Brian Harvey

When I ask my students what they think has been the most profound effect of computers on education so far, they always guess things like the World Wide Web or arithmetic drill software, but when I tell them the true answer they always immediately understand: The biggest effect of computers on education has been the computer-scorable multiple choice test. The developers of these tests intended only to eliminate an onerous task for teachers, but the unintended consequence was to magnify the importance of factual knowledge, reducing the importance of thoughtful analysis, verbal expression, and creativity. This has been a profound change in the epistemology of schools.

But “No Child Left Behind” has vastly worsened this problem. Before, the multiple-choice standardized tests were just one part of a child’s school experience, and good schools could minimize their importance. Now the continued funding of a school depends on the tests, and so test preparation has squeezed out any other learning consideration. Continue reading…

Charles Schwartz

The leading research universities, like my own University of California (UC), are having a difficult time with finances. The standard complaint from our administrators is that the governments, state and federal, are not providing enough money and that is why, regrettably, they have to raise student fees so much.

I want to take a different look at the simple question: What do we spend on undergraduate education and what do we spend on other missions? We have become used to answering that question in a misleading way, by relying on an old accounting habit. This habit allows us, effectively, to impute much of the cost of our research enterprise to the specific mission of undergraduate education, thereby giving a basis for increases in the tuition we charge our undergraduates. As part of its program of supporting higher education, the federal government should seize the opportunity to revisit these habits, and demand an honest accounting of the costs of education from the institutions it supports. Continue reading…