A different view of higher education in America
The RH guest opinion by Donald Menzel on education on Feb. 21 deserves a response. As usual, Menzel starts speaking about a problem then consistently devolves into an attack on Republicans and conservatives. No solutions are offered, just attacks. Quality education is a hot-button for me.
Menzel listed a Pew Research report that said the majority of opinions of Democrats and Republicans is that higher education is going in the wrong direction. Menzel thought that Democrats were more optimistic. I agree the future of higher education is dark. These are the facts. The Econ Journal Watch examined 40 top U.S. university’s political affiliations in economics, history, law, psychology and journalism in 2017. Out of 7,243 professors, 3,623 were registered Democrats and only 314 were Republicans. Where is the equality of professors’ views and what they believe? Menzel says that “Desantis believes that tenure has become a protective cover for incompetent and worse, ideologically liberal professors who have taken upon themselves to preach, not teach.” The humorous Menzel statement was that he was a “tenured professor at a major public university in Florida for 15 years and (has) no recollection of this behavior by any faculty member.” What does he think about his normal RH opinion articles? They all seem like biased preaching to me. He should check the mirror. Do we believe that his anger at conservatives did not affect his teaching?
Regarding higher education, a 2022 US News & World Report article still lists the U.S. highest in higher education systems in the world. Unfortunately, worldpopulationreview.com reports test results of 470,000 15-year-old students from 76 countries. It is disturbing. The subjects were tested in math, science and reading, similar to SAT college exams. No. 1 was China. The US did not even make the top 10. A 2018 Business Insider report lists the U.S. as No. 38 in math and 24 in science. These incoming U.S. college students are substandard. Another bad education example is the crisis of college students who can’t pay their student loans. We sacrificed math and finance education to create popular social programs in high school. Education costs are exponentially growing. Much of it is wasted on professors and staff to preach social responsibilities, not basic knowledge. Wake up. America. This is our future.
In Menzel’s opinion, Florida is leading the way to destruction of our higher education. They are doing this by challenging faculty tenure by proposing performance reviews and extinguishing cultural diversity, equity and inclusion programs. I agree with Desantis. He is trying to save higher education. I am in favor of performance reviews for professors. Every other job entails performance reviews to assure quality in the job. America needs the best teachers and professors. In college, I saw too many professors who were worthless, outdated, or worse, did not even teach classes. Liberal arts colleges can teach and preach their liberal views. Genuine higher educational colleges who teach needed skills should not need to bow to the latest political fads. Now, our omnipotent government wants all schools and universities to waste time and money on soft things like equity, environmental awareness or gender sensitivity and social injustice. What happened to teaching needed saleable skills? Voters must worry about their children and their real education.
My opinion is that our entire education system is going in the wrong direction. It is being hurt and systemically degraded throughout grades 1-12 and higher education. We are wasting our kids’ time. We are diluting basic skills and critical thinking with political influences and fads like equity, affirmative action, sex education, gender and climate hysteria. Get rid of entire organizations in our schools and universities that control and monitor these non-essentials in the adult world. Leave moral training in the hands of parents. Our kids need educational focus. They need training to be contributing adults who know how to start a business, do a needed job, reason and balance a check book.