The New York Times has turned into a good forum for critics of our higher ed system, with sharp pieces on law schools this year and "Room for Debate" features questioning the supposed need to push more and more kids through college. Last Friday, the paper ran this op-ed piece by Gail Collins, in which she notes that while higher ed expenses and concomitant student debt loads have risen greatly, many students put in little effort to get B or better averages. She quotes Richard Arum to the effect that in Europe, only students in the Slovak Republic put in less time studying than do American students.
With such columns running in the NYT, perhaps it's now officially alright for liberal and progressive types to admit (or at least consider the possibility) that higher education has been undermined by the twin notion that almost everyone ought to go to college and that all students should get pretty good grades so they'll feel good about themselves.
