But many people also seem to implicitly or explicitly understand that higher education is not always delivering on its core mission of, well … higher education. Put another way, we are seeing a growing realization that while people who graduate from even the best universities might be well-schooled, many are not well-educated. And this could have dire implications, not just for individual students, but for the entire country.

A few decades ago, I began to notice that many of the recently minted college graduates I was working with had surprisingly wide gaps in essential cultural and historical knowledge. Casual conversations revealed no idea who Dante was, what William the Conqueror conquered or what happened at the Appomattox Courthouse, to cite just a few real examples. What made these revelations so surprising and even paradoxical was that these folks were generally very smart and had attended some of America’s best universities. I have encountered this phenomenon so often since then that I’m no longer surprised when it occurs.

This is troubling on a number of levels, starting with the well-worn but valid notion that good citizenship and by extension democratic self-government hinge upon our population having an understanding of our common culture and history and the governing institutions that grew out of them. As Winston Churchill said, “A nation that forgets its past has no future.”

But most of us no longer know much about our past. Even though more Americans are going to college than ever before, another recent survey showed that only 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. would pass a basic citizenship test. And as we’ve seen in recent weeks on campuses around the country, a knowledge vacuum can easily be filled with dangerous ideas.

More importantly, millions of students are being denied what is quite possibly the greatest gift our society can bestow upon them: an education that opens the door to the life of the mind — one of continued and enriching learning, productive self-examination and curiosity about our world. Of course, building such a life requires more than knowledge. Developing critical thinking skills and a love of learning are also important. But without a solid foundation of real historical, scientific and cultural knowledge, such a life is simply not possible.

That’s because context is vitally important to good thinking. You may be excellent at connecting dots, but that won’t help you if there are few dots to connect. And you can’t outsource this; Google is not a substitute for real erudition.

Of course, the higher education establishment is not entirely to blame for our ignorance pandemic. Primary and secondary schools are also failing students in this regard. But, in the past, college was where many people began building and deploying the intellectual capital that would carry them for the rest of their lives.

While I had a mother who encouraged me to read and a number of excellent high school teachers, it was at university that I discovered the late quartets of Beethoven, the frescoes of Masaccio, “Citizen Kane” and the novels of Dostoyevsky. University was where I first read the Federalist Papers, the dialogues of Plato and the great historians, from Thucydides to Liddel Hart. 

Perhaps most importantly, it was at college that these and countless other touchstones of learning began to shift from individual points of light into constellations of understanding.

That was 40 years ago, when it was still common for students (particularly in the liberal arts) to spend much if not most of their first two years on campus working their way through a required core curriculum that focused on ensuring graduates were exposed to the great ideas, the great art and the great story of our country and the civilization upon which it is based. But even then, some colleges, particularly elite institutions, were already dismantling these essential core requirements. Today, according to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, most colleges don’t require students to take any history or literature courses. That needs to change.

The higher education establishment has to once again provide students with a grounding in history and the arts and sciences. That means restoring a rigorous liberal arts curriculum and requiring all who graduate to complete it. 

As one professor told me long ago, “My job is to instill in you love of learning and provide you with a scaffolding of knowledge to help you get started.” That should be every college’s creed and mission.

This piece appeared on The Hill on November, 8, 2023.

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The Jerry L. Martin Prize was established to honor “trustees who have shown exceptional courage and effectiveness in challenging the groupthink and status quo mentality that threatens the future of higher education,” according to ACTA’s website.

Accomplishments of the board referenced during the ceremony included adopting a resolution on institutional neutrality, adopting the Chicago Principles, prohibiting compelled speech and establishing the UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership. The Chicago Principles, created at the University of Chicago in 2014, affirm that free, robust and uninhibited expression is essential to university culture.

UNC-CH Board of Trustees Chair John Preyer, past Chair David Boliek and Member Marty Kotis accepted the prize on behalf of the board. Board of trustees members Ramsey White, Robert Bryan and Perrin Jones were also in attendance as was Sen. Amy Galey.

