The American Spectator

Oh, we could still keep some teachers on staff, but mostly to provide a personal presence — to answer questions and grade papers. But the important work, the fundamental work of offering lectures would be done by those who are the acknowledged masters in their fields.

The model on which our higher education system is based is now — what? — at least two or three hundred years old, and so steeped in ‘tradition’ that, it seems to me, tradition is held to be a higher value than actual education. Meantime, every industry, every business, and every other profession in this society remakes itself on a regular basis in order to take advantage of new technologies, new thinking, and to stay competitive.

I say gut the whole system and rebuild it with an eye to taking advantage of all current capabilities for instruction in a modern world.

Will it happen? Of course not, at least not in my lifetime. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. It only means that the entrenched interests are very powerful, and that consumers are either too ignorant or too weak to demand it.

p>My father came home from World War II, got a job, started raising a family, and spent ten years acquiring a Drexel University degree in night school. To the best of my knowledge he did not participate in any extracurricular activities, did not attend any sporting or social events, did nothing but attend class, study on his own, and pass the tests as they came up. His “college experience” might have been less than what younger, full-time, day-school students received, but the true value of the education he received was no less real or valid. Indeed he always thought that the way he got his degree was better, because it was focused on what he was there for, and did not waste his precious time. br> — Charles R. Vail /p> p> Gary Wolfram should look at the state legislatures as to the reason why tuition at state universities has risen so quickly. Here in Oklahoma, the legislature decreased the appropriations, over the past several years, to state universities while allowing the state universities to increase their tuition. Faced with the prospect of laying off university instructors and reducing the number of courses offered, the universities increased tuition. There really wasn’t any choice. The increase in tuitions really didn’t help faculty salary — here at the University of Central Oklahoma, we received a 4% increase in salary (the first increase in 4 years). Please advise Mr. Wolfram to do a better job in his research before finishing an article. br> — David L. von Minden , Ph.D. br> University of Central Oklahoma br> Edmond, Oklahoma /p>