THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605100024
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
``Higher education: the great American rip-off fails everyone'' (Another View, April 16) is filled with general statements without evidence that cannot stand up to common sense.
I recently retired after teaching at Ohio State, the University of Notre Dame and Pace University in New York. I also served as president of two colleges. My experience confirms what has always been true. Most professors work very hard to motivate as well as educate their students. Large numbers of students today work full time and take a full course load in college. Many of today's students pay for their own education. Most students drink, some drink too much, some do not drink at all.
The article's authors visualize colleges as an ``unfriendly, permissive, anti-intellectual environment.'' That does not fit any college I know, including Duke University. The authors seem to me ``anti-intellectual'' themselves by writing an article that plays on the fears of people who are anti-intellectual.
It would require too much space to mention every flaw in the article. The authors call for ``a complete restructuring of universities to improve the quality of undergraduate education.'' What an original idea! For the past 30 years, most colleges have been ``restructuring,'' studying how to improve education, what to offer in courses.
It is a shame that so much written today tries to tell us how awful education is, not by pointing to the low pay for teachers on all levels, the budget cuts for supplies and staffing, but by making up scary stories to entertain readers and enlarge the cynicism so prevalent.
ROBERT E. CHRISTIN
Virginia Beach, April 26, 1996 by CNB