Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Friedman Milton & Friedman Rose

Author:Friedman, Milton & Friedman, Rose [Friedman, Milton & Friedman, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Capitalism, Free Enterprise, Economics, Classics, Politics, Business, Psychology, Social Policy, Public Policy, Political Freedom, Theory, Philosophy, Business & Economics, History, General, Welfare State, Political Science, Industrial Policy
ISBN: 9780156334600
Google: F5z1B5SwGUEC
Amazon: 0156334607
Goodreads: 97820
Publisher: Harcourt
Published: 1979-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

HIGHER EDUCATION: THE PROBLEMS

The problems of higher education in America today, like those in elementary and secondary education, are dual: quality and equity. But in both respects the absence of compulsory attendance alters the problem greatly. No one is required by law to attend an institution of higher education. As a result, students have a wide range of choice about what college or university to attend if they choose to continue their education. A wide range of choice eases the problem of quality, but exacerbates the problem of equity.

Quality. Since no person attends a college or university against his will (or perhaps his parents'), no institution can exist that does not meet, at least to a minimal extent, the demands of its students.

There remains a very different problem. At government institutions at which tuition fees are low, students are second-class customers. They are objects of charity partly supported at the expense of the taxpayer. This feature affects students, faculty, and administrators.

Low tuition fees mean that while city or state colleges and universities attract many serious students interested in getting an education, they also attract many young men and women who come because fees are low, residential housing and food are subsidized, and above all, many other young people are there.

For them, college is a pleasant interlude between high school 176

FREE TO CHOOSE: A Personal Statement

and going to work. Attending classes, taking examinations, getting passing grades—these are the price they are paying for the other advantages, not the primary reason they are at school.

One result is a high dropout rate. For example, at the University of California in Los Angeles, one of the best regarded state universities in the country, only about half of those who enroll complete the undergraduate course—and this is a high completion rate for government institutions of higher education. Some who drop out transfer to other institutions, but that alters the picture only in detail.

Another result is an atmosphere in the classroom that is often depressing rather than inspiring. Of course, the situation is by no means uniform. Students can choose courses and teachers according to their interest. In every school, serious students and teachers find a way to get together and to achieve their objectives. But again, that is only a minor offset to the waste of students' time and taxpayers' money.

There are good teachers in city and state colleges and universities as well as interested students. But the rewards for faculty and administrators at the prestigious government institutions are not for good undergraduate teaching. Faculty members advance as a result of research and publication; administrators advance by attracting larger appropriations from the state legislature. As a result, even the most famous state universities—the University of California at Los Angeles or at Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin, or the University of Michigan—are not noted for undergraduate teaching. Their reputation is for graduate work, research, and athletic teams—that is where the payoffs are.

The situation is very different at private institutions. Students at such institutions pay high fees that cover much if not most of the cost of their schooling.

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