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The Lowering of Higher Education in America: Why Financial Aid Should Be Based on Student Performance ReviewThis book's author, Jackson Toby, taught college courses for 50 years and is professor emeritus of sociology at Rutgers University, so he had a lot of experience to draw upon when he wrote this book. Indeed, with a lot of ground to cover, professor Toby says he worked sporadically on this book for 15 years. A key theme throughout the book--and I emphasize that it's Toby's theme--is that in the field of higher education, many good intentions in providing access to college for large numbers of students have not necessarily translated into good results for either students or for the country. Although I taught college for a number of years and in so doing developed some sympathy for Toby's points, this topic isn't my specialty, so I am not going to take sides in the debate about higher education. Who cares what my opinions are, anyway? I am just going to report the book's basic structure and some of the author's points. If you want, you can read the book yourself and make up your own mind.
Basically, the book is organized around seven topics, and each topic is given a chapter that includes extensive discussion, the author's conclusions and plentiful endnotes (averaging about 50 per chapter). The seven topics, which should give you a quick idea of the author's themes, are: (1) How colleges undermine high school education, (2) Maximizing access to colleges maximizes the enrollment of underprepared students, (3) How grade inflation undermines academic achievement, (4) Goofing off at college, (5) Is college graduation enough for a good job?, (6) The perils of the financial aid labyrinth, and (7) How a change in public policy can improve American college education.
Much of the book involves the author supporting his arguments with discussions involving the results of various studies. For example, one study states that only about half of college freshmen at four-year colleges graduate within six years, and only about half of students at two-year colleges graduate within four years. Professor Toby cites unprepared students as one reason for these results.
Toby describes what amounts to a big-business-factory approach at some colleges--where there is an emphasis on attracting large numbers of students, qualified or not, by building more comfortable dorms, large recreation centers, extra tennis courts and the like, while reducing academic demands on students. The author notes that regular class attendance is not necessary in many classes, mandatory courses are few, and grade inflation makes hard, productive work less necessary.
Some of the examples of grade inflation caught my eye. At one well-known (and well-regarded) school--I am not going to name names--the percentage of grades that were either As or Bs in 1954 was 35%. In 1971 it was 52%, and in 1991 it became 67%. At one Ivy League college, 22% of grades were As in 1966, but by 1991 - 1992 that had grown to 43%. Toby cites the interesting example of a student who maintained only a C average at a community college and got into an Ivy League college by forging transcripts and teacher recommendations, yet still managed to get As and Bs in half his courses--at one of the most competitive colleges in the country. Perhaps students are really doing better work nowadays, but based on my own experience, grade inflation is a real issue.
Professor Toby hits the issue of student incentives as hard as an economist would. Indeed, misaligned incentives amount to a major theme throughout the book. He maintains that low college admissions standards don't provide sufficient incentives to high school students to study hard for college. He cites a study that concludes that about 40% of American high school students are "disengaged" and just go through the motions of education. He says that "compulsory education" is an oxymoron, since voluntary effort is necessary--and missing among too many students. In discussing the lack of student preparation, Toby provides what would otherwise be funny, if the subject weren't so serious--a long list of words that make it past students' software spell-checkers, but are used inappropriately. "Write" versus "right," and "aloud" versus "allowed," for example.
Okay, you've got an idea of what Professor Toby has set out to do. Whether or not you agree with his conclusions, perhaps you'll agree that the subject of quality higher education in America is a very important topic. If you do, this book will introduce you to some of the most important issues. Then do your own research, read more and form your own conclusions.
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