The next time someone points to England as an example of anything other than a good place to get fish-and-chips, casually mention a study funded by their taxpayers. Girls, researchers there breathlessly announced this week, prefer pink.
Sadly we don't have much to brag about on this side of the pond. This silly bit of "research" is just one more footnote in a long line of meaningless research projects that get subsidized by taxpayers. From Newcastle, England, to Austin to College Station to Lubbock, universities have become much less about serving the customers (those pesky students and their bill-paying parents) than the self-aggrandizement of tenured professors and administrators.
A really good book on the misplaced priorities of "higher education" is Imposters in the Temple by Martin Anderson. You'll hate loving this insightful work.
If you are interested in possible reforms to the management, operation and performance of Texas' public colleges and universities, I'd suggest the research from the Texas Public Policy Foundation this spring and summer by their Center for Higher Education.
