’t do very much teaching. Whereas profs used

to be expected to teach 12 class hours per week (sometimes more), at many

schools the standard is now 9 hours, and frequently less. The justification is

that professors need time for their research, but often that research is

just a matter of filling up pages in obscure academic journals.

Thomas Sowell has said that education (both K-12 and post-secondary) has

become a business that is run mainly for the benefit of the producers rather

than for the consumers. He’s right.