Posted by
Rich from NW Indiana on Wednesday, October 04, 2006 10:36:27 PM
I have been noticing on some of the blogs here on Townhall about the
Civic Literacy Report. The subject of that report is: the knowledge (or lack of it) of Civics of college students. It came at no surprise to this blogger that small colleges did much better then large (mostly secular) universities.
Full disclosure: I am a gradate with a history degree (and a fine arts degree too) from a small college. So there is some bias against big schools in my mind. I loved college even though I was probably one of the worst students to actually graduate. I would have never gotten a degree from a large school. It was because of the great staff and faculty at that small college that it was a good experience for me.
In the bad old days the only people that went to college were the children of the upper crust and the rich. It wasn't designed to teach one how to make a better career or to get a leg up on life with a better job. Most of the students were well off, so the drive for the right job was not the goal. The idea was to educate from a wide variety of subjects. So you would be a well rounded person. Most universities were much smaller then they are today.
Since this is America more people wanted to obtain a college degree. It was start of the idea to get ahead in life, one needs to go on from high school to college. Nothing bad with the idea of more people being educated more, its a great thing. Since most of the new students were not wealthy, colleges needed to lead to a career or at least a good job. So most of the non important subjects to the major are not required anymore (I guess people just don't have the time anymore). You can go to college and never take a history class (or many other subjects) and graduate. Universities grew very rapidly for a few years.
Thats why most college students don't know much outside of their subject area. Civics is outside almost everything today. Most universities have watered down the "Core" subjects that they once held in high esteem. Some large schools have tried to hold on to it like the University of Chicago but even there it is watered down. Most let it go willingly or with great delight (core subjects are white racist ideas).
There is some good news. Small colleges! In many ways they are like the university of old (not just rich folks though). They have to compete with the big universities today with their bigger or more numerus programs or research. To alot of small colleges the "core" (or the liberal arts) is that way to compete! Small classes, professors that know you, a small community of the other students that knows you!
I think its time that we recognize that the small colleges are the best schools today. Yale, Harvard etc. were great schools once but are no longer the best, they only live on the past success. Instead of getting large, more colleges should have been founded. It was successful in the past and it works today. If you really want a education go to a small college!