Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/the-wrong-college-ratings.html?ref=opinion#commentsContainer
I wrote my view of what we need.
“Today’s colleges and univesities want to act like businesses. They use powerful marketing techniques that many times trump education. They are well aware that their consumers are young and susceptible to sales techniques, from boosting their egos (by not teaching anything really demanding) to building them fun places to hang out. Yet, the universities play the “we are professors and our motives should not be questioned” card whenever they are asked to be accoutable in any way.
I do agree, though, that a ranking system will not work well. Clark Kerr (former President of Berkeley and creator of the UC system as it is today) and David Riesman (one of the most insightful sociologists of the last century) both advocated government regulation since, acccording to Riesman, “…advantage can…be taken of [students] by unscrupulous instructors and institutions.. [and] the student estate often does not grasp its own interests, and those who speak in its name are not always its friends” (See inside-higher-ed.com more.)
After teaching math at an “elite” institution for many years, I have seen how this takes places with a vengeance. I have seen PhD’s granted to unqualified candidates in order to fulfill a “national need” grant. I have seen departments fight with each other over who could deflate the content of a required, but unpopular STEM course because each apparently wanted the money to teach it
For these reasons and more, we need government regulations, unfortunately.”
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