Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Public Confidence in Higher-Ed Is Hemorrhaging

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by

James A. Bacon
in

I started sounding the alarm years ago: through soaring tuition and leftist orthodoxy, higher-ed institutions would lose the support of a broad swath of the American people. At some point, parents rebel against paying small fortunes to have their kids indoctrinated to reject their values. As the latest Gallup poll shows, a steadily declining percentage of Americans express confidence in higher education.

Predictably, the decline over the past decade has been sharpest among Republicans, whose values are most reviled in academia. The decline among Democrats, who are far more likely to feel a philosophical kinship with campus progressives, has been modest. (See the Gallup numbers.)

I would love to see the same question asked about Virginia’s system of higher education as a whole, and for individual institutions, too. I would conjecture that resentment is strongest against “elite” institutions where progressivism is the strongest.

Obviously, there are many progressives in the general population, so some people are just fine with what’s happening on college campuses. But if you alienate half your potential market, you’re in big trouble. — JAB

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29 responses to “Public Confidence in Higher-Ed Is Hemorrhaging”

  1. M. Purdy Avatar
    M. Purdy

    “Predictably, the decline over the past decade has been sharpest among Republicans, whose values are most reviled in academia.” Or maybe the R party’s values have evolved to be anti-intellectual. It goes both ways.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Liberty U… still #1 in GOP dodecahedrons.

    2. walter smith Avatar
      walter smith

      Yes, cuz Lefties are brilliant for being Lefties, and the failure of all of their policies is only cuz that Leftyism project wasn’t done right. A religion where their beliefs are non-falsifiable cuz SCIENCE!

      1. M. Purdy Avatar
        M. Purdy

        That has nothing to do with it. Look at the stats. College-educated voters are abandoning the R party. And it’s not solely b/c of “indoctrination.”

  2. Randy Huffman Avatar
    Randy Huffman

    Remarkable shift across the board. Yes Republicans dropped the most, but from 2015 to 2023 other groups showed significant drops, including Independents from 48% to 32%, Women from 61% to 39% and ages 18-34, from 60% to 42%.

    They cite cost as a reason, and that surely has a hand in it, and everyone assumes its also about politics, which the Universities have earned the scorn of a large number of groups as they have gone more woke. But I also bet much of the undercurrents is the realization by many that the value of the degree they got after spending these whopping sums of money has not paid off.

    I ran into this article a couple years ago from the Harvard Business Review talking about the disconnect between what employers are looking for, and what our education system is producing, which I thought was interesting.

    https://hbr.org/2021/05/the-u-s-education-system-isnt-giving-students-what-employers-need

  3. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    Expect those numbers parallel the confidence we have in most of our institutions. We’re an unhappy country (sometimes with good reason) and getting unhappier.

    Us boomers have screwed the pooch. Maybe upcoming cohorts will do better. Arguably they don’t have much room to do worse.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Of course, we are told to be unhappy. The point of the poll, and the multiple repeats of the story.

      The good thing is that, except for UVa, most State colleges and universities, and the many private ones in the State, have reasonable acceptance rates. Only UVa, and a smatttering of others have low acceptance rates. It’s the plantation elite, don’t ya know?

      1. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        Interesting commentary on the damage affective polarization does to us:

        https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/affective-polarization-is-endangering-our-democracy

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Polarization? Or, “pollerization”?

          We’ve activated the fringes. Oh boy, this is going to be fun!

          1. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Not sure “fun” is the way I’d frame i, hell in a hand basket maybe.

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Clearly, you don’t know the best places in Hell, or for that matter how much fun it is riding in a basket.

  4. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    Here’s an editorial on the drop in confidence:

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trust-in-higher-education-is-plummeting-for-good-reason

  5. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    Not unexpected.

    I’d also be interested in seeing polling data which tracks public confidence in public confidence polls over time.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Declines more rapidly among those who have studied how these polls are being conducted.

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Declines more rapidly among those who have studied how these polls are being conducted.

    3. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Hey, FWIW, Larry is still on this side of the dirt and sucking air. He gave a thumbs up to one of Dick’s comments in the previous article.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        I’m glad to hear that.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Yeah, so am I.

  6. Not Today Avatar
    Not Today

    Interesting analysis of the data. It’s true, conservatives have largely taken their kids and stayed home from college. Republicans (of the lower income variety) are no longer encouraging their kids to prepare for college and managerial roles and Democrats are. The cause that we agree on is high costs. Families are price sensitive. The ideology? Pure conjecture. Most of those afflicted with anti-intellectualism never went to college and are speculating about what happens on college campuses today. Higher education ™ is inclusive of vocational and technical education. If anything, media consumption habits would be a better metric to predict these self-defeating choices because college grads continue to outearn those with high school diplomas and wealthy Rs are trying to buy their way into the most exclusive (read leftist) colleges in the bunch. SMH.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Mama had an expression, “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        Maybe, but I think the country needs plumbers more than PhDs in Queer Studies.

        Exploring the evolution of queer studies at Brown

        Herald archives, interviews reveal push for more queer courses, challenges, opportunities today

        https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2023/07/exploring-the-evolution-of-queer-studies-at-brown

        1. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          Indoor plumbing is so overrated.

          The more environmentally friendly option is an outhouse.

        2. Not Today Avatar
          Not Today

          How many PhDs in ‘queer studies’ are issued every year as a percentage of doctorates awarded?

    2. walter smith Avatar
      walter smith

      Yes…the people teaching our kids are SO SMART. They know better! That’s why they vote 91% for Joe Biden. That’s why they approve of the govt/private censorship model…to keep the illiterate stupid peasants who deliver their food and fix their AC from rising up. There is no indoctrination! Shut up! (And sign the DEI statements and take your Covid shots like a good Party member, Comrade)

  7. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    Higher education has become an incubator and proliferator of a social contagion. The left thinks this is great.

    LGBTQ+ student self-identification has doubled at Brown since 2010, according to Herald polling data

    Current number of students that do not identify as straight stands at five times national rate</i>

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/518d72e66b66916e23e06b19766706f7f4b1baeea72475d2a7c5c65cf43c11c9.jpg

    https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2023/06/lgbtq-student-self-identification-has-doubled-since-2010-according-to-herald-polling-data

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      What the heck is a pansexual?

      I certainly hope it does not have anything to do with cookware….

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        Seems to be a sexual attraction to every gender and maybe every thing. Might very well include pans, these days.

        Yesterday’s humor is today’s reality.

    2. killerhertz Avatar
      killerhertz

      Kids need special identities to make up for their mediocrity.

    3. Tom B Avatar
      Tom B

      Now we have bonus holes.

      https://twitter.com/prageru/status/1679475769750298632?s=20

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