IMPACT OF HIGH SCHOOL PlliPARATION
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Consequently, even assuming that the higher education system could
summon the will to act as I have suggested, to make it financially feasible,
two further steps would be necessary for my proposals to have any chance
at all of being realized. First, the way students are assessed for admission to
college would have to change. I believe that the revival of institution–
generated and institution-specific entrance exams, and the revival of
school-and-college consortia on the lines of educational philosophy, are
the most desirable changes. At present, there is a serious discontinuity
between secondary school and college. Schools and colleges often have lit–
tle to do with one another on an institutional level. The result is both
educationally inefficient and impoverishing.
It
would make far more sense,
and would educate students better, if each college or university worked
closely-on curriculum, learning goals, and so forth-with a consortium
of schools, public and private, that could be said to share a similar educa–
tional outlook. At a minimum, students in these schools would not suffer
the now common experience of an aimless senior year, and college coun–
selors and college admissions officers would have the benefit of a thorough
knowledge of the capabilities of those applying to a particular college. At
best, such relations would enable far richer, more profound, curricula in the
schools and could create a true diversity of powerful educational practices
across the school and college divide.
One way to protect such relations from favori tism in college admis–
sions, and to allow students from outside any given consortium access to a
particular college, would be to reinstitute entrance exams, a step that
should be taken in any case on educational grounds alone. These exams
could resemble the kinds of exams widely given by colleges earlier in the
century, which stressed knowledge of certain set subjects and the ability to
demonstrate one's intelligence and knowledge in relation to these subjects;
or they could, alternatively, or in addition, test certain skills or qualities of
mind. Such a change in the practice of admission to college would have
immediate and hugely beneficial effects on secondary education, both in
terms of expectations of learning and on preparation for college.
A second important change that would greatly ease the road back to
standards of admission and achievement is a change in the role of govern–
ment in relation to higher education. For a variety of reasons, federal and
state policies, regardless of the party in power, have fostered an inexorable
expansion of public and to a lesser extent private higher education. These
policies have made government the single most important underwriter of
public and private colleges and universities. Excluding support for research,
the political rationale for almost all government support of higher educa–
tion relates to the numbers of students enrolled. That's the main basis for
the direct funding of public institutions, and for the indirect funding of
