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Recent trends on university campuses are undermining value of university degrees

As universities everywhere focus on attracting and retaining students at a time when college-age populations are declining, they are not doing enough to ensure those students get a quality education, according to an article just published in The Chronicle for Higher Education. In a piece called “A Perfect Storm for Higher Education,” an associate professor…

As universities everywhere focus on attracting and retaining students at a time when college-age populations are declining, they are not doing enough to ensure those students get a quality education, according to an article just published in The Chronicle for Higher Education.

In a piece called “A Perfect Storm for Higher Education,” an associate professor of English at Hope College in Michigan, who uses the pen name Thomas Benton,  outlines how recent trends in higher education are undermining how much students learn.

“Politicians and the public are quick to blame college faculty members for the decline in learning, but professors—like all teachers—are working in a context that has been created largely by others: Few people outside of higher education understand how little control professors actually have over what students can learn.”

Benton identifies some of the reasons college degrees in the U.S. don’t have the same value they once did. Many Canadian educators will agree that some of the same problems exist here, too.

As universities everywhere focus on attracting and retaining students at a time when college-age populations are declining, they are not doing enough to ensure those students get a quality education, according to an article just published in The Chronicle for Higher Education.

In a piece called “A Perfect Storm for Higher Education,” an associate professor of English at Hope College in Michigan, who uses the pen name Thomas Benton,  outlines how recent trends in higher education are undermining how much students learn.

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“Politicians and the public are quick to blame college faculty members for the decline in learning, but professors—like all teachers—are working in a context that has been created largely by others: Few people outside of higher education understand how little control professors actually have over what students can learn.”

Benton identifies some of the reasons college degrees in the U.S. don’t have the same value they once did. Many Canadian educators will agree that some of the same problems exist here, too.