College, Continued
I am deeply gratified that Professor Rahe picked up where I started on the thread about the declining value of higher education. It was especially rewarding because what I merely spitballed, he turned into a masterful analysis of every infirmity that besets the mainstream higher education establishment. I agree with virtually everything he wrote.
I do want to revisit the two criticisms I made in my original post, however: that the dorm lifestyle contributes to the social dysfunction and that the twinning of research and teaching functions can hamper the quality of the professoriate.
Professor Rahe is skeptical of these claims, writing “Dormitories exist at the schools where serious learning is far more apt to take place, and nearly all freshman and sophomores at such schools live in dormitories. Moreover, teaching and research are no more separate functions at those institutions than they are at the larger public universities.”
These are excellent criticisms insofar as I didn’t make the distinction that I was referring to the problem schools instead of issuing universal imperatives for higher ed. But his far more thorough analysis actually reinforces the pathologies I was hinting at.
Later in his post, he writes “If the “students” discussed in the study Troy cites are eager for anything it is for entertainment and pleasure. The universities accommodate these desires. They do not properly police conduct in the dormitories. In the bathrooms, they sell condoms, instead. They provide luxurious sports facilities and golf courses. They sponsor sports programs that function as entertainment, and they bend all of the rules to accommodate athletes who are not even semi-literate.”
This was the root of my criticism of dormitories. The concept of in loco parentis has been dying a slow death in higher education for decades, even though college may be the place where it’s most necessary. Having rejected all but the most basic responsibility for their students’ behaviors, most universities then arrange for collective housing arrangements that pool the profane and libidinous post-adolescents. It’s bad enough for a school to divorce rights from responsibilities in classroom conduct. But when you multiply that by a similarly consequence-free social atmosphere, you have a recipe for chaos.
Then there’s the issue of research and teaching. Professor Rahe writes “Earlier this month, the editorial page of that newspaper [the Wall Street Journal] celebrated the fact that Texas A&M was going to use “such metrics of value added as research dollars brought in by a professor and student evaluations of how well a teacher performs in the classroom” to determine the allocation of salaries, and it expressed the hope that “the school’s regents succeed in their efforts to spread pay-for-performance accountability to other public universities.”
This gets to my point about the research side. It’s not an inherent deficiency of the craft; indeed some of the most profound books in any given year come out of the academy. But in many cases the research component is either (A) a cash grab or (B) an exercise in intellectual irrelevance. Regarding the latter phenomenon, look at the faculty page of any liberal arts department in the kind of universities cited in the Arum and Roska study and you’ll find people whose doctoral dissertations (and subsequent research interests) involve things like homosexual iconography in Victorian Britain or Mongolian judicial reform. Some less outrageous examples may have their uses in the intellectual’s development, but this narrowness and the tribalism it encourages works at cross-purposes with the notion of a near-universal canon that used to imbue the liberal arts with a sense of purpose. It’s hard to imagine these academics being very effective at transmitting anything like real knowledge in the classroom.
One final observation: The crisis for conservatives in higher ed is only going to get worse. A few institutions (of which Hillsdale has to be at the very top of the list) swim against the tide of dereliction washing over the modern academy. But as an increasing number of conservative intellectuals find productive (and more financially rewarding) work outside of colleges and universities – and fewer conservative faculty members inhabit major Ph.D. programs – the supply of academics from the right is only going to shrink.
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Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
Troy Senik: But as an increasing number of conservative intellectuals find productive (and more financially rewarding) work outside of colleges and universities – and fewer conservative faculty members inhabit major Ph.D. programs...
Boy, I wish someone would offer me some productive and financially rewarding work so I could abandon my PhD program... :) Will work for food.
Here's another (of the many) reason you don't find many conservatives in academia: Most conservatives are individualistic and believe that you should work to provide for yourself and your family. You simply cannot do this starting out in an academic setting. Take my program for example. For the next 5 years, I will make less than half the poverty level (I have a wife and daughter). Then, for the next 8-10 years I will make barely above the poverty level as a post-doc researcher or assistant prof. Then, if I get tenure (a big IF, it's a hard thing to do) I'll finally make a decent salary 15 years down the line. You just can't be self sufficient with a family in these circumstances, nor can you be very self reliant either.
Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
Here's a couple more reasons you don't really find conservatives at major research Universities:
- To be a researcher is to be dependent upon the government for grants. Getting government grants consumes the life of a researcher (which is why the vast majority of great researchers are not great teachers, and why they are boring people in general)
- No one likes to be around people that despise them all day. The liberals that inhabit academia are aggressive, fierce and vitriolic. Perhaps Professor Yoo can explain how he stands to be around Bazerkley all day long. I can barely take it myself, and I'm in the Midwest.
- To be a PhD, you have to play the game of the liberals. Most conservative researchers I know at least pretend they are liberals some of the time. In most cases this just means keeping your mouth shut but in others it means talking the talk while despising it. Strange paradox, that.
- Liberals quickly recognize conservatives in academia and exclude them both from promotions and from friendliness. If you're not reading the NY Times, listening to NPR, in a "committed relationship" and driving a Prius, they will know....
Jul '10
Re: College, Continued
One way to get more conservatives to teach would be to tap into retired or semi-retired business people who could teach their disciplines to undergraduates.
Unfortunately, the monopoly of the over-credentialed would resist such an idea to their last breath.
May '10
Re: College, Continued
Might we see a continued division of universities into overtly conservative schools (Hillsdale, Ave Maria) and overtly progressive schools, similar to the division of news networks?
Considering how states like California and Illinois are simply begging their conservatives to abandon ship, I wouldn't be surprised to some of their schools swing even further Left.
May '10
Re: College, Continued
Troy, I too admired Professor Rahe's reflections.
And I agree with you and him that it's a scandal that universities fail to police dorms properly. But (as someone who has worked in Student Life in more than one "alternative Catholic college") I firmly oppose the in loco parentis model for colleges and universities.
It's inescapably paternalistic. It distorts the right relation between staff and students and retards moral maturity. It seems to me that the aim of staff and administration should not be to parent students, but rather to set and enforces rules and standards that are most conducive to the life of the mind. And to keep these to the minimum necessary to the task.
So, for instance, I think "quiet hours" are right and good; I think a curfew is not.
Staff and administrators have authority over the dorms. Not over the moral lives of their students. There's a difference.
Sep '10
Re: College, Continued
Prof. Rahe and your posts, while informative, state what I thought was the obvious. Playboy has been rating the top party schools for 20+ years. While a college diploma is not essential for success it is undeniably helpful. With the exception of students enrolled in the hard sciences, math, and schools like Hillsdale most are on a quest for this coveted piece of paper and not an education. Why not have a great time in the process? Ricochet provides more education than most of these institutions. If you also provide diplomas, cold beer and attractive coeds you could call yourself a university
Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
"Having rejected all but the most basic responsibility for their students’ behaviors, most universities then arrange for collective housing arrangements that pool the profane and libidinous post-adolescents."
Precisely.
I wish all colleges followed the Notre Dame model. No co-ed doms, no frats, coupled with parietals that are enforced. If propriety is encouraged by the campus culture, the inevitable student shenanigans will be much less egregious and dangerous.
I also wish the dringking age were bumped back to 18. Then students would be socializing in public places that had to keep control over their customers or face losing drinking licenses. Kids would experience social drinking amongst peers and more experienced upperclassmen and see that it doesn't have to include outrageous antics. Now the kids take it underground or pre-party before attending campus events. Over indulging is the result. And those who aren't party animals have fewer social options.
I made my daughter read I Am Charlotte SImmons before leaving for college so she'd see what she'd be facing.
Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
Another thing Notre Dame does is have all age levels mixed in each dorm. Presumably, the more mature upperclassmen will model wiser behavior for the new kids who just hit campus.
I don't agree with Professor Rahe that students at schools where more serious learning takes place are more likely to behave better in their dorm environments. My daughter's high school classmate who ended up at Harvard spent her first night there in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. (In fact, that seems to be a pattern with Harvard bound girls from her H.S. for some reason.) There were many, many girls who attended elite schools and learned more about partying & promiscuity than anything in the classroom.
May '10
Re: College, Continued
Samwise Gamgee
Boy, I wish someone would offer me some productive and financially rewarding work so I could abandon my PhD program... :)
Ha! Nice to see that this isn't exclusive to my neck of the woods. Your two posts summarize my life as a grad student almost perfectly.
Although, you forgot to add the part about listening to the faculty ramble on about the need to help the 'poor and impoverished' one day, only to turn around the next during budget cuts and throw the their poor and impoverished charges under the bus so that they can protect their own financial privileges. Then whenever someone suggests that they take a minor cut for the sake of keeping the grad students afloat, they huff and puff for a second, then change the topic. Two days later, they're then harping on again against 'heartless and greedy' corporate downsizing.
