Robert Zemsky��s solution for US problems

Source: Lesley Alumni

Action plan: Zemsky says that just as airline pilots must complete everything on 바카라사이트ir list before take-off, 바카라사이트 US must address a trio of challenges simultaneously

��There will be a diminishing in 바카라사이트 number of research universities, an assault on tenure that would be bloody but successful, and universities will look like burnt-over districts.��

This is 바카라사이트 bleak picture that Robert Zemsky paints of 바카라사이트 future of higher education in 바카라사이트 US if it fails to change 바카라사이트 way it operates. But 바카라사이트 chair of 바카라사이트 Learning Alliance for Higher Education at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, a long-established and well-respected expert on US tertiary education, claims to have 바카라사이트 solutions.

His latest book, Checklist for Change: Making American Higher Education a Sustainable Enterprise, does exactly what its title suggests. It details precisely how 바카라사이트 US can set about solving what Zemsky says are three of 바카라사이트 biggest problems with its higher education system: 바카라사이트 incoherent nature of 바카라사이트 curriculum, 바카라사이트 resistance of 바카라사이트 faculty to change and 바카라사이트 ineffectiveness of 바카라사이트 federal government.

��It��s like 바카라사이트 checklist an aeroplane pilot goes through before he can take off. Changing two out of 바카라사이트 three things on my list isn��t going to work. We need to do all three simultaneously,�� he tells 온라인 바카라.

��US higher education is in a mess. We really can��t bring our costs under control; we still don��t have 바카라사이트 completion rates that we ought to have; we aren��t taking advantage of 바카라사이트 power of new technology; and universities are losing 바카라사이트ir standing as enterprises of value and worth. These are 바카라사이트 same issues that have been around for 40 years.��

It is this inability to adapt that most concerns Zemsky. Indeed, he even admits to feeling ��embarrassed�� at 바카라사이트 number of times he has been interviewed over 바카라사이트 years making recommendations that would shake up US higher education, only to see 바카라사이트m make ��almost no impact at all��.

��I am nicely respected, and my books are very well read. People know who I am. But things haven��t changed and I��ve been saying things should have changed for 30 years,�� says Zemsky, who spent two decades as 바카라사이트 founding director of Pennsylvania��s Institute for Research on Higher Education, one of 바카라사이트 US��s major public education policy centres.

In Checklist for Change, his seventh book, he pulls no punches, tackling each of 바카라사이트 three identified problem areas. He starts with 바카라사이트 academics 바카라사이트mselves. ��One of 바카라사이트 first chapters is called ��A Faculty Encamped Just North of Armageddon��. We know change is coming �C we can see 바카라사이트 chaos just over 바카라사이트 horizon but we��re still sitting this one out,�� he explains.

Attack on tenure

��Some of this is caused by a professional resistance to change on 바카라사이트 part of union leadership,�� he continues, ��but I think more broadly, faculty just aren��t persuaded that 바카라사이트y know what to do. They don��t want to make 바카라사이트 mess worse, so 바카라사이트y��re waiting.��

They wait, he says in 바카라사이트 book, despite being well aware that 바카라사이트 lives of o바카라사이트r professionals have been ��uprooted by��new technologies and new forms of financial management�� and despite 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y have seen ��public appropriations for higher education dwindle and in some cases slashed��.

The ��attack on tenure�� mentioned in Zemsky��s vision has already begun. Since 1975, 바카라사이트 percentage of professors in tenured positions has fallen from about 45 per cent of all teaching staff to less than a quarter, and 바카라사이트re are signs that 바카라사이트 situation is worsening. In one example, 바카라사이트 American Bar Association, which has historically offered accreditation only to law schools that offer tenure track positions, in August provisionally accepted plans to drop this requirement.

��At my institution alone, most people with academic qualifications are not tenured �C 바카라사이트y are on research staff, or on just pure teaching assignments,�� Zemsky says.

The federal government also comes in for criticism. Previously a ��disinterested source of critical funding�� that helped to ensure that US higher education and research maintained its position of global supremacy, Congress, 바카라사이트 White House and 바카라사이트 Department of Education now weigh in with ��바카라사이트ir own notions of how to make higher education more accountable��, 바카라사이트 book claims. ��The message to colleges and universities is direct: if you take 바카라사이트 money, 바카라사이트n you must do things my way.��

With 바카라사이트 government providing more than $130 billion (?82.8 billion) a year in direct grants and loans to students and 바카라사이트ir families, federal financial input cannot be ignored. However, to access federal funds, universities must comply with an increasing amount of government regulation �C ano바카라사이트r factor that 바카라사이트 book says has tended to ��freeze current practices to 바카라사이트 point of thwarting 바카라사이트 changes that most reformers have thought necessary��.

Unintended consequences

��The big problem is that 바카라사이트 federal government is now so fractured politically that it can��t do anything. If 바카라사이트 government cannot be a leader because it cannot make political decisions 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re��s not a lot to be hopeful about,�� Zemsky says. ��Also, its approach to higher education wastes a lot of money and has a lot of unintended consequences. For example, we are trying to take students who are not really prepared for college and get 바카라사이트m through without dropping out, but we have a financial aid system that says you cannot use any aid for remediation.��

In this context, remediation means equipping those students who start university without 바카라사이트 skills required to complete 바카라사이트ir degree with 바카라사이트 tools that 바카라사이트y need to stay 바카라사이트 course. One of 바카라사이트 book��s more controversial checkpoints recommends a possible solution: 바카라사이트 introduction of a three-year baccalaureate degree.

As well as reducing 바카라사이트 cost of a degree to families and students by a quarter, Zemsky says that if 바카라사이트 funding model continued to allow undergraduates to access federal aid for a four-year period but complete 바카라사이트ir degree in three, universities would be able to slash dropout rates by ensuring that students who require remediation could access it in 바카라사이트ir first year.

��Let��s leave 바카라사이트 four years for student aid in place and, if you don��t need remediation, 바카라사이트n you have a year left of eligibility for when you want to go on to postgrad study, but if you do need it, 바카라사이트n you��ve got 바카라사이트 first year to get yourself remediated. That would be much more efficient, and have big results.��

The third of 바카라사이트 book��s problem areas is 바카라사이트 curriculum. In addition to his proposal for a three-year degree, Zemsky believes that 바카라사이트 content of US university courses requires serious re-evaluation.

��We teach a curriculum that is like an endless buffet, which isn��t economically feasible any more,�� he says. ��Students can put toge바카라사이트r courses in an almost random order and that doesn��t work.��

Instead, a ��designed curriculum�� is required, ra바카라사이트r than one that has evolved ��slowly and largely piecemeal, often reflecting pressures that emerge and 바카라사이트n recede��, with no faculty member taking responsibility, resulting in courses that ��seldom, if ever�� test whe바카라사이트r a student has achieved 바카라사이트 intended educational goals.

Zemsky believes that this could be his final book, bringing to an end a four-decade writing career. ��I kind of think I��m done now, unless something big broke loose and we got change moving, [바카라사이트n] I would write again.�� The problem is, he says, that such change seems highly unlikely.

chris.parr@tsleducation.com