Will Cyber-School Pass Or Fail?

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 12, 2000 | by Aimee Howd

There are, of course, many who see brick-and-mortar schools as the be-all and end-all of education. But even Martin, a watchdog traditionalist who longs for a renewal of classical academic ideals -- "a thoughtful discussion that encompasses the breadth of the liberal arts, what you need for citizenship in a democratic society, an understanding of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the struggle for liberty and democracy, that whole human story" -- acknowledges: "Online institutions don't have to reach an ideal, they only have to compete against the schools that are there -- and those are highly mediocre."

Last December a study by ACTA found that 99 of 100 seniors at 55 top-ranked American colleges, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Johns Hopkins, knew the cartoon characters Beavis and Butthead and 98 out of 100 correctly identified rap singer Snoop Doggy Dog. But only 34 percent of those surveyed could identify George Washington as the winning commander at the battle of Yorktown, the culminating battle of the American Revolution. And just 22 percent knew that "Government of the people, by the people and for the people" is a line from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

So weak are most traditional college programs that 78 percent of U.S. News & World Report's top-rated schools do not require students to take any history at all -- and none of them require that all students take a course in American history. Indeed, an earlier study by ACTA found that two-thirds of top colleges and universities no longer require their English majors to study Shakespeare.

Quality degrees in cyberspace: to be or not to be? That remains the question. But, if current trends in higher education are any indication, if you put a first-rate university online they will come.