Old Reforms, New Issue

The Chronicle of Higher Education offered up more than a dozen reforms to shake up higher education. See if these sound familiar:

1. An old-school notion: writing required. Check
2. 2 captains at the helm of each college. Check, at least.
3. Grades out, badges in. Check
4. Degrees with a price tag. Check, and a hefty one at that.
5. Community colleges for the students they actually have. Check.
6. A student-centered NCAA. Check, otherwise it wouldn’t be the NCAA.
7. High-tech college counseling
8. School at age 3. No More 12th grade. Check, both my daughters started at that age.
9. Truly global campuses. Check, just ask Johns Hopkins and….
10. Ditch the monograph. Check, when was the last time you saw one?
11. Meet the new for-profit: the low profit. Check, at least that’s what they tell us when they want more money.
12. The end of free space. Check, that’s why everything is named after somebody.
13. A kickstarter for science. Check, we’ve been getting press releases on this for awhile
14. 2 Tracks for faculty. Check, at a minimum.
15. A tax for higher education. Check, check, check….

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org.