Calm the f_ck down you d_ck.

Jenna A. Robinson, a contributor over at The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, or simply known as The Pope Center, wrote an article entitled "Five Ways You Can Improve Higher Education." It's an interesting read.

1. Stop giving money to your alma mater—and tell them why!
If you send money in response to annual appeals, it allows university administrators to spend that money on whatever they choose: instruction, research, athletics, centers, campus speakers, or even administration. The money may support programs or ideas with which you don’t agree, such as a diversity center, social justice courses, or “student life” activities that you might not consider very wholesome.

Or your donation might simply fund waste. For example, take a look at pass-through rates for campus giving. At one school in the UNC system, 71 percent of all donations fund the campus giving office. If you considered donating to a charity, you would never choose one with that kind of wasteful spending. You should apply the same standards when giving to a university.

If you do give to your alma mater and try to direct your gift to a particular cause, the university may not abide by your wishes. Universities have a poor track record of respecting donor intent.

Two examples illustrate this. In 1992, Mattie Kelly gave her 13-acre waterfront homestead to Okaloosa-Walton Community College in Destin, Florida. Kelly expected the land to be the home of a cultural and environmental institute. Instead, the college sold the land to a housing developer. Also, in 2006, Tulane University eliminated its women’s affiliate, Newcomb College, and took over Newcomb’s endowment. Josephine Louise Newcomb, who donated $3 million to the women’s college more than 100 years ago, expected her money to be used for a women’s college. Her heirs sued Tulane, but lost in state court.

2. Support a school that takes no federal money.
Several schools take no money from the federal government. That means they accept no grants, no student loans, no funding whatsoever from Uncle Sam. You’ve probably heard of Hillsdale College and Grove City College, but Pensacola Christian College, Patrick Henry College, Christendom College, New Saint Andrews College, and Wyoming Catholic also operate independently.

This allows the schools to spend their money on instruction instead of administration. (Federal compliance costs thousands of dollars per student, per year.) It also allows schools to ignore federal mandates that run counter to both good practices and traditional values. (They can ignore the “Dear Colleague” letter, for example, which demands that universities trample the due process of students accused of sexual assault.)
You can support a school like Hillsdale in two ways—either send them a check or encourage your children, grandchildren, and friends to attend.

3. Support a center or institute that focuses on ideas that are important to you.
Around the country, there are many privately funded academic centers that preserve and promote the knowledge and perspectives that are disappearing from the academy, with an emphasis on undergraduate education. The Pope Center’s director of state policy analysis wrote a report on the topic early last year called “Renewal in the University.”

Many of these academic centers engage in the same type of work that occurs across the broader university, but without the activist leanings that are present in so many schools today. They: Engage in research; sponsor speakers and debate series; support undergraduate fellowships and services; distribute books; partner with local communities; and (of course) offer classes to undergraduate and graduate students.

4. If you are an employer or hiring manager, stop insisting on a degree when making hiring decisions.
Here’s why: Many students don’t actually learn much. In their 2011 book Academically Adrift, authors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa found, “with a large sample of more than 2,300 students, we observe no statistically significant gains [after two years] in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills for at least 45 percent of the students in our study.”

Executives who employ recent college graduates can confirm that finding. In a 2014 poll by Hart Research Associates, business leaders said that many new graduates are not “well-prepared” for the workforce. The poll results revealed that many employers believe that the majority of graduates are deficient in terms of their ethical judgment and decision-making, oral communication, statistics skills, critical thinking, and creativity.
Instead of assuming that a B.A. or B.S. is a guarantee of competence, ask for evidence of a person’s grit, intelligence, and work ethic. For example, ask for a portfolio; carefully read the cover letter; and get recommendations from Scout Masters, youth group leaders, or former bosses. Yes, as an employer, the hiring process will be a little more onerous, but you’ll end up with employees who are more likely to have proven worth instead of just a piece of paper.

5. Stop relying on U.S. News and World Report to evaluate colleges and universities. 
This resource bases its ratings on measures that don’t actually affect student learning. Instead it includes the opinions of administrators at peer institutions; how well faculty are paid; and how selective the student body is. That last measure, of course, invites universities to game the system. They issue invitations to apply to far more students than they can actually admit, artificially inflating their “selectivity” numbers.

Other resources are much more helpful for students and parents, including the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Choosing the Right College, FIRE’s free speech ratings, and the Brookings Institute’s new value-added assessment of graduate salaries.
You can also take a look at ACTA’s “What Will They Learn” website, which assesses universities’ general education curricula. It grades universities from “A” to “F” based on whether students are required to take core courses like math, science, literature, and American history.

Citizens, parents, and students can make a difference to the future of higher education. Together, you can change the market with your actions and contributions.

 I think all are decent tactics, especially the last one.

Apparently one poster, "DrOfNothing" (an apt name), thought it was nonsense and went on a pathetic tirade.

Absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible suggestions on all fronts. How can a center that repeatedly bemoans ideology in education so recklessly advocate measures that are purely ideological? This is the absolute height of hypocrisy, and truly reveals the Pope Center's tagline of "pursuing excellent in higher education" for the duplicitous double-speak that it is.

