On September 29, the American Council of Trustees & Alumni (ACTA) released their annual assessment of the core academic requirements of 1,133 of our nation's colleges & universities entitled What Will They Learn? 2021-2022. This link will take you directly to the school evaluations - just plug in a school or click on a state & you'll learn all you need to know to get started in a college selection. This is an invaluable resource.
ACTA works with college & university leaders on campuses around the country to strengthen curricula & raise academic standards. What Will They Learn? is the only rating system that examines the course catalogs of each school evaluated to provide an alternative assessment based on a school's core curriculum, the program of study that all students share.
ACTA reports that general education makes up one-quarter to one-third of a student's educational program @ most universities whether the student is taking engineering or accounting or anything in between. A well designed core curriculum helps students develop the skills & abilities that employers prize, including mathematics, critical thinking, & written communication skills.
For instance just a few years ago the University of Georgia was graded "F" by ACTA. After working with ACTA Georgia achieved an "A" grade & a charter member of this blog's daughter graduated from the University of Georgia & commands an annual six figure salary while still in her twenties. This Georgia graduate could have easily gone to a school with twice the cost & way less than half the earning power punch.
ACTA grades the schools based on what students actually learn in the classroom & every year there are surprises in that schools with big reputations & even bigger tuition bills receive poor grades. This year I mention Stanford, graded "D" with a $56,169 tuition, & the usual leader in many surveys, Harvard, still graded "D" with a $54,002 tuition.
Only 24 (2.1%) of the schools evaluated earned an "A" while 423 schools (37.4%) received a "D" or an "F". The list of "A" graded schools is shown on the website.
Just 3.1% of U.S. colleges and universities require a course in economics & this woeful statistic becomes very apparent when you talk to new graduates or look @ the poor financial decisions that people make. Just a few years ago ACTA found that only two schools required a course in economics in order to graduate - the U.S. Military Academy @ West Point & the University of Alaska @ Fairbanks.
The graphic below gives the entire grade breakdown for this school year.
Research shows that only 13% of Americans strongly agree that "college graduates in this country are well-prepared for the workforce" so this post could be the most important one you read all year.
Fourteen schools added a foundational course in U.S. government or history to their general education program in the past year. But don't rest there but rather be prepared to fight back because the forces against America have never been greater. Critical Race Theory (CRT), American Marxism, & false claims from the 1619 Project are being taught @ every academic level & you surely don't want your child, whether 4 or 22, being indoctrinated in school with ways that you know not to be true & go against everything you taught them @ home.
I plugged in all the colleges where over $1 million was spent in tuition and they all were “d” or “f”. It is amazing how there is little “core” anywhere and worse than that no one agrees on what the core should be. We are a floating society. Hope all is well with you and Carol.
ReplyDeleteHi Doug: Enjoyed the article. Have to hope things get better.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed at the ratings! What a gift to parents and students for decision making!
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