What exactly are college students learning these days?

For further evidence that a four-year degree college doesn't carry the weight it used to, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni takes a closer look at the curriculum of accredited U.S. universities.  Exactly what sort of future is a student building by taking classes like "The Cultural Politics of Lady Gaga" or "The Sociology of the Living Dead"?

Via the Heritage Foundation:

On Wednesday, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) released its newest version of What Will They Learn, a detailed evaluation of colleges based on their core curricula requirements. As opposed to the U.S. News and World Report rankings, you will not find Ivy League colleges in New England among their top ranked. Instead, schools such as Colorado Christian University, Baylor University, and St. John’s College in Maryland landed among the 2 percent of schools on ACTA’s “A list.” By contrast, schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford all received “D” rankings.

While Harvard and Yale are undoubtedly top-notch universities in many senses, What Will They Learn challenges us to look into exactly what we are signing up for when we send our kids to ivy-clad institutions at $40,000-plus per year.

ACTA bases its rankings on the quality of an institution’s core curricula. Schools must require courses in composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics, and natural or physical science. All pretty standard, right? Well, the reason Harvard, Yale, and Stanford received “D” rankings is that they require only two of these core subjects for graduation.

Continue reading...