Even a stopped clock is right
twice a day, so while policy-makers should take heed of a warning presented by
a source not normally associated with a quest for academic excellence when
determining how to judge the performance of Louisiana’s higher education
institutions, neither should this cautionary detail derail a bill setting up
guidelines for such a system.
State Sen. Conrad Appel is trying again to put
together a framework for state university and college governing heads to derive
a measure of their institutions’ quality. His SB
337 would set parameters included in creating this instrument “as deemed
appropriate,” including one that seeks to measure fidelity to alignment with
workforce needs and high-demand occupations. Funding then would depend upon
quality measured. A similar attempt last year failed
over personality conflicts.
As with last
year’s version, policy-makers must be concerned that any ensuing instrument
does not allow schools to game the system, for example such as by lowering standards
in order to boost retention and graduation rates. But another issue raised specifically
this time around came from the president of the Louisiana Federation of
Teachers, Steve Monaghan, who usually stumps for items that decrease his
members’ workload as much as possible for as high pay as possible. Anybody with
teaching experience knows that the higher the quality the instruction, the
greater the effort that needs to be put into it.
Regardless, Monaghan pointed out
that the inclusion of the workforce development criteria could impinge
negatively on the larger purpose of a university education, the formation of an
individual with basic academic skills and abilities. These should include education
in the arts (reading for information, writing for exposition, and familiarity
with these in expressions in these and other media forms) and sciences (ability
to perform more than basic mathematics, and understanding about how the
physical world works), human systems (how and why people behave as they do in
various fields of collective endeavor), and in higher-order reasoning (ability
to draw understanding of particular events from general theory, learning
through the scientific method, and problem-solving through the use of logic and
theory).
Ever since the concept of the university
expanded from its classical foundation as a training ground on acquiring base knowledge
by which to learn how to think to that including also being an adjunct to deal
directly with societal issues, there has been the temptation to go too far in
this latter direction (as epitomized by the infamous “multiversity”
concept). Slotting the chief role of the university into that of an economic
development machine would stray from the proper emphasis of its classic role.
But there are ways to prevent
that even as increasing emphasis gets put upon education as economic growth
engine, to ensure that the primary mission of higher education continues. Chief
among these is through Louisiana’s General
Education Requirements that all institutions must follow. They include instruction
in the categories of English, Mathematics/Analytical Reasoning, Natural
Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts, and Social and Behavioral Sciences – all of which
can shape learning according to a classic curricula. That is, to offer certain
kinds of degrees, a minimum number of hours in each field must be required.
Most degrees, both two- and four-year,
require 6 hours of English composition, 3 hours of math, 6 hours of natural
sciences, 3 hours of humanities, 3 hours of fine arts, and 6 hours of
behavioral/social sciences. All baccalaureate degrees require 39 hours except
for some applied science-oriented ones where it’s only 33; all associate
degrees require 27 hours except for the applied science-oriented ones where it’s
only 15. Each institution may designate what courses are eligible to fulfill
these requirements, depending upon their preferences and offerings. For example,
my institution Louisiana
State University Shreveport has many fewer offerings than what can be fulfilled
at the much larger Louisiana
State University Baton Rouge.
In order to quell concerns that
instruction in these areas might get short shrift, the Board of Regents could
make more specific course requirements and then test student performance in
these. This would not work well or in a comparable sense necessary for valid
use of this measurement in all areas, but for some like English composition or
math it would not be difficult. For example, until about 15 years ago LSUS used
to give a proficiency exam to all graduates in these two fields, where adequate
scores had to be earned on one of these order to graduate. By a narrow faulty
vote, a recommendation was forwarded to eliminate these to the chancellor who
did so.
The larger point is that judging
university performance on delivering graduates in areas that promise rapid hiring
and adequate salary because these are in demand does not have to interfere with
the classic intent of the university to create well-rounded, educated
individuals, even in the more vocationally-oriented community colleges, perhaps
even in technical colleges (which generate the vast bulk of degrees in the
applied sciences). Any formula that rewards both the former and latter does the
trick, and does not detract from the overall meritorious features of this bill.
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