1.) Stop giving money to your alma mater—and tell them why!
- Of course, because every private individual in an absolute _expert_ on higher education infrastructure. Don't bother looking into the larger picture of their finances, which would reveal that the overwhelming majority of a university's expenditure is on teaching and research. Instead, trust us, the Pope Center, when we tell you that it all goes to fat-cat administrators, Title IX regulations, and Liberal professors!!!

2.) Support a school that takes no federal money.
- Why give money to your struggling local university when you can give it to a god-fearing Christian school instead? After all, this country was founded on the principle of promoting Christian ideology, especially in governance . . . oh, wait, wasn't there some bit about separation of church and state? Never mind, just right a check for some bible college in Florida. Or better yet, send your bright and inquisitive teenagers there. I can just imagine the conversation: "well, Bobby, we know you got into UNC-Chapel Hill, but we're going to insist you attend Hillsdale College instead. It may not have anywhere near the teaching quality and the diploma might barely be worth the paper it's printed on, but gosh darn it, they're good Conservatives and have notable alumni such as Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Jared Veldheer!" Or you could send them to Biola University. No doubt the evangelicals will encourage their rational inquiry into science and religion! Onward Christian donors!!!
3.) Support a center or institute that focuses on ideas that are important to you.
- Yeah, to hell with the priorities that experts in the fields of science, medicine, technology, law, the humanities and social sciences set. You have a BA, you read Pope Center articles, YOU are the expert. You should only fund ideas you agree with--that way, no one can ever tell you that you're wrong! What better way to cultivate free speech and intellectual freedom than defunding anything that disagrees with our ideology? That's how we at the Pope Center work, whooppee!

4.) If you are an employer or hiring manager, stop insisting on a degree when making hiring decisions.
- Seriously, who needs a college degree? Education is _obviously_ just a Liberal conspiracy, and all that evidence that college degrees invariably lead to higher earnings and a better lifestyle is just propaganda. What you really need to do is encourage narrow-mindedness and ignorance, and focus on the only thing that matters in this world--money! We certainly didn't look for any flimsy "qualifications" when we built our staff at the Pope Center. As long as they had "grit," that was enough for us. All the degrees we hold are just for wall decoration, and none of them have anything to do with educational policy anyway.

5.) Stop relying on U.S. News and World Report to evaluate colleges and universities.
- Absolutely, you shouldn't trust the globally-recognized system of assessing the quality and prestige of a university. You can also ignore all those so-called "scientific" rankings by QS, ARWU, and Times Higher Education. Algorithms are for suckers. Forget that they've all been doing this for decades, and that employers read them, professors respect them, and they've become an essential metric of educational prestige throughout the world. Instead, you should rely on these niche rankings put together by the completely biased groups that agree with our ideology. Spurn Georgetown University (#21 nationwide, and top 100 in the World) and shun the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (#59 in the world, 23 Nobel Prizes to its name, and a leading center in the development of artificial intelligence, cybernetics and robotics). FIRE don't like 'em! Instead, you should go to Mississippi State University, the center of agricultural and veterinary science in the rebel state. Go Bulldawgs, woof, woof!!!

And, as further incentive, the first 10 subscribers to this whacked-out agenda get a free "Vote Drumpf" baseball cap and a copy of Allan Bloom's "Closing of the American Mind."

It's clear this poster is a Grade A douchebag (he has had his say on numerous Pope Center articles). The guy is the typical Leftist, so enraged by a thoughtful alternatives - though flawed, that he just throws cliches and assumptions like most Leftists do when criticizing a work that does not embrace the given the common belief amongst the average American on higher education. Let me point out his #5. Even students, parents and academic counselors are realizing that solely focusing on US News rankings is a flawed way of going about selecting a university (collegeconfidential,com). Obviously this poster takes the guide for granted and doesn't question it. All of Robinson's reasons for not relying on US News rankings have been already been supported by even the most college crazed parents and counselors.

The man has issues. In recent comments on other articles he has made sharp tones towards "market based" and "consumer students." I suppose that he is not for the research oriented universities (state) as opposed to ones that mainly focus on the students (hence why he holds the US News rankings in high regard) like liberal arts schools and privates like the Ivies.

But the poster was all too friendly on an article where the writer said she was attaining her Maters in History for the sake of learning. Oh he was gushing and offering his kind words and advice!

He's curious because he doesn't think what they said was anything controversial  (even though youtube, Campus Fix and Minding the Campus have proven professors are arrogant bastards). Jane S. Shaw politely declined his request.

UPDATE: This cunt bag has replied to my posts. I wonder if I should fully engage.

UPDATE: I have decided to become the "goon," the enforcer, between us. I'm just going to troll his posts on The Pope Center. My comments may be deleted - I might even get banned (ban #4 for me, if so), but I'll make clear that, without much bias, that he's a straight-up tool which is something, if we ever meet in real life, I'll say straight to his face.

Speaking of being banned, I've been banned from the following sites;

Dappered.com
The Hollywood Reporter
Red State