The board was presented an original newspaper published in 1824 celebrating the contributions to science by UNC’s first chemistry professor, Dr. Denison Olmsted. The same newspaper also included a letter from then General Andrew Jackson to President James Monroe. Quotes from their correspondence were included by ACTA to reflect the virtue and integrity with which the UNC-CH Board of Trustees has served.

“Virtue being the main pillar of a Republican government, unless virtuous men shall be drawn into its administration, the fabric must tremble,” wrote Jackson. “…a truly pure man will be without disguise, verifying, as he passes along, the old adage, that the tree is best known by its fruit.”

“High achievements are meaningless without virtue,” said Michael Poliakoff, president and CEO of ACTA. “We are in the middle of a crisis, not just in higher education, but in our country…The Chapel Hill Trustees walk in honor.”

Poliakoff congratulated the board for being the first full board to be awarded the Jerry L. Martin Prize in its eight-year history.

During her speech, Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, credited the board for improving the culture of UNC through adopting measures that protected free speech. Robinson also highlighted the hiring of the first nine faculty members of the UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership.

“As new trustees, we were told to ‘trust the chancellor,’” said David Boliek, past chair of the UNC-CH Board of Trustees. “But my obligation would always be to the institution and what was best.” Boliek described the culture of UNC when he was a new trustee as not sustainable. “If our university wanted to stay vibrant, the pendulum would have to swing towards the middle.”

In contrast, Boliek described the UNC-CH Board of Trustees as courageous. “It takes courage to challenge the status quo,” he said. “It is no longer enough for trustees to nod in agreement, we must ask why.”

Boliek explained other changes made by the current UNC-CH Board of Trustees. These included returning hiring approval authority back to the board, requiring justification for openings and hires and consolidating the university’s 16 budgets to one uniform, balanced budget.

In his closing remarks, Poliakoff described the UNC-CH Board of Trustees as an example for others across the country. “The clock is ticking in higher education and in this country to turn things around,” he said. “But there is hope, there is leadership.”

The American Council of Trustee and Alumni (ACTA) was founded in 1995. It is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. ACTA works with donors, trustees and alumni to support liberal arts education and safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, according to its website.

This post appeared on The Carolina Journal on November 3, 2023.

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John P. McWhorter was the recipient of ACTA’s Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education on this date in 2022 because of his extensive scholarly work as a linguist at Columbia University professor and his trenchant social and political commentary. A regular columnist for The New York Times, John McWhorter also has written a best-selling book, Woke Racism, in which he outlined his perspective on the damaging nature of the current anti-racism rubric and its negative impact on higher education and the broader social fabric of America. He appears regularly on The Glenn Show podcast, hosted by Glenn Loury, who was one of professor McWhorter’s tribute speakers at the gala ceremony. John McWhorter’s prodigious contributions to the liberal arts earned him the Merrill Award, which he received on October 21, 2022.

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“In his long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, humanist, and citizen of the academy, Professor Kors has exemplified the values and virtues on which true education rests,” said ACTA President Michael Poliakoff. “It is not accidental that the editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment would also be the most consequential figure of our generation in the struggle to protect campus freedom of expression. He breathes the very spirit of the Enlightenment: an open mind, a commitment to human freedom, and a devotion to intellectual rigor. He has been a storied mentor to the students fortunate to be in his classroom and also to those beyond who have been inspired by his writing and his public lectures. ACTA is privileged to present to Alan Charles Kors the Philip Merrill Award.”

Dr. Kors joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, where he now holds the post of Henry Charles Lea Professor Emeritus of European History. He served as editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment and has written several books and many articles on early modern French intellectual history. He served for six years on the National Council for the Humanities and has received fellowships from the American Council for Learned Societies, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, and the Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University. In 2005, President George W. Bush awarded the National Humanities Medal to Dr. Kors for his dedication to the study of the humanities and the defense of academic freedom. Three years after accepting the National Humanities Medal, Dr. Kors also received the prestigious Bradley Prize. In 1999, Dr. Kors cofounded FIRE with Harvey Silverglate and later served as its pro bono codirector, president, and chairman.

