It’s rare to find a college leader who both understands the grave problems with our higher-education system and is willing to talk about them in public. One such individual is former University of Toledo president Daniel M. Johnson, who has just written a book entitled The Uncertain Future of American Public Higher Education.


In today’s Martin Center article, I discuss the book’s strengths (many) and weaknesses (a few).

Where the book shines is the author’s analysis of the high cost and inefficiency of higher education. Among other causes, he points to sports, the tenure system, the penchant for neglecting everyday maintenance in favor of putting up gaudy new buildings, outmoded instructional methods, and our use of seat time rather than measured learning for awarding degrees.

On the other hand, Johnson barely adverts to the expensive but almost entirely worthless accreditation system. Worse yet, he registers the standard complaint that state legislatures have substantially cut back on higher education funding. But what sense does it make to ladle more taxpayer dollars into a system so addicted to wasteful use of money?

Nevertheless, Johnson’s book deserves a wide readership.

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