Should Government Subsidize Higher Education; J. L. Payne

182 Should Government Subsidize Higher Education? by James L. Payne W hen it comes to agricultural subsidies, scholarsline up to criticize.They point out that these governmentfunds cause overproductionand waste,that theystifleinnova tion, and that they are unfair,since lower-income taxpayers are forced to contribute to wealthier individuals. But on the subject of subsidies to academia,scholarsare noticeablysilent.They are content·withgovernment-operatedstate universi ties,and seldomsay a wordagainstthe manyFed eral programsthat directlyor indirectlyfund col leges,includingstudentloans,constructiongrants, work-studyprograms,and researchgrants. This silenceis unfortunate, since many of the current problems in American higher education traceto itssubsidizedcharacter.Thosewhoseekto revitalizeacademiclife can't afford to ignorethis issue.It turns out that the argumentsagainstagri culturalsubsidiesapplyin equalor greaterforceto highereducation!

Overproductionand waste in highereducation take several forms. Because higher education is pricedwell belowcost,many more individualsfill universityplacesthan can profitfrom the training. Oneresult is an oversupplyoftrained,personnelin manyfields:Ph.D.'s in Englishwho work as clerk typists or B.A. graduates in forestry who drive lumbertrucks.The wasteis alsointellectual:many studentswho sit in the underpricedcollegeclass.. James L. Payne has taught political science at Yale, Wes leyan, Johns Hopkins, and Texas A&M. He is now an independent scholar living in Sandpoint, Idaho. roomslackthecapabilityandmotivationto absorb the material.They are frustrated and unfulfilled, and theirresistancedragsdownthe qualityofedu cationfor the others. Another form of waste is the pursuit of irrele vance.Insulatedfromthe disciplineofthe market place in their taxpayer-supportedfiefdoms,many academics pursue silly scholastic dogmas. For example,Marxismthrivesamonguniversityteach ers. Professorsof literatureembraceinanefads in interpretationthat leadthemto wrestthe lifefrom the bookstheyteach.

A broader consequenceof subsidizinghigher education is that of preserving an historical anachronism. The four-year liberal arts college emergedseveralhundred years ago as an educa tionalformto servea tiny,NewEnglandelite.Had this institutionnot been nurtured by government, the landscapeof higher education would almost certainlyhaveevolveddifferently. In a systemof voluntary,unsubsidizedhigher education,the four-yearcollegeprobably would havebeenreplacedbya myriadofschoolsandpro grams,all competingto providethe kindofeduca tion that Americans wanted and could benefit from. To a large extent, this educationwould be oriented toward specifictechnical skills. At the same time, however,the liberal arts could thrive. Insteadof beingimprisonedin government-subsi dizedacademic"disciplines,"subjectssuchasliter ature, history,politics,and philosophycould be openedto both teachersandstudentswhosemotivation would more often be curiosity and concern.

With government out of the picture, who knows what kinds of exciting variations and innovations would flourish! Regulationsand Red Tape In agriculture, another cost of subsidies has been to subject farmers to governmental regulations and red tape. The subsidies in higher education have entailed the same burden. Take, for example, affirmative action, the Federal requirement-let's not mince words-that colleges must hire less qualified members of governmentally approved social groups, including women, blacks, and His panics. The direct result of this Federal regulation, of course, is less competent faculty members. Its indirect effect on the caliber of administrators may be even more harmful. To be a college dean or president these days, you pretty much have to go along with the premise of affirmative action, which is that social goals can be more important than aca demic standards. Since uncompromising champi ons of intellectual excellence cannot accept this premise, these stalwarts tend to be excluded from a leadership role in higher education today.

A final argument against government subsidies for higher education concerns their effect on the thinking of academics. When government pays the salaries, and supports the students, and builds the science labs, and funds the summer research trips SubsidyLeads to Control 183 to Paris, scholars are encouraged not to bite the hand that feeds them. For one thing, administra tive controls are at work. The scholar who makes a forthright criticism of a spending program that is at all close to his field will often be reprimanded by his superiors. Thus, physicists are deterred from questioning super-colliders, educational psycholo gists are deterred from criticizingpublic education, and so on. There is an even more insidious control, howev er. The really telling objections to government spending programs involve universal principles that underlie all programs. The state-subsidized scholar is reluctant to unearth these ideas, for they bring into question his livelihood and that of his colleagues. For example, one criticism of govern ment subsidies is that they involve the use of phys icalforce, since force and the threat of force are the basis of the tax system. A profound analysis of sub sidies, then, would have to ask whether the use of force is a moral approach to socialproblem-solving.

A scholar who already has a government paycheck in his hand would rather not face this issue-and is, of course, biased if he does address it. Thus we see that government subsidies of higher education may involve far worse evils than similar payments to farmers. In agriculture, a subsidy merely distorts production. In higher education, it distorts the thinking of the entire intellectual class on one of the critical issues of our era, the proper role of government in the life of a people. D IDEAS ON LIBERTY It is hardly lack of due process for the government to regulate that which it subsidizes. -UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT Wickardv. Filburn,317 U.S. 111,p. 131, October 1942 184 The Centre SquareWater Works:A Monumentto GovernmentInefficiency by James A. Maccaro T he Centre Square Water Works was an ornatestructureinthe heartofPhiladelphia andformanyyearswasoneofthecity'sbest knownlandmarks.Designedin 1798by Benjamin Latrobe, it resembled an ancient Greek temple, complete with Doric columns and pediments.