Dr. Richard Vedder
Dr. Richard Vedder, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University, authored a column at Forbes headlined Making Colleges Work Again: Lessons From Adam Smith. In the article, he envisions a “high quality Back to the Basics University.”
…We are approaching 250 years since the founder of modern economic analysis, Adam Smith, noted (in that annus mirabilis 1776) that the quality of teaching at Oxford University had undergone notable decline as a result of changing administrative practices. Previously, professors collected fees from students attending their classes. The more popular the courses, the greater the number of students and the higher fees that could be charged. Pleasing the students enhanced professorial income, so, in Smith’s judgment, the quality of instruction was relatively high….
Read Vedder’s column at Forbes.
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