Policy Digest

The Lowering Of Higher Education

A new study by the National Association for Scholars reveals that the rigorous educational standards which once characterized America's best colleges and universities are things of the past.

The study focused on course offerings and graduation requirements at 50 premier schools and compared them with standards at various points over the past 80 years.

From 1914 until the mid-1960s, standards did not greatly diminished -- but began to fall apart swiftly thereafter. Here are some of the disturbing findings:

• In 1914, 98 percent of the schools required students to take English composition courses, declining to 86 percent by 1964 -- then dropping dramatically to 36 percent by 1993.

• In 1914, 82 percent of the schools had specific mathematics requirements -- compared to just 12 percent by 1993.

• In 1914, 86 percent required specific courses in the natural sciences -- dropping to only 34 percent by 1993.

• As late as 1964, more than 90 percent of the schools required proficiency in a foreign language; it's now 64 percent.

So what courses are the students taking? According to the researchers, a veritable smorgasbord of elective subjects -- many of which range from the silly to the irrelevant. Students at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., can enroll in "History/Theories of Sexuality," or "Women, Revolution and the Media," rather than taking Shakespeare. In fact, one can now receive an English degree at Georgetown without studying Shakespeare.

• In 1914, students typically could not advance to more challenging courses until they had successfully completed more basic "prerequisite" courses.

• But by 1993, the schools studied offered an average of 582 courses for which there was no prerequisite -- compared to 23 in 1914.

Then there is the shortening of the school year. The average number of class days in the school year has decreased from 204 in 1914 to just 156 in 1993.

Source: Rita C. Zurcher (National Association of Scholars), "Hoops Over Hamlet," USA Today, March 19, 1996.