Many Americans wrongly believe that a Harvard education is automatically superior to an education at, say, Florida State. But that belief is incorrect and reinforces the notion that a school’s admissions selectivity is a sign of high academic quality. As George Leef points out in today’s Pope Center piece, whether a student attends Harvard or a football powerhouse such as Florida State, the kind of education he or she receives ultimately boils down to individual initiative.

Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, and Florida State, “football powerhouses” that made it to the semi-finals this season, nevertheless have talented faculty and ambitious, intelligent students who are doing rigorous work. Sure, some students at those schools party their way to graduation and have no interest in being challenged academically. But if students take their college experiences seriously and fight for a top-notch education by selecting quality courses and finding engaged professors, the fact that the diplomas they earn come from schools known more for athletics than academics matters little.

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