Truth, Be Known

How to Find Knowledge Despite the Manifold Vanities of the Modern University

In 1988, Charles J. Sykes published Profscam: Professors and the Demise of Higher Education. The book was a sweeping indictment of academia's abandonment of its primary mission, which is teaching. The consequences he identified have affected every sector of society. For students, it has meant watered-down courses, disengaged instructors, and overpriced degrees of questionable value. For businesses, it has meant a hiring pool of immature graduates with poor problem-solving and communication skills. And for the rest of America, it has meant billions of taxpayer and tuition dollars squandered on an "embarrassment of academic riches." This year Sykes followed up Profscam with...