Do College Rankings Mean Anything?
On August 20th, the annual “America’s Best Colleges” issue of U.S. News & World Report was released. Among North Carolina schools, Duke was tied for fifth, Wake Forest 27th, UNC-Chapel Hill 29th, and NC State 86th.
Author Profile
George Leef
George Leef is director of external relations for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Carroll College (Waukesha, WI) and a juris doctor from Duke University School of Law. He was a vice president of the John Locke Foundation until 2003.Prior to joining the Locke Foundation, Leef was president of Patrick Henry Associates, a consulting firm in Michigan dedicated to assisting others in advocating free markets, minimal government, private property, and individual rights. Previously, Leef was on the faculty of Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, where he taught courses in economics, business law, and logic. He has also worked as a policy adviser in the Michigan Senate.
A regular columnist for Forbes.com, Leef was book review editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education, from 1996 to 2012. He has published numerous articles in The Freeman, Reason, The Free Market, Cato Journal, The Detroit News, Independent Review, and Regulation. He writes regularly for the National Review's The Corner blog and for SeethruEdu.com.
Articles by George Leef
Inquiry #17: Do College Rankings Mean Anything?
The annual college rankings published by U.S. News & World Report are widely read and regarded as an authoritative assessment of the nation’s colleges and universities. If the U.S. News rankings place one school higher than another, many people take that as proof that the higher-ranked school is academically better. Unfortunately, the U.S. News ranking system is deeply flawed.
On Senator Kerry’s Higher Education Proposals
Now that we can stop talking about Senator John Kerry as the “presumptive” Democratic nominee, it is worthwhile to take a look at the proposals he has put forth regarding higher education.
Winston-Salem State tries the Hail Mary pass
In football, the Hail-Mary pass is a last-second, desperation play that has a chance of winning or tying the game, but has a very low probability of success.
Colleges and universities try something like the Hail-Mary when they attempt to use success in athletics as a means of improving their academic reputations and finances. The idea is that winning at sports will transfer over to the institution as a whole, boosting applications and funding. Like the Hail-Mary pass, it’s unlikely to succeed, but college administrators keep trying.
Chronicle Rant “A Real Doozy”
The Chronicle of Higher Education often publishes articles with which I take exception, but the July 2 issue contained a real doozy – a rant entitled “The Contradictions of Cultural Conservatism in the Assault on American Colleges” by Donald Lazere, an English professor at Cal State-San Luis Obispo.
Is America’s College Graduation Rate a “Huge National Problem?”
A recent report published by The Education Trust entitled “A Matter of Degrees: Improving Graduation Rates in Four-Year Colleges and Universities” argues that we ought to be deeply concerned over the fact that only about 60 percent of the students who enroll in four-year institutions in the U.S. earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.
Is America’s College Graduation Rate a “Huge National Problem?”
A recent report published by The Education Trust entitled “A Matter of Degrees: Improving Graduation Rates in Four-Year Colleges and Universities” argues that we ought to be deeply concerned over the fact that only about 60 percent of the students who enroll in four-year institutions in the U.S. earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.
Faulty Towers
Faulty Towers by Ryan C. Amacher and Roger E. Meiners Independent Institute, 2004 109pp., $14.95 One of the wonderful things about the study of economics is that it helps you … Continue reading “Faulty Towers”
Forget ‘Economic Diversity,’ Let’s Hit the Books Instead
Teaching students takes a backseat to universities’ new emphasis on “economic diversity.”
UNC-Chapel Hill suffers from a “raid”
It’s a UNC ritual. Whenever a professor decides to take a better offer at some other university, usually a private one with a vast endowment and enormous alumni contributions, the administration will bemoan the “loss” and express fear over a “crisis” if the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can’t spend enough money to compete with the top-tier schools. When the little drama is over, the administrators will go back to their offices and hope that they’ve convinced a few more politicians that UNC-CH’s budget must be increased.