The Economist Understands Much Better Than it “Ranks”

New federal data reveal which colleges do most for their graduates’ pay-packets. They are not the ones you might expect

Source: Where’s best?

My comment:

As a former math professor who understands American higher education from the inside (of both “elite” schools and not very elite schools), I believe that The Economist covers the subject with great insight. (See for example, their excellent issue on higher education.)

That is why I am so flummoxed by this particular attempt at “ranking”. (I explain that in more detail in my comment on the ranking page.)

From my experience, here is why it is so hard to rank American universities.

By far the best ranking would simply rank them by how well they taught their particular students. But many of these universities are run by very smart people who know exactly how to find the “winning solution” to any metric anyone wants to use to determine if they actually are teaching well.

What is worse is that many of them have the goal of convincing “consumers” that they are learning when they aren’t. That tack provides the most happiness to the most “consumers”.

So, here is my suggestion. Ask someone like me. (I have a blog, so you can see what I think. It is inside-higher-ed .) That is, find a professor who is outraged about the fraud and corruption in higher education, (something hard to do, remember they are smart and tricky) and get them to be honest with you.