In the Vicinity of Beijing's 4th Ring, or More Properly, What America Should be Shooting For

I think what was most disappointing was simply the quality of the questions students asked during the Q&A. The first one was “In your dealings with President Obama, what have you found to be his best quality?” And it was simply downhill from there. Now, if this man was addressing a group of third graders, that question might have been appropriate (maybe), but among a group of college students and academics it’s simply absurd. Consider the situation. Here you are, a college student (or professor, or whatever), with an opportunity to discuss anything, from the anemic job market, the depressed housing market, a rapidly nuclearizing Iran, a debt-to-GDP ratio north of 100%, or the impeding collapse of the post-World War II world order, and you essentially ask, “Why is the President soooooo awesome?” I think this little episode perfectly encapsulates what is wrong with American higher education today. Instead of thinking critically about events around it, the academy is so radically self-absorbed and out of touch and so obsessed with its own ideology, it’s simply laughable. Is this really all that the best and brightest of North Carolina is capable of? Maybe it was a fluke, or maybe some rogue from Duke snuck in, but it was kind of embarrassing.

Secretary Donovan, when he wasn’t answering inane questions from the audience, also did a fair amount of pontificating. Apparently, the administration is convinced that we can educate ourselves out of this recession. If only we spend (a lot) more on higher education and push as many people as we can through the system, we’ll all be happy again. Color me a skeptic, but the plan he described, where the federal government subsidizes education through new tax credits, etc., guarantees low-interest loans for all comers, and then requires those borrowers to make only bare minimum payments on those loans, seems awfully similar to American housing policy circa 2008 (which incidentally, HUD bears a lot of responsibility for). I suppose if the idea is to create a giant education bubble, such that when it pops, everyone forgets about the housing problem because the education bubble is so much bigger, then this is a great idea. But if the idea is to generate genuine economic growth, this is certainly not the way to go.

And what’s a State of the Union talk without some mention of trains? Aren’t those things amazing? If only we had more of them, those pesky Chinese wouldn’t even be able to touch us. Actually, the best part of the Secretary’s little speech was when he was talking about China’s impressive infrastructure and how the Chinese are just light-years ahead of us in this regard. He clearly has no idea what he’s talking about. If he did know what he was talking about, he would know that, even in the (very crowded and polluted) major cities (i.e. places like Beijing), you can’t drink the tap water or flush toilet paper because the sewer systems are so old and so out of date. He would also know that electricity is also a problem, and that you actually have to buy surge protectors to insulate your electronic goods from regular power surges. Indeed, even China’s much lauded trains aren’t much to write home about. When they’re not falling off bridges, many of China’s trains are (very) overcrowded, smelly, and generally a very hellish experience. And their highway system isn’t anywhere nearly as well developed as ours. Now, don’t get me wrong, China’s quite a charming place, but the U.S. is definitely winning the infrastructure game.

Shiny!

There was also a fair amount of green energy hype. The Secretary informed us that while there might be a few Solyndras along the way (who doesn’t mind a little government corruption after all), we can’t expect the government to make the right choice every time when it comes to deciding which business to support. This, of course, is the whole point! The government can’t make these decisions, because they are infinitely complicated and not something that some bureaucrat hiding in the basement of a federal building can make. Such choices are properly left to the market, which is a better evaluator  of risk and profit than the government will ever be. When the government tries to make these decisions, you end up with Solyndra. Solyndra isn’t merely a side effect of government intervention in the market, it is its natural conclusion.

All in all, this event was pretty disappointing. The questions were childish, and we got the same old, same old from the administration. It’s simply too bad that what could have been a really interesting event on the future direction of the country devolved into a Why Barack Obama is the Greatest Thing Since Baked Bread event.

Denise Morton, Chief Academic Officer of Orange County Public Schools:

“We looked at five different school districts and their policies,” Morton said. “We don’t generate money from these students, and we’re recommending that they be fully enrolled in the district.”

“We don’t generate money from these students.” Ever heard of property and sales taxes, Denise?

The day when there is actual student choice in the education system, and a free market is created between public, private, and charter schools is establish, is the day when Denise’s comment will have any validity.

UNC’s romance language courses have never been strong, and they exist primarily to allow students to fulfill their foreign language requirements. The university offers other, more rigorous language programs such as German or Arabic which contain motivated students who actually want to study the language. However, rather than increase the quality of its romance language programs in a time of severe  budget cuts, they are cutting their quality to the bare minimum needed for students to pass their general education requirements.

In America, students don’t learn a foreign language in the classroom. Instead, they learn how to take language tests. With this move towards online courses, the University is virtually conceding this point. Rather than try to improve the scope of the course with more emphasis on learning and less on testing, language courses are now focusing entirely on getting students to pass language tests.

What this really means is that the University is giving up on foreign language education. If that is the case, then the University should also drop the foreign language requirement from its general education curriculum rather than force students to take worthless subpar online courses that are a waste of everyone’s time. The foreign language requirement is already weak. No one will attain fluency by a level 3 language course, and fluency cannot be taught in a classroom, so students are being forced to learn half a language just to check off a box marked “FL level 3″ on their academic worksheets. Now, they aren’t even going to be learning half a language or getting the opportunity to stumble through speaking that language regularly in the classroom.

Good language programs could continue to be maintained for majors and as electives for students who wish to learn a language, but requiring all students to take foreign language classes is quickly become a waste of everybody’s time and energy.

The statistics show that UNC is giving more high grades than it used to. In 1966, the average GPA was 2.992. Last year, it was 3.213. Last year, 45% of all grades given out were A’s.

Some faculty and the DTH editorial page sounded the alarm, arguing that this reflects a devaluing of a UNC degree. They argue that the trends show that students are getting better grades than in the past for the same work. Therefore, something should be done to correct this.

But is this what is happening? The DTH published an interesting graph on grade inequality, showing gaps between departments. Honors classes award the most A’s, and education and English classes also score highly. Math and Chemistry award far lower grades.

This really shouldn’t surprise anyone, but it also shouldn’t be a cause for concern. Some subjects are just harder than other subjects. Some subjects are also more subjective than others, and are therefore harder to grade fairly. It’s harder to grade art than it is to grade a math test. Art is subjective, math is not. In math, you either have a right answer or you don’t. In art, there are no right answers.

But it’s the honors class grades that are the most telling. Does the high number of A’s in honors classes mean that they are easier? Or are honors classes filled with the best students, who are more likely to get good grades? I’m guessing the latter is just as likely.

Since 1960, the University of North Carolina has become much more selective. As a selective school, the students that are admitted are of a greater quality than before. At the same time, North Carolina’s population has expanded, meaning that the pool of available applicants is greater (and therefore, the pool has more individuals of great academic talent). As a result, one would expect a better class of students to get better grades than the class that came before them.

Also, during this time the University has attracted better and better faculty. A good professor will bring out the best in his students. If his students are learning the material and getting good grades because they know the material, this could mean that the professor is good at teaching, not that he assigns easy work.

In short, high grades are quite possibly a good thing. They indicate that the university is attracting top students and top faculty. They indicate that students are mastering the material in their courses, and that they are meeting the high standards expected of them.

After all, doesn’t this University want students to make good grades?