Anybody involved with a university in the western world knows there are serious problems. Ideological capture by a hateful, anti-social cult movement certainly looms large, but there were systemic problems predating the rise of violent leftism that still burden the system and its unfortunate student charges in 2021. Chief among these problems are administrative bloat and the resulting skyrocketing tuition costs, the accumulation of crippling levels of student debt, the lack of incentive to guide students into employable majors, an ever-decreasing level of rigor in coursework, and a systemic lack of concern for the fate of working-class students and especially those who begin their education at community colleges. The consequences of ignoring all of these problems are dire; those of us in Red State World increasingly contemplate not sending our children to university at all. Financially, the system cannot stand if half the country — the most productive half — abandons it. And that would be a tragedy, as these institutions used to be great beacons of hope for mankind’s future.
So we should fix it, but how? Personally, I’m a low-rent nobody, so my opinions wouldn’t matter even if anybody listened to them. Fortunately, others with more pull are thinking seriously about the topic. Here’s a list of solid suggestions from the James Martin Institute for Academic Renewal, worth reading for anyone living inside the academic bubble:
The Antisocial Darwinist 