ERIC Number: EJ813005
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jan
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0895-4852
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Spellings Report: An Inadequate Fix
Reeves, Thomas C.
Academic Questions, v20 n1 p56-60 Jan 2007
In 2005, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings convened a panel of 19 leading educators, educational bureaucrats, and corporate leaders to examine the state of postsecondary education. Members sought solutions to problems in four areas of concern: access, affordability, quality, and accountability. The commission completed a final report, with a single negative vote, in September 2006. Regrettably, the 27-page report proved long on generalities and lofty rhetoric and offered few specific recommendations. The Spellings Commission Report does little to provide a blueprint for reform. Even its underlying First Principle is highly questionable: Everyone should partake in some form of postsecondary education. This assumes, of course, that all are capable of and eager for such intellectual effort. The report's recommendations fail to deal at all with such huge issues as grade inflation, intellectual diversity, academic freedom, silly courses and majors, student anti-intellectualism, weak admissions policies, and the absence of solid breadth requirements for graduation. (Contains 13 notes.)
Descriptors: Higher Education, Research Reports, Strategic Planning, Planning Commissions, Politics of Education, Access to Education, Accountability, Cost Effectiveness, Paying for College, Educational Quality, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A