Dr. Kors will accept the award and deliver remarks at ACTA’s Philip Merrill Award Gala on October 27, 2023, in Washington, DC. Tribute speakers will include Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program at Princeton University; C. Bradley Thompson, professor of political science at Clemson University and executive director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism; and American historian Allen C. Guelzo, who serves as senior research scholar in the Council of the Humanities and director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

To see a full list of ACTA’s former Merrill Award winners, click here.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gabrielle Anglin
EMAIL: ganglin@goacta.org

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There are many issues that need to be addressed, including the cost of education and the rampant controversies related to campus free speech and intellectual diversity. One issue that is not discussed enough, however, is curriculum: What do students learn at college?

We hear more these days about how students are being “prepared for the workforce” or “provided the tools to become successful adults” than we ever do about what they actually learn, and this is because many institutions have replaced strong educational standards with vague ideas about professional culture and teamwork. It has come to seem as though some colleges do not care what their students learn at all, so long as they get practice at taking direction, turning in assignments on time, and working collaboratively.

Surely, these are all important skills, but are they worth the $36,000 average yearly cost of attending college in the United States? Is it any wonder that, according to data from New America, 44% of Generation Z believe , incorrectly, that one can “ensure financial security” with only a high school diploma or equivalent? After all, what does one really learn in college anyway?

It was not always this way. College has always been understood to be a challenge, but the difficulties have not always included crushing debt and uncertain value. Instead, the challenge used to be primarily intellectual. You went to college to learn things that are simply too advanced to teach in high school, too abstract or too concrete, too heady, too mature. Importantly, you learned things that other highly educated people also knew, creating a “high culture” of meaningful, shared ideas to discuss and debate. You read Plato, Milton, or Mill to interrogate the relationship between freedom and obedience. You studied calculus to learn how science understands change and continuity; you studied history to see these things in a different way.

Students still learn things on college campuses, of course, but too often, they are allowed to graduate having learned very little of lasting importance. They have taken a set of classes on specialized topics, but they have no way to connect these ideas together. They take courses that relate to their preexisting interests and identities rather than those designed to broaden their horizons and challenge their preconceptions. Thus, when they leave school, often in tremendous debt, they have aged, but often they have not grown. They have learned how to finish a set of complex tasks, but they have not learned how to think. They have information, but they do not even have a road map to wisdom. Especially in our hyperpolarized era, in which people increasingly see those on the other side of political and cultural issues as enemies, it is vital for colleges to model civil discourse, respectful debate, and positive civic engagement. Colleges around the country are beginning to include these ideas in their freshman orientation sessions, and this is an encouraging development.

Colleges could and should be offering more to their students in terms of education, and they should be expecting more of them, too. Returning to strong core curricula, which give students a strong sense of accomplishment and bring them together around shared ideas and concerns, would be an excellent way for higher education to win back the confidence of the public.

At least then it would be clear why you should attend college: to learn.

This article was originally published by the Washington Examiner on September 27, 2023.

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“What’s unique about WWTL is that we evaluate what students are learning,” says ACTA Director of Curricular Improvement Veronica Mayer Bryant. “Specifically, we grade each school on the strength of its core curriculum, evaluating what colleges should be teaching students. No other college search tool or ranking system measures academics with this depth.” 

The newly redesigned WhatWillTheyLearn.com is a one-stop shop where college-bound students, parents, high school counselors, and policymakers can become informed about what students are learning on campuses today. Not only can users see the ratings ACTA gives each school based on its core curriculum requirements, but they can also view data on tuition rates, student-to-faulty ratios, the climate for free speech on campus, and more. New features allow users to see nationwide data at a glance and explore schools with an expanded set of search filters. Additionally, our new member module allows users to access new search features, including religious affiliation and campus setting, with more to come.

