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Inside • Academe Vol Inside • Academe Vol. XV • No. 1 • 2009–2010 A publication of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni In This Issue… “What will they learn?” Project Makes a Splash By David Azerrad, Program Officer 2 In Box hree months ago, ACTA unveiled a Stories about ACTA’s new college guide 3 University Cuts new college guide website that, unlike have appeared in more than 160 different Economics Department T all the other rankings, grades universities on newspapers across the country with an esti- 4 Report Card in Illinois education and not reputation. WhatWill- mated total readership of 20 million. Most TheyLearn.com assigns each institution a notably, ACTA’s initiative was praised in 5 UDC Stays the Course grade ranging from “A” to “F” based on how two separate Wall Street Journal columns, Coming Soon: many of the following seven core subjects featured in the Daily News (New York), Increasing Account- it requires: the Houston ability in Higher Composition, Chronicle, Education Mathematics, Investor’s 6 2009 ATHENA Science, Eco- Business Roundtable nomics, For- Daily, and eign Language, picked up by 8 KC Johnson Receives Literature, the Associ- 2009 Philip Merrill and U.S. ated Press. Award Government ACTA’s focus 9 Honoring Our Heroes or History. on education at Harvard Launched and our argu- Reforming the at the National ments for a Politically Correct Press Club, rigorous and University WhatWillTheyLearn.com has since attracted coherent curriculum have been discussed on more than 40,000 visitors, in part due to a CNN, Fox Business News, and numerous 10 Best of the Blog full-page ad on the inside cover of the 2010 local television and radio stations as well as Pesile Awards Honorary U.S. News & World Report “College Rank- Voice of America, which broadcasts across Degree to Jill Biden ings” issue. The ebsitew has also garnered na- the world. 11 Speaking Up tional media attention, as we briefly outlined The website also made a splash on the in the previous issue of Inside Academe. blogosphere, with endorsements by The Kemper Puts Spolight (continued on 3) on History Coming Soon... www.goacta.org A new book sponsored by the Gates Foundation on increasing [email protected] accountability in higher education will include a chapter by ACTA president Anne D. Neal. See page 5 for details. 1-888-ALUMNI-8 in Box Praise for “What will they learn?” Trustees Ned McCune Costa Mesa, CA Dennis DeConcini, Member “There is a crying need for the ACTA college guide. The U.S. Arizona Board of Regents News & World Report guide reduces all colleges to a peerage Tucson, AZ ranking, as if all that matters is how impressed people will be “Thank you for the copy of the American Council of Trustees when you tell them where you graduated….Your guide holds and Alumni’s What will they learn? I’ve had an opportunity to great promise for advancing all your other goals in American review this study and can appreciate the information contained higher education.” therein. I found the trustee’s guide [Restoring a Core] is helpful as well. The Arizona Board of Regents will indeed be using some Professors of the material you have enclosed.” David Crump, John B. Neibel Professor of Law Students University of Houston Houston, TX Bryan A. Shay, High School Student “Thanks for your ratings. I hope they become better known. “Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thanks for publish- The U.S. News ratings are misleading, and your system is geared ing a report (What will they learn?) that genuinely has the well much more closely to what prospective students really should being of students and parents close at hand. As a freshman stu- consider in choosing an education.” dent currently considering the wide range of schools that I may attend in the near future, this report is invaluable to making a Kenneth Chastain, Professor Emeritus wise and meaningful decision. Your bold and honest criticism of University of Virginia the program requirements, or lack thereof, at many institutions Charlottesville, VA is a breath of fresh air, especially of the exorbitant A-list schools “Thank you for your report What will they learn?