The Weak Incentives for Good College Teaching

In this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call, I discuss our recent event on the convergence of criticism of higher education from the right and the left. The topic that dominated it was the indifference or even hostility to good teaching prevailing among college faculty. People wouldn’t tolerate, say, tennis lessons where the pro sat in the shade reading a novel, occasionally looking up at his student and saying, “That’s good. Keep trying.” Unfortunately, college classes are often like that. Why that’s so and what we can do about it is the focus of my article.