For American universities, the Cold War was a glorious time of expansion fueled by seemingly limitless government funding of research. The purse strings have since tightened, but, says Duke University hydrology professor Stuart Rojstaczer, universities are still bent on growth. That's why tuition is sky-high, grading standards have fallen and research trumps teaching as faculty scramble to secure grant money (and tenure). In a new book, Rojstaczer, PhD '88, offers a candid insider's view of academe today and argues that curbing growth could result in better undergraduate education. Excerpts:
On Grade Inflation
There are several reasons why grades have risen. One is that professors long ago figured out that giving high grades means less time dealing with students and more time for research.
It also doesn't hurt that easily graded classes attract more students. Departments with large student enrollments tend to get larger budgets and stand a much better chance of getting permission to hire new faculty.
Third, the full emergence of "new-wave" classes (focused on current events, popular culture or the broad achievements of science) has created a significant new source of grade inflation. Some of the professors of new-wave classes find grades to be an antiquated standard and assert that unbiased judgment of student performance is impossible. Most faculty do not agree with this "postmodern" view, but in order not to lose students, they feel compelled to keep pace and raise their grades.
Probably a more subtle reason is the dramatic increase in tuition over the last 20 years. When a student represents $22,000 in revenue, there is a tendency to want to reward that student in some way for choosing that university. One way is to give the student easy grades and an easy sense of achievement.
Regardless of the causes, grade inflation has proven difficult to reverse. At Stanford, faculty have been trying since the mid-1990s to find a way to reduce the average GPA from a truly outlandish 3.6 to a modestly outlandish 3.4. Since Duke's average GPA is already at the 3.4 level, I guess I should feel proud of our relatively stringent standards.
On Workload
It is clear that students are spending less time than recent generations studying and attending class. Take my university. In 1968, classes at Duke were scheduled six days of the week. Students were required to take 124 credits for graduation. For students in the humanities and social sciences, that amounted to about 15 to 16 hours per week in class plus required courses in physical education. For those in the sciences, laboratory sessions added two hours. During the period 1968 to 1986, the number of class hours per week required for graduation was reduced to about 13 for those in the humanities and social sciences and to about 15 for those in the sciences. Since the 1980s, it has been very common for students to have two to three courses' worth of advanced placement credits from high school. All in all, student class hours required for graduation have been reduced by 20 to 25 percent.
It should be noted that this semi-quantitative assessment of the reduction in workload echoes changing student views of the university. In the 1960s, students referred to Duke, noted for its striking Gothic architecture and heavy workload, as the "Gothic Rock Pile." Nowadays, students affectionately refer to the university as the "Gothic Wonderland."
On the Power of Public Opinion
At the same time that universities evolved into institutions that were primarily oriented toward research, the public continued to view universities as institutions whose primary mission is undergraduate and professional instruction. As a result, when both private individuals and corporations think of giving money to universities, they strongly prefer to support teaching and activities related to undergraduate life rather than research. Unfortunately, after 40 years of generous federal funding, administration and faculty have come to expect continued growth and support of research.
If, in the coming decades, government support of university research continues to be flat, and private and corporate support continues to grow dramatically, we may see a reorientation in focus. Since the public is far more inclined to support teaching than research, it may through its collective pocketbook change the face of the American research university. Under such a scenario, the importance of undergraduate instruction at these universities will likely resurface. Such a change would be welcomed by many, myself included.
Stuart Rojstaczer, PhD '88, directs the Center for Hydrologic Science at Duke University. Excerpts from Gone for Good: Tales of University Life after the Golden Age, by Stuart Rojstaczer, copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press. Published by arrangement with Oxford University Press, New York.
