Too often these days, I start my mornings with a cup of
coffee and a negative news story about universities. Yesterday it was a
critique of paper topics at a humanities and social sciences conference. The
journalist (Margaret Wente, “Adventures in Academia: The stuff of fiction,” The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2015) wondered
what Northrop Frye might think of a paper entitled “Whiteness, Nihilism and
Class in Grand Theft Auto V.” Ultimately, her assessment turns to the familiar
topic of the payoff of university studies:
Not all humanities and social-science scholarship
is this bad. But it’s no wonder that the aspirational children of new Canadians
are flocking into business, science, pharmacy, accounting, and other practical
studies that will pay off in a good career. They have no time for this rubbish.
The rest of the article can be found here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/adventures-in-academia-the-stuff-of-fiction/article24731318/.
No doubt Wente would point to a decline in enrollment in arts and humanities
programs as evidence of “not having time for this rubbish.” Indeed, though
enrollment in Ontario universities has climbed in recent years, enrollment in
arts and humanities degree programs has decreased by about 5%. This “crisis in
the humanities” has been a topic of interest across North America for a number
of years.
I’m not sure the humanities are in crisis—I think it depends
on who you ask and where she or he is located (institution, discipline)—but I
do think the public discourse related to “practical studies” and “university
studies” is troubling. Ryan Craig (2015), in his recent book College Disrupted, wonders: “Will
degrees become as impractical and amusing as debutantes?” (p. 98). Craig is
concerned about returns on investment, among other things. He argues that a
university education is increasingly unaffordable and without clear knowledge and
skills outcomes. Part of the high cost of university education, he argues, is
that institutions have bundled too many non-education expenses into their
budgets—expenses like campus buildings, dining facilities, athletics, research
and a growing number of administrators. Academic content is, to some extent,
also bundled. Craig notes that “the content bundle includes remedial course
work, general education courses and advanced courses in the major” (p. 99).
Taken together, content and functions are paid for by (too-high) tuition and
fees. Unbundling is similar to shopping for music on itunes: a consumer can buy
a song rather than the whole album. Craig believes an equivalent arrangement is
not only a good idea for universities but an inevitable future.
Unbundling detaches “all the things universities have taken
on that don’t relate to student outcomes” (p. 99). Unbundling will decrease
costs for students (and institutions), improve outcomes, and better prepare
graduates for jobs. As part of unbundling, Craig advocates for more online
courses and programs, competency management platforms (which allow students to
map expeditious pathways into their job choices), and double-click degrees (“a
degree that is accompanied by a transcript that an employer can double-click on
to learn a lot more about the course and the competencies the student has
demonstrated” (p. 115). In sum, Craig argues, “colleges and universities need
to prepare to satisfy students who are increasingly looking for proof of the
return on their tuition investments, or how their programs connect to jobs and
income” (p. 119).
There is a lot more in College
Disrupted to think about. His early chapters—before turning to the
unbundling part—include important points about costs to students and families,
online teaching and learning opportunities, student debt, and the problem of
graduation rates. Because I am interested in student access, and in particular
access for students from low-income backgrounds, I read the first few chapters
with great interest. It is certainly worth thinking about how increasing access
to college has not necessarily happened in parallel with increasing graduation
rates at US institutions.
However, unbundling, as Craig presents it, is built on the
foundation of instrumentalism and an insistence on direct connections between
degrees and jobs. Unbundling would rid a university education of “all the
rubbish.” I wouldn’t argue against degrees as stepping stones to employment
success, but I don’t think the link should be, or needs to be, that overt. A
degree is bundled. A degree includes breadth and depth experiences. A degree
provides learning experiences that are hard to measure and likely include
career preparation, not just job placement. It seems worth noting that degrees,
in name, literally signal broad experiences: students earn bachelor of arts or
science degrees (among other degree types), not bachelor of History or bachelor
of Chemistry degrees.
Universities are also bundled, though not all students
participate in each of the elements. What is perhaps most interesting about
Craig’s book is the ways he critiques the expensive “extras” universities now
offer, but also identifies them as valuable parts of his own undergraduate
career. His discussion is replete with co-curricular tales of his years at
Yale, including the tidbit that he met his wife in a first year literature
course. A bundled experience was good for him, I guess, but isn’t necessary for
students today.
Craig and Wente’s focus on job outcomes for graduates, and
their various critiques of the ways in which universities mis-educate students
and over-charge, is certainly not new. The public discourse about rising costs
and graduates working at Starbucks has been around for many years. It seems
these kinds of presentations are challenging to respond to. And though I
disagree with the idea of unbundling (as well as the ascendency of “practical
studies”), I appreciate the questions both Craig and Wente raise. Craig asks:
“Which of these items [the content bundle, admissions, research, facilities
management, housing, health care, credentialing, food service, athletic
facilities, career guidance and placement] should be at the core of a
university?” (p. 100). Wente wonders: “I wonder what Northrop Frye would make
of modern English studies?” Both questions seem like something university
community members might talk about.
Craig, R. (2015).
College Disrupted: The great unbundling
of higher education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wente, M. (2015,
June 2). Adventures in Academia: The stuff of fiction. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from : http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/adventures-in-academia-the-stuff-of-fiction/article24731318/
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