The College Fix

Do the people who teach at and run universities across this nation truly care about educating students to prepare for real jobs when they graduate? One need look no further than the esoteric claptrap that passes for a liberal arts education to illustrate that – no – real skills are often the last thing taught inside many humanities departments at institutes of higher learning.

Now one republican governor says it’s time to better hold universities’ feet to the fire.

North Carolina’s Patrick McCrory said this week he would develop legislation to base funding for his state’s public colleges on post-graduate employment rather than enrollment, adding what matters is “not based on butts in seats, but on how many of those butts can get jobs,” Inside Higher Ed reports.

The Republican governor also called into question the value of publicly supporting liberal arts majors after the host made a joke about gender studies courses at UNC-Chapel Hill. “If you want to take gender studies that’s fine, go to a private school and take it,” McCrory told the radio host. “But I don’t want to subsidize that if that’s not going to get someone a job.”

McCrory’s comments on higher education echo statements made by a number of Republican governors – including those in Texas, Florida and Wisconsin – who have questioned the value of liberal arts instruction and humanities degrees at public colleges and universities. Those criticisms have started to coalesce into a potential Republican agenda on higher education, emphasizing reduced state funding, low tuition prices, vocational training, performance funding for faculty members, state funding tied to job placement in “high demand” fields and taking on flagship institutions.

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