Yesterday at our panel on college rankings, U.S. News and World Report's representative, Kenneth Terrell, pointed out when I asked about race that U.S. News released it's ranking of historically black colleges last week. He said they recognized a demand among their audience for such a listing, but I have to agree with Paul Glasteris, this listing doesn't really tell me what kind of education the students are getting. So, I'm curious. For those of you that attend HBCs, what do you think of U.S. News' rankings?
The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities will launch a new college comparison site tomorrow that doesn't rank schools put puts data abou them side by side. Probably a more useful tool than U.S. News and World Report telling you that Princeton is a really good school.
U.S. News and World Report is planning two new rankings for colleges after a controversy over colleges using questionable tactics to increase their rankings. According to WSJ's The Numbers Guy, U.S. News will release a list of top historically black colleges and another list of good schools that are easier to get into. They also hinted at other lists in the works. Because U.S. News has dominated the information market on colleges -- mainly because compiling lists like this is massive amounts of work -- I think it's good that they're breaking out of their Ivy League-dominated lists. Such schools aren't right for everyone, and my major complaint of the rankings has been that they focus on elitism and leave out factors like diversity. That's something that could be solved by taking a step back and thinking about premium historically black colleges, but it's too bad that they have to be considered in a separate category to make rank.
Jim D commented earlier that today was the day we’ve all been waiting: the day the U.S. News and World Report rankings come out. Well I’m tired of this shit. Not because I’m tired of Yale always being No. 3. Not because I’m tired of watching helicopter parents drive their children to anxiety overload. I’m sick of the rankings undermining American competitiveness by incentivizing institutional behavior that privileges the privileged, undermines equality and fairness, and diverts schools’ priorities from educating students to fudging figures. Am I just ranting here? Maybe. But I try to back it up with some more meat in my op-ed on the Huffington Post today. Check it out. Beef up the comments section at HuffPo with some CP love.
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