Letters: Colleges' customers outnumber students
For more than 50 years, I taught economics at two universities in Philadelphia. For some of those years, that was my only occupation. Usually, it was part-time. Teaching was one of the great loves of my life.
For more than 50 years, I taught economics at two universities in Philadelphia. For some of those years, that was my only occupation. Usually, it was part-time. Teaching was one of the great loves of my life.
About five years ago, I stopped teaching in disgust. I could no longer delude myself that today's students were as good as those when I started. Many do not have the intellectual equipment to be in college. Most of the others are lazy and indifferent to knowledge. Yet they expect good grades and a degree, despite severe inadequacies.
The colleges are to blame. They have adopted the business model, just as churches and governments have. They build huge bureaucracies and strive to attract as many customers as they can. They are filled with customers, but very few students.
This problem is not unknown even to the big-name colleges. A few years ago, Harvard had a graduating class with 90 percent honors. A Princeton professor stands before her class on the first day and is in tears because the university has limited the number of A's she can give.
You can see what the problem is.
Francis X. Healy Jr.
Warrington