views on higher education of an 18th century writer

Adam Smith about higher education by Richard Vedder:
1) Where faculty control the curriculum, they will teach what they want and when they want, often to the neglect of the student's best interest;

2) Tying job eligibility to diploma acquisition and even university attendance is a mistake, leading to "quackery, imposture, and exorbitant fees;"

3) Professors who have their salaries paid for from endowments (or, I would add, government subsdies) rather than directly from student fees are going to perform less well, as their income is not directly related to exertion used in teaching, as it is when the student pays the professor directly;

4) Where students are directed as to which professors to study with, there is less of a positive learning experience than where students choose the professors themselves;

5) restraints on academic mobility that colleges impose --moving between colleges, etc., are injurious to student and thus to social welfare.

read more: http://collegeaffordability.blogspot.com/2010/04/two-approaches-to-higher-education.html