Jul '10
Re: College, Continued
It is an interesting fact that the institution which identifies itself as the most progressive in our society is actually the institution most steadfastly opposed to reform or alteration.
Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
Kofola
Although, you forgot to add the part about listening to the faculty ramble on about the need to help the 'poor and impoverished' one day, only to turn around the next during budget cuts and throw the their poor and impoverished charges under the bus
Exactly!
Take health care for example. If you asked my facutly how many of them supported "Universal Health Care" 8/10 would probably enthusastically proclaim that they do and you should too!
But, the vast majority of Universities (mine included) don't provide health insurance for the families of graduate students directly under their employ. All of these professors who insist that all should have "free" health care turn a blind eye when the families of those they advise (and depend upon for research) go without health care.
They know it may not be financially viable for the University to provide health care for families of a couple hundred grad students but for some reason they think "the government" should provide it for tens of millions of people around the country...
Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
I guess the universities don't provide it because they don't have to. They know there will always be another willing grad student to fill the spot.
It's funny, but the only childhood friends who attended any post graduate schools full time were those who went to med school. Every other person worked full time at jobs with good benefits and completed grad school or law school at night on the company dime. It must be ingrained in our blue collar psyches. Or maybe it was just knowing that our families were in no position to bail us out in an emergency made us cautious.
It must be tough to juggle your studies and teaching responsibilities while worrying about $$ & your family's needs.
Jun '10
Re: College, Continued
StickerShock: I guess the universities don't provide it because they don't have to. They know there will always be another willing grad student to fill the spot.
That's very true SS. I was one of 9 people admitted to my program out of a possible 500 or so applicants. With tons of indentured servants around, who needs to pay to get work done?
Re: College, Continued
Pardon me for joining this conversation so late. I have had a busy morning and just now looked at Ricochet.
I agree with nearly everything that Troy says. We need single-sex dorms and parietal hours (which, incidentally, we have at Hillsdale) and strict rules regarding late-night noise. We also need -- at most but not all institutions -- to put a very high premium on teaching. At most schools, tenure should turn largely on that.
It is, by the way, not hard to figure out much of what one needs to know in order to judge. The syllabus will make it clear whether the right things are being assigned, whether an appropriate amount of writing is being done. The grades given to students are indicative of rigor or a lack of it. And unannounced visits to the classes of a professor by those sitting in judgment on him can be quite helpful if one's aim is to ascertain whether the professor has the gift. I would not leave out research, but I would regard serious scholarship as a real plus.
At major research universities with graduate programs, research should be given greater weight. But these schools are exceptional.
Jan '11
Re: College, Continued
I received a B.A. in philosophy from St. Joseph’s, a M.A. in philosophy from St. Louis U., and I was attending a satellite of Harvard (the Weston School of Theology) when I left the Jesuits. While in St. Louis and Cambridge, I checked, the undergraduate classes in philosophy were mostly the same as St. Joe’s, often using the same textbooks.
The Plato and Wittgenstein that I studied at St. Joe’s were the same fellows they studied at Harvard. Harvard didn’t add any details that St. Joe’s left out. St. Joe’s taught you as much about Aristotle as Harvard did.
So why is Harvard more expensive and considered more prestigious? A significant chunk of a university’s appeal is social. It connects you with the alumni. It’s about connections. Those connections are created and sustained by participating in the school’s social scene. A dorm system doesn’t advance the learning, but it’s the core of the social system.
Helpless adult supervision may be a problem, but the dorm system isn’t going anywhere. It’s the backbone of the university’s “community.” Schools won’t surrender it.
Edited on Jan 22, 2011 at 12:58pmJun '10
Re: College, Continued
But why do the dorms have to be co-ed, some with co-ed bathrooms, and bowls full of condems placed throughout?
I want my kids to have the residential college experience I did not, but why should my daughter have had to open the dryer on her dorm floor to finish her laundry only to find it was full of beer bottles? In today's dorms, debauchery & slovenliness run rampant. Kids at Williams (considered by most to be an elite school) were defecating out windows. Drunk kids vomit in sinks and then leave it for the hapless janitor to handle. Great connections, huh?
My daughter now lives in an off campus apartment. She's no killjoy, but does have some minimal standards for her living envoronment.