Professor Walter Williams of George Mason University writes here about the academic rot he sees in American higher education. He focuses on hyper-politicized professors who insist on browbeating their students with their opinions. In that concern, Williams has allies all across the political spectrum. Several years ago, famed leftist Stanley Fish published a book entitled Save the World on Your Own Time in which he lamented that many professors waste time on proselytizing — time their largely ill-prepared students need for learning basic knowledge and skills.
Williams might also have mentioned that academic standards have also been rotting. It’s much easier for profs to demand relatively little of students and grade with the utmost of leniency than to insist on high levels of learning. To do that risks alienating not only students who want college to be fun and easy, but also administrators, who don’t want any students to get discouraged and leave.