“With our updates, WhatWillTheyLearn.com is now an even more powerful search tool for learning about over 1,100 American colleges and universities. We hope that students and parents will use this site to inform themselves about the general education requirements at the schools they are considering, as well as the wealth of other data offered on the site,” says ACTA Vice President of Policy Bradley Jackson. “With the cost of higher education higher than ever, it is necessary to choose your school wisely. We hope that the new WhatWillTheyLearn.com will help many families do just that.”

ACTA President Michael Poliakoff states, “ACTA has been working day and night for over two decades to advocate for academic excellence in higher education. With the new and improved WWTL website, we take yet another step toward making reliable curricular information accessible to all college-seeking parents and students. We hope that their choices in favor of strong curricula and academic excellence will help drive greater change in the academy. The consequences of failing this generation of students are too apparent to need spelling out; the task ahead of us is a serious one.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Gabrielle Anglin
EMAIL: ganglin@goacta.org

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Download a transcript of the podcast HERE.
Note: Please check any quotations against the audio recording.

The post <strong>Jonathan Marks: “Liberal Education Corrects Our Narrowness”</strong> appeared first on American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

Overspecialization within higher education poses similar problems. Most students choose a major their freshman year and then dive immediately into degree-specific courses. At the same time, institutions are throwing out the “outdated” liberal arts core curriculum in favor of general education courses oriented toward individual majors. At first glance, this seems reasonable. Colleges and universities want to make sure that students are as educated as possible in their field of study before graduation. However, students’ career prospects will also be harmed if they do not receive basic training in the liberal arts and sciences. Research has shown that studying these essential subjects develops important abilities that employers prize, like communication and critical thinking skills. Without these skills, they will not be attractive job candidates, even if they have taken every course in their selected degree.

Interdisciplinary study enhances students’ competency in their chosen specialization by helping them understand how their major relates to other disciplines, apply their specialized knowledge in different contexts, and effectively communicate what they know. This style of education goes back to the earliest universities. In 1828, Yale University published its Report on a Course of Liberal Education, which defines the general subject areas that all students should explore and the important skills these subjects cultivate:

From pure mathematics, [the student] learns the art of demonstrative reasoning. In attending to the physical sciences, he becomes familiar with facts . . . In ancient literature, he finds some of the most finished models of taste. By English reading, he learns the powers of the language in which he is to speak and write. By logic and mental philosophy, he is taught the art of thinking; by rhetoric and oratory, the art of speaking.

Each of these disciplines is not only crucial for developing a well-rounded individual but is also highly sought after in the labor market. A 2021 survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that the two skills most desired by employers are critical thinking and communication, which employers say most recent graduates lack. These two skills are learned not in the lab, but through writing and close reading, which are activities explicitly taught in literature, philosophy, history, and similar disciplines. An engineering student who has never studied basic composition will struggle to explain clearly his work and abilities not only to a prospective employer in an interview, but also to other contractors when on the job, which could delay important construction projects or result in sub-quality products.

To prepare the strongest possible job candidates, colleges and universities should require every student to take a structured interdisciplinary core curriculum alongside their major-specific courses. Students with a firm grasp of history, mathematics, literature, and other core subjects, in addition to their major, will be best-equipped to succeed in their chosen specialization and to transfer their skills throughout their career.

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ACTA president Michael Poliakoff and Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei interview Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan think tank and educational institution dedicated to being a resource to help people better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. Dr. Haass’s extensive government experience includes service as special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. From 2001 to 2003, he was director of policy planning for the Department of State, serving as a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, he served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process.  Dr. Haass is the author or editor of fourteen books on American foreign policy, one book on management, and one on American democracy. His latest book, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, was published by Penguin Press in January 2023 and became a New York Times best seller. 

Download a transcript of the podcast HERE.
Note: Please check any quotations against the audio recording.

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Explore this page to learn more about these programs. 

If your academic program is interested in becoming a Hidden Gem, contact ACTA’s What Will They Learn?® team.

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