(Not) Educating Students for Profit?

It is a question heard repeatedly across the country at law schools, graduate schools, and in employer offices:  “How did you, Mr./Ms. College Graduate, get here without the ability to write a coherent paragraph?”  One answer, provided by Craig Brandon in his book “The Five Year Party,” is that many colleges dumb down the curriculum and inflate grades (among other things) in order to win tuition-paying applicants.   The book, recently reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, is a compilation of news reports, scholarly studies and original reporting on campuses across the country.  In another story, Businessweek recently reported on allegations of related problems at various for-profit colleges.

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