…May it hiding behind an all too often unchallenged reputation. Again serve as a catalyst to inspire fundamental changes in graduation my deepest thanks….” requirements in our nation’s colleges and universities. In the ‘90s I chaired the Committee to Review the Area Requirements Neal Bansal, Student at the University of Virginia. The committee members quickly California Institute of Technology discovered that our ‘area requirements’ were in effect ‘area elec- “I applaud your efforts to hold colleges accountable for the tives,’ which permitted students to slip through a path of least education that they provide, especially with the publication resistance without obtaining a basic liberal arts education….In of What will they learn? As a college student, I have long been the committee’s report, the members recommended a required disappointed by the low educational standards (that continue introduction to the basic areas of knowledge. As you may to become watered down) set by this nation’s top universities. I anticipate, the report was overwhelmingly rejected by the A&S hope that What will they learn? can be a catalyst for change and faculty, who preferred to vote for their favorite course rather uniformly raising standards at the university level….” than the students’ general education.” The ublicP Others Gordon Williams Deedie Dowdle, Spokeswoman Greensboro, NC Auburn University “I absolutely love your website….Too many kids are not get- Auburn, AL ting the well rounded knowledge they need to be successful as “Studies such as this one are helpful in our review and efforts to entrepreneurs and workers in American business. I’m particu- improve.” larly pleased that you place such a high emphasis on American History….The criteria used in [other popular rankings] in my Marc Scheer, Author opinion are extremely nebulous. I like the way your rankings No Sucker Left Behind are so specific and very easy to understand. Keep up the good New York, NY work!” “This could be the best new education website of the year, just because it forces people to look at schools in a new way.” INSIDE ACADEME2 2009-2010 No. 1 University Cuts Economics Department During Recession ne of the major fi ndings of ACTA’s new report What will they learn? is that on the vast majority of campuses—98 out of the O100 in our report—economics is optional. Needless to say, this is odd treatment of a subject that is absolutely critical to a good education—not to mention to informed citizenship. Th e University of Southern Mississippi, though, is taking the practice of giving short shrift to the “dismal science” to new heights. According to Inside Higher Ed, Southern Miss is cutting its economics department as part of a plan to reduce university spending. Southern Miss apparently based the decision on low student interest, as indicated by fewer than fi ve graduates per year—the least of any department. As one professor put it, “I’m just sort of baffl ed. It seems to me similar to not having an English Department or a biology department. Here we are in the worst economic mess in 70 years, and to not give our students a chance to understand their own personal economic situation—their fi nances—and understand what some of the remedies are that are being talked about by the president and Congress and state legislators, I think is a shame.” Of course, it is important for universities to be as effi cient as possible. But nixing a resort-like student center and shuttering the economics department are two very diff erent things. Th is move at Southern Miss strikes us less as cost-conscious than—as the professor put it—baffl ing. • What will they learn?, continued from 1 Washington Post’s education columnist Jay the University of Arkansas, and West Along the same lines, state fl agship Mathews, USA Today’s higher education Point. No institution requires all seven. universities do a markedly better job with reporter Mary Beth Marklein, and Th e One of the most interesting fi ndings general education (average grade of “C”) New York Times’ Stanley Fish. in the report is that there is an almost in- than the top liberal arts colleges and na- Since the launch, we have already tional universities (with an “F” average) received 53 requests from students, ad- while charging much lower tuition and ministrators, and professors to add their fees. universities to the website. So far, we have In light of ACTA’s previous work on added ten, bringing the total number of historical and economic illiteracy, we schools to 137. Together these universities were not surprised to fi nd, sadly, that educate some 2 million students. only two out of the 100 universities re- Alongside the website, ACTA also quire economics (University of Alaska at published a report on general education Fairbanks and West Point), and only 11 at 100 leading colleges and universities, require U.S. government or history. On as well as a trustee guide on implement- Constitution Day, several newspapers ing more rigorous core requirements. What will they learn? noted the latter and called on universi- Both were sent to the 10,000 trustees in ties to get their act together. Th e Sunday ACTA’s database. Telegraph in New Hampshire entitled its A Report on General Education Requirements at 100 Th e printed report, also entitled What of the Nation’s Leading Colleges and Universities editorial “Constitution depends on an will they learn?, concludes that many of educated citizenry.” our leading universities have essentially We couldn’t agree more.
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