Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Free tuition at US public Universities?

While I agree that many US English departments have gone off the rails (and that many of the education departments were never even on the rails to begin with), I also think that suggesting that no tax dollars be used to subsidize education is punishing all students as a way to show disapproval for dodgy ideas among a minority of faculty.

Dude was right; our society is being penny wise and pound foolish. Though our university problem isn't limited to the costs of education. Research is also a relatively low priority in the federal government. By this I mean that too few grants are funded, indirect costs (free money to universities) are way too high (e.g. 70% of the total given to a researcher is added on for Harvard), and giant million+ dollar grants restrict what's available for the investigator-led grants that used to be the cornerstone of innovation in the US. And then there is the insanity of the federal government paying salaries of principal investigators via grants. In all but the smallest organizations, the universities should be paying their salaries. Okay, rant off, but this approach is killing innovation in this country.