On November 7, Arnold Kling, formerly a co-blogger at this site, wrote:
I can pinpoint the exact moment when I started to lose sleep over higher education in America. This was in the Spring of 2012, at my daughter’s graduation ceremony at Brandeis University. The main graduation speaker was in the midst of a not-memorable talk when she said “and I read this morning in the New York Times that America will be more than 50 percent non-white by 2050.”
To me, this would have been a straightforward observation, neither good news nor bad news. But the students greeted it as if they had just heard that their favorite sports team had won a championship or their favorite political party had won an election. They whooped and hollered and cheered for several minutes. It was by far the biggest applause line of her entire speech.
I get it. This is troublesome. If you read the whole of Arnold’s post–and I recommend that you do–you probably won’t find yourself less troubled.
Arnold concludes:
I take the view that the colleges and universities are beyond salvation.
But what if you are someone who, say, loves economics and loves the idea of teaching economics to young minds? If you said that colleges are beyond salvation, you would probably conclude that you should choose to be an economist in a think tank or a consulting economist or something else.
Even if the vast majority of colleges and universities are beyond salvation, that doesn’t mean all colleges are. And it doesn’t mean that even those beyond salvation can’t have nice niches.
One of my benefits from being on Facebook is that a lot of young graduate economics students and assistant professors of economics have heard of me and try to friend me. Unless I see some big negative–and I rarely do–I accept. As a result, I follow what they’re doing in their careers: what they teach, how they teach, and how students respond to their teaching. I read a lot of positive stories. I think of Art Carden at Samford University (who is now, actually, a full professor–how time flies), Jonathan Murphy at Nicholls State University, and Michael Makovi at Northwood University, to name three off the top of my head. I could easily name five or six others.
So even if you are pessimistic, as Arnold is and I am, about the future of universities, it’s important to know how badly you want to teach people. If it’s an incredible itch, as it was with me, remember that all you need to do is find one good job and do it well. There are niches out there.
READER COMMENTS
Jon Murphy
Nov 19 2024 at 9:48am
First, thanks for the shout-out.
But more substantially, I’d like to offer some quick thoughts on your point about niches and universities.
In my (admittedly limited) experience, the problems Arnold Kling describes are real, but limited to big schools. I have worked/studied at a major public university (George Mason University), a major private university (Syracuse University), a midsized regional university (Western Carolina University), and now a small regional university (Nicholls State University). I’ve only seen the attitudes Kling discusses at the major universities. At the smaller regional universities, not so much. That’s not to say the attitudes do not exist at all; they’re just not as prominent or as performative.
My working hypothesis: the sorts of performative attitudes Kling discusses are costly. Isolating potential friends, employers, etc., is affordable when one has many alternatives. If, for example, your family is wealthy enough to send you to Syracuse University (a $60k/yr school), a college education is probably not make-or-break in terms of poverty. One can engage in performative behavior more easily; there is a safety net.
Conversely, the students at a small regional university tend to come from poorer backgrounds. Many are first-generation. For them, a college degree is substantial in terms of improving their wellbeing. Performative behavior is considerably more costly. Get in, get a useful degree, get out. No time for performative behavior.
To be clear, students at smaller universities do have opinions. They have thoughts, ideas, and opinions about many things. They will happily share them, if asked. My students (both at WCU and Nicholls) are supremely curious about the world around them. Some have woke (however defined) opinions. But the desire to be performative just isn’t there, even when encouraged by other professors in other colleges.
Craig
Nov 19 2024 at 12:58pm
Just curious what your college students call you? In NJ I called my professors more formally as Professor Murphy for instance. In higj school I would tend to have done, Mr. Murphy….and with respect to female teachers Mrs. or Miss and I grew up where Ms. was occasionally used. Reason I ask is because in TN the teachers often do first names or Mr. Jon, rarely Mr. Murphy. I get called Mr. Craig, by general adults who don’t know me well enough to call me Craig, and indeed doctors would just as soon be called Dr. Jon as opposed to Dr. Murphy.
Jon Murphy
Nov 19 2024 at 3:49pm
Usually either Dr/Prof. Murphy (majority of the time) or Dr./Prof. Jon (minority). Some very rarely call me “Mr.”
My preference would be for the last name, but the culture down here is the first name, so I go with it.
David Henderson
Nov 19 2024 at 11:50pm
Thanks for those thoughtful and detailed comments, Jon.
They give me more hope.
What you wrote reminds me of something my friend Jeff Hummel said. As you probably know, Jeff taught for almost 20 years at San Jose State University. A few years ago we were talking about a visit he made to UC Davis. He said it was night and day. A large percent of the students lived on campus at UC Davis and were subject to the various forces of wokeness we hear so much about. At SJSU, by contrast, a small percent lived on campus and many of them were from working class families or were working class themselves and going to night school. They were there to get an education and a good, or better job. So a lot of the crap that happened elsewhere didn’t happen there. SJSU administrators, well, that’s another story.
Craig
Nov 19 2024 at 1:00pm
I feel more long term impact could be achieved at high school level because if economocs were taught there everybody would take a bit of it as opposed to college where only some percentage will take.
Always admired teaching ability, generally because while I do have some things to teach, I’m not effective at teaching.
David Henderson
Nov 19 2024 at 11:51pm
Good point, Craig, but one of the challenges is that a much smaller percent of high school students want to be there.
David Seltzer
Nov 19 2024 at 3:24pm
David: I was an instructor in finance at Loyola of Chicago. Undergrad and MBA programs. My experience in the undergrad program; many of the students did about average. In some of the classes, I found a few students who were enthusiastic about the course material, especially investment courses. The grad program was more gratifying as many of the students were working in finance and had skin in the game. There was a hidden benefit for me. Preparing my lectures I got a better understanding of the material. Teach once, learn twice. I taught in the early 90’s. Little or no social media.
Art Carden
Nov 19 2024 at 4:23pm
Thank you for your kind words. Samford has the same problems you’ll find at any place, but they’re small by comparison. I describe it as a serious place where serious people do serious work, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I’m excited about the prospect of my kids studying here and would encourage any parent to check us out.
David Henderson
Nov 19 2024 at 11:51pm
You’re welcome, Art, and thanks for adding your thoughts.
Phil Murray
Nov 20 2024 at 6:16am
What goes on at the elite universities does not happen at my Webber International University. Most of the students are athletes busy honing their athletic skills. Some have jobs. Consider another example of my students’ indifference to the elite class: during the fall semester 2020 I had a hard time finding a student who had heard of Dr. Fauci.
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