Higher education in the U.S.A. is experiencing multiple stressors - enrollment pressure, budget crises, and falling confidence among the public. The Gallup Organization is the most recent entity to publish evidence that the public has significant concerns about the nation's colleges and universities. Down to 48% overall having confidence, higher education experienced the largest drop compared to other entities such as military, small business, and police, each of which enjoys more positive responses.
Republican respondents were most critical of higher education, although confidence among independents and democrats fell as well. Soul searching is in order as Harvard University's President Bacow warns, "more people than we would like to admit believe that universities are not nearly as open to ideas from across the political spectrum as we should be; that we are becoming unaffordable and inaccessible, out of touch with the rest of America; and that we care more about making our institutions great than about making the world better."
Having spent my entire adult career in higher education, seeing the drop in confidence is devastating. I've always assumed that higher education is both a private benefit and a public good and my life experience has demonstrated that belief; I am better and I've sought to make a difference in the world as a direct consequence of access to higher education. It isn't only about earning power, a claim made by many U.S. universities to bolster the numbers willing to pay the price of attendance. Many of the issues education leaders face are self-inflicted; examples include exploitive marketing, elitism, detachment, and allowing faculty a pass on accountability for student learning and success.
Time to heed the warnings so that U.S. higher education can reposition for a future where attendance is widely available and the impact is indisputable.
Republican respondents were most critical of higher education, although confidence among independents and democrats fell as well. Soul searching is in order as Harvard University's President Bacow warns, "more people than we would like to admit believe that universities are not nearly as open to ideas from across the political spectrum as we should be; that we are becoming unaffordable and inaccessible, out of touch with the rest of America; and that we care more about making our institutions great than about making the world better."
Having spent my entire adult career in higher education, seeing the drop in confidence is devastating. I've always assumed that higher education is both a private benefit and a public good and my life experience has demonstrated that belief; I am better and I've sought to make a difference in the world as a direct consequence of access to higher education. It isn't only about earning power, a claim made by many U.S. universities to bolster the numbers willing to pay the price of attendance. Many of the issues education leaders face are self-inflicted; examples include exploitive marketing, elitism, detachment, and allowing faculty a pass on accountability for student learning and success.
Time to heed the warnings so that U.S. higher education can reposition for a future where attendance is widely available and the impact is indisputable.
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