Higher Education’s 7 Deadly Sins – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

I taught my first university class shortly before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in the fall of 1963, giving me considerable historical perspectives on modern changes in American higher education. And while some changes have been beneficial (for example, we have had bigger enrollments and with that some increased access to college for those from families with low incomes), on balance, I would say higher education in America has deteriorated qualitatively if not quantitatively. Let me outline what can be called the “seven deadly sins” of higher education — adverse developments of the past six decades.
1. Declining Academic Standards
As the proportion of Americans seeking college degrees has increased, by mathematical necessity, a larger percentage of them have middling (or worse) academic preparation for college. With that, faculty expectations of their students have declined materially.
Time use data suggest that college students around 1960 averaged about 40 hours weekly on academic work, compared with less than 30 hours today — yet the mid-20th-century students earned on average grades between B- and C+ in their courses, and even lower in introductory survey classes (about a C). Today, the undergraduate grade average is a B and even higher (roughly A-) at the elite universities. While American economic success has come from doing more with less, American college students are doing less for more. (RELATED: The Children of Elites Are in Trouble)
I think grade inflation was enhanced by the introduction of student evaluations of professors, which became common after 1970. As academic labor markets started softening (largely as a result of an excess of newly minted Ph.D.s relative to new faculty positions), professors seeking increasingly scarce tenured positions tried to buy some student popularity with easy grading. Adding to the problem, at many schools, a relatively rigorous general education curriculum was watered down, with students usually taking fewer courses…