We Are Losing Our Minds: Three Big Steps to Restore Trust in Higher Education

We are losing our minds. 

We have no national vision for learning in our society. No clue about what we want to produce. No industrial policy. No human capital strategy for the development and success of our people. No call to the values that bring us together: to love thy neighbor, as thy self, in thy self. No strategy for advancing human intelligence in a world of artificial intelligence. No national commitment to community, purpose, and play as the way to address our mental health crisis. No national learning objectives to ensure the competitive success of our kids in the future. In fact, the word learning appears completely absent from the nation’s polarizing political views about education. We are falling even deeper into a crisis of plummeting national confidence. One that is likely to worsen. If we fail to reverse the downward spiral, we will sacrifice a generation. We will forfeit our competitive edge. 

We cannot turn this around if we put our heads in the sand, scream that the sky is falling, or run for the hills.  We must face, own, and surmount our challenges. Here are three big ways to restore trust.

First, let’s face facts.

Persistent student and teacher absenteeism in K-12. A worsening loneliness pandemic. Our 15-year-olds rank 34^th in math. Not ready for civic life and the workplace. College, too, carries substantial risks. Weak screening methods in admissions. Skyrocketing sticker prices. Unaffordable costs. Under-evaluated credit risk. $1.7T in debt that cannot be resolved in bankruptcy court. High failure rates. Disappointing social mobility. Excessive politicization, both from within and imposed from without. Weak advances in critical thinking. A lack of real-world experience. Limited exposure to respectful debate and constructive dialogue. Fear of speaking up. Avoidance of conflicting perspectives. Dogmatic opinions and personal attacks. Credentialism over personal growth. Cheating, plagiarism, and grade inflation over the rigor of learning. Artificial over human intelligence. Persistently low levels of civic understanding and engagement. Poor preparation for high-earning jobs. We must own our problems.

Second, let’s take the politics out of learning and research.

Politics corrupts our sense of shared purpose. To lead a good, thoughtful, productive life. To earn a good living. To contribute to, and lead in, our communities, our national civic, our economy, and our global conflicts. To find common ground. To improve the quality of life for others.

This requires, above all, strong student-centric pedagogy. To prepare our kids for an uncertain future of exponential change. To learn from conflicting perspectives, prioritizing questions over answers, advancing open, critical, rigorous, Socratic, and experiential methods that focus our students on how—not what—to think, put that learning to work, and solve problems across lines of controversy. Research that leads to big improvements in our country and the world beyond. 

This means making hard, principled distinctions between right and wrong. For example, in the battles between the federal government and Harvard and UVa, let’s ask: should universities enforce civil rights and their own internal codes of conduct on harassment, material disruption, threats to physical safety? Yes! Should the executive branch respect congressional legislation, judicial independence, the rights of independent institutions, and—regardless of political viewpoint—freedom of speech and assembly, religious freedom, equal protection, due process? Yes!

Third, let’s demonstrate and democratize success.

This begins with highlighting exceptional success in the face of these challenges. This includes the institution I lead, Claremont McKenna College. Our opportunity strategy achieved dramatic increases in access, graduation, and career success in first-gen and Pell students. Low debt levels. High social mobility (3^rd in % of students from the bottom fifth in family income rising to the top fifth). Top liberal arts college return on value in post-graduate salary (Forbes). Our Open Academy boosted us to 1^st in the confidence to speak up, 3^rd in the tolerance of different viewpoints (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), and 1^st in political awareness. Our approach to community, purpose, and play set the foundation for 93% reporting friendships as a source of strong emotional support (National College Health Assessment) and for the 3^rd friendliest campus (Princeton Review). To my knowledge, Claremont McKenna College is the first non-technical institution in the world to require that students learn how to build AI generative systems (not just learn about them or how to use them) in the context of major social, economic, political, ethical, and scientific challenges (the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences). 

Even then, a molecule of achievement in the proverbial drop of water in the larger ocean cannot suffice. We need large, visible collaborations. For improved retention and graduation rates at large universities (the student success movement). For enrollment and support of more Pell students at our most selective institutions (the American Talent Initiative). For civic preparation through the focus of 125 universities on constructive dialogue (the Institute for Citizens and Scholars). This means drawing on what works in well-resourced institutions and sharing it nationally.

In fixing it, let’s remember that higher education is our most powerful national comparative advantage. We improve the quality of life through vital research and achievement in all arts and sciences, including medicine, engineering, policy, and many other fields. A magnet for the most brilliant researchers and a training ground for the world’s top leadership (CEOs, heads of state—you name it). A significant and successful export, with over 1 million international students who study here. $43+ billion per year—more than soybeans. Twice that of film and TV sales abroad. Close to $20 billion per year in our college sports industry. The largest employer in many cities, counties, and towns across our country. 

So, when we clean the bath water, let’s remember the baby. The kids we love unconditionally. For whom we have the highest hopes. The minds we cannot afford to lose.