Yes, I Think Accreditation Is a Joke
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is one of the most honest, intellectually responsible groups involved in education [yes, I know that honest + responsible + education makes up a very short list].
Their newest contribution is about accreditation - why it’s flawed and why it needs to be overhauled.
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Washington, D.C. (September 18, 2008) — In a new article for “Change” magazine, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni calls on trustees to demand an end to federal accreditation because it interferes with institutional autonomy and has overstepped its traditional bounds.
“It was not until the 1940′s that accreditation became took on the role it has today — namely to serve as the gatekeeper for federal dollars,” ACTA president Anne D. Neal writes in the article. “When it passed the GI Bill, Congress linked the accreditation process with the distribution of federal funds.”
Today, federal financial aid exceeds $78 billion a year. Without this money, many students would not be able to attend college, and an unaccredited school would find it quite difficult to compete with its accredited peers to attract students.
Regional accrediting organizations arose in the late 19th century as a voluntary system of quality assurance to differentiate colleges from high schools. The Higher Education Act calls for accreditors to be “reliable guarantors of educational quality.” However, by linking accreditation to financial aid, ACTA argues, Congress endowed accreditors with immense and unintended power.
“Far from preventing harmful intrusion into higher education, the system has empowered the accrediting cartels to impose their own standards and agendas on schools they are meant to be helping,” the article goes on to say. “Political correctness, diffuse curricula, rising prices, the homogenization of higher education — all these are facilitated by the accreditors’ regime.”
The article cites several examples of accreditors using their positions of authority to meddle in the affairs of their member institutions. This, ACTA says, has served not to ensure academic quality — but rather to undermine it.
To remedy the problem, the article calls for ending the link between accreditation and financial aid and for opening up the accreditation process to more competition. It also calls on trustees to assert their rights as fiduciaries of their universities more forcefully.
“Policy makers and accreditors need to hear from [trustees] — loudly and often,” the article concludes, “insisting on an end to federal accreditation and demanding the institutional independence that has for so long made American higher education the envy of the world.”
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, national organization dedicated to academic freedom, academic quality, and accountability. Its network includes alumni and trustees from more than 600 colleges and universities across the country. Since its founding in 1995, ACTA has counseled boards and educated the public about such issues as historical literacy, core curricula, the free exchange of ideas, accreditation, and good governance in higher education. For further information, visit www.goacta.org.
You write,
> The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is one of the most honest, intellectually responsible groups involved in education
Why am I not surprised that you would say that of yet another one of those conservative front propaganda groups (this one founded by Lynne Cheney)?
“According to Roberto Gonzalez of the San Jose Mercury News, the Council’s report ‘Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America,’ appears to protect academic freedom but actually resembles a blacklist. ‘In a chilling use of doublespeak,’ says Gonzalez, ‘it affirms the right of professors to speak out, yet condemns those who have attempted to give context to Sept. 11, encourage critical thinking, or share knowledge about other cultures. Faculty are accused of being ‘short on patriotism’ for attempting to give students the analytical tools they need to become informed citizens.’”
I’m sorry, but honesty and intellectual responsibility have not been hallmarks of this crowd.
Reference:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Council_of_Trustees_and_Alumni
Stephen,
“Why am I not surprised that you would say that of yet another one of those conservative front propaganda groups (this one founded by Lynne Cheney)?”
There are a few things you should know:
a) Yes, I/we [Conservatives] *am/are* out to get you. One day I’ll hopefully lead a military invasion of Canada with two objectives - steal all your beer and turn your Universities into Biblical re-education camps.
b) I need to stop at b) because I have to drive around rural NY to assault/steal from the poor and minorities. That is, after all, how we Conservative Rethuglicans roll, playa.
Take a look at the Defending Civilization stuff - you’ll see that RG’s reading of it is partly dishonest, partly wrong. I don’t think that he had malicious intent [who knows?], I just think he blew it.
By the way, that you’d cite an organization founded by John Stauber as evidence in your criticism of ideological bias…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stauber
… is laughable.
ROFL at “I know that honest + responsible + education makes up a very short list].” How true is that!!!
Accreditation is nothing more than stupid hoop jumping to make a school look better on paper than it is in real life. I hate the accreditation process. I’ve been on the NCA committee when I was a teacher, and it was awful. Just stupid stuff to do for a piece of paper. Ironically, the school that I taught at never did make the accreditation, but somehow, we got the certificate. Rumor was the principal bought off the accreditation inspection team.
While I agree with your premise that the accreditation process has become somewhat corrupt and self-serving, not having some system to sanction curriculums is a sure fire way to further degrade already sinking academic standards.
After all, many colleges and universities already have classes designed for those in, dare I say, easier degree programs to satisfy core curriculum requirements. One of the most egregious classes of that nature in my college was “Math for Elementary School Educators”. When the class was held a few times in the computer lab, I happened to observe the “math” being taught. There was none! The students were fulfilling their math requirement with a class on how to teach math that did not in itself actually teach mathematics. Non-elementary ed students had to take real mathematics courses to earn their math credit; whether they were working towards a theater degree or computer science.
My senior year saw the arrival of a feel good environmental science class that was basically a science class for folks who didn’t want to work very hard but still needed to fulfill the school’s science requirement.
Such dumbing down of the curriculum happened under the guise of accreditation and reporting. If there is no oversight, what’s next, a Game Theory course where students get credit based on the number of times they can beat their fellow students at checkers?
And to keep my comments real here, my major was Computer Science. I took Calculus IV as an elective and my science credits came from two semesters of General Chemistry - the same course taken by the science majors.
LL,
The dumbing down is happening everywhere. It’s awful - especially with math, like you pointed out.
One reason that I left the PhD program I was in was because the math knowledge of my peers topped out at about 10th grade. It was a miserable environment.
Even less serious courses are what will happen with less oversight - and I’m all for it. It will separate the wheat from the chaff and eliminate the mistaken relativist attitude that all colleges are equal.