It is time for national scrutiny of the quality of higher education. Some indictments of higher education include: unqualified students; diluted standards, coddled faculty, little scholarly research, no quality control, inadequate measures of performance, declining academic freedom, and self-righteousness. (MLW)

By modulating course requirements, effective classroom management is able to sustain respectable academic standards while making flexible concessions to student petitions. The author's name is a pseudonynm. (MLW)

American society and culture is seen as being in an educational reform movement. Fresh ideas, renewed commitment to educational standards, rising expectations for teacher competence and student performance, impatience with trendy innovations and flabby practices, and a faith in the importance of high quality education are discussed. (MLW)

Two educators discuss the advantages and disadvantages of no-need scholarships. A national program of scholarships for high school students about to enter college is advocated by one while the other sees the no-need scholarships as weakening the principle that academic achievement should be its own reward. (MLW)

Economic factors in education are among the important causes of poor student performance. The time that students must work to support themselves has increased greatly to the extent that students are stretched thin between their desire to graduate as rapidly as possible and their need to have an income. (MLW)

In a reaction to an article by Chester E. Finn, Jr., it is contended that federal dollars have provided the essential margin that makes for quality and gives institutions more independence. Loss of federal dollars would not be taken up by the states or the private sector. (MLW)

College assessment systems, suggest New Jersey's governor, must be built from two sides to have integrity: a common core of statewide information about college performance defined by public bodies and boards, and institutional mission-related information defined by college presidents, faculty, and trustees. (MLW)

The debate about the purposes of education is worthless because the power of education is vastly exaggerated, because it is assumed that improvement can come from within the system, and because the debators are unaware of the real purpose of education: socialization. What happens in the classroom is largely irrelevant. (MSE)

In critical times, it is suggested, anything that profoundly affects the basic mission and the ultimate survival of a college or university is a legitimate concern of trustees. The triple crisis facing higher education is identified: funding, quality control, and definition of purpose. (MLW)

Analysis of the content of and student responses to college course evaluations suggests that, in general, students are seeking entertainment, comfort, high grades, and less work and are hostile to the necessary routines and rigors of higher education. The commonly used numerical evaluation form is not only unreliable and invalid, it is an…

The current emphasis on excellence, it is suggested, is used as an excuse to exclude. The more people who are educated, the greater the possibility that collective decisions will be of better quality. Higher education must become more open and more inclusive. (MLW)

Higher education faculty outside the schools of education have a great deal at stake when it comes to the quality of schools and school teaching. They are seen as directly responsible for the frequently poor preparation of those entering college. (MLW)

The emerging policies of federal disengagement offer state leaders the opportunity to reassert the constitutional primacy of the states in providing higher education opportunities. Several proposals for action by Virginia's governor are presented, including improvement of educational standards by raising admission requirements and state…

Black progress is tied to the overriding national concern for economic development and the challenge of international competition. The experience of black colleges shows that unequally prepared students can be educated to high levels of performance. Some public policy initiatives are suggested. (MLW)

The chancellor of the California community college system has begun a controversial effort to achieve higher academic standards through governance reform. (MSE)