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The Economic Collapse and Educational Values
by Ralph Hexter, Inside Higher Ed, December 18, 2008
In seeing the world through a higher-education lens, Hampshire College president Ralph Hexter questions whether our current economic hardships can be a lesson for colleges and universities. “Much of what lies behind our current economic train-wreck stems from short-sightedness—focus on short-term goals and gains,” he writes. Institutions of higher education, too, can easily fall prey to this mindset. From the standardized tests and class rankings used to admit prospective college students to the letter grades used in most American colleges and universities, Hexter sees a focus on short-term gains without sufficient regard for long-term learning. Are students really learning to draw connections between their courses, to understand information beyond the midterm exam? he asks.
Hampshire is among a handful of colleges that do not use letter grades to evaluate students, instead requiring them to compile portfolios demonstrating accomplishment of learning goals. While every college and university cannot or may not want to institute such a system, Hexter suggests a more fluid evaluation system that works in concert with letter grades—such as requiring students to write a narrative describing how their distribution requirements contribute to their overall intellectual formation. Such assignments would nudge students toward recognizing the “big picture” as many of our economic leaders failed to do. “We are left with an economy in near-ruin by the collective action of individuals who, I’m quite sure, got good grades, who knew how to ace the examinations on which they’d been coached, and whose long-term vision stretched no further than the end of the term,” he writes.
The entire opinion article may be read online.
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