Recently, as I was driving around shoeing horses and listening to the School Sucks Podcast #532 @ ~1:38, Thaddeus Russell of Renegade University explained some of his adventures in looking into accreditation of his education platform. Professor Russell is looking for some help with a new project - abolish the accreditation system.
Accreditation is necessary to:
- be eligible for federal funding
- transfer credits from university to university
- employers may want accreditation
- admission to graduate school.
There are two main accreditation categories: national and regional. Each category has several associations specific to territory or discipline.
According to Professor Russell, the national accreditation agencies are lower value and therefore not in his best interest. It would appear that Professor Russell's Renegade University is aiming to compete more with "Ivy League" schools in the quality of education he intends to provide. As such, there are six regional accreditation agencies that could provide the status he is looking for.
Now, we come to the problems. Beyond the prohibitive requirements of an ancient and arguably outdated system as outlined in the podcast is the tendency towards narrowness of ideas and monopoly of influence.
Federal Funding Raises Prices and Lowers the Overton Window
Medieval universities placed people into places of power that were sanctioned directly by Pope.
Harvard, Columbia, Yale and others are modeled after this medieval system. Now, however, we see God replaced with the State.
Faculty governance is the new monopoly protected now by the State. Hiring, firing, promotion and tenure. Tenure comes from medieval model.
Effects of this monopoly are seen as a very narrow Overton window. Tenure suffocates new ideas. Heterodox ideas are stifled.
Designed to keep radical immigrants out of universities, the Higher Education Act of 1965, a Lyndon Johnson Great Society Program formally structured the governance paradigm with the effect of dramatically limiting the level and quality of debate. Many surveys show that ideas are homogeneous.
Small window of opportunity
Betsey Devos is first to be critical of accreditation, having spoken about reform. Of course, Professor Russell would like to simply abolish the system.
This Brings Us To The Questions
Can accreditation just be ignored in a private school? Can reputation of the school itself overcome the need to be accredited in an age where reviews and other information is so readily available? What is the value of