America’s Educational Superpower Is Fading
The author argues that if US universities and colleges are to revive and thrive, they need to rethink four fundamental principles— “The US has taken the first two principles — democratization and marketization — too far. They need to be reined in. It has faltered in its support for the third and fourth principles — meritocracy and freedom of speech. It needs to redouble its support for the third and demonstrate that the fourth is non-negotiable…”
“The best news may be the (albeit belated) rallying behind freedom of speech…[including] A new faculty-led organization at Harvard has vowed to defend academic freedom and civil discourse.”
In-keeping with the FAIR HA+ September 2022 letter to the Harvard presidential search committee, the author warns, “At a time when the world is confronted with dark clouds of misinformation from both foreign autocracies and click-mad social media platforms, American universities need to demonstrate beyond doubt that they are on the side of light and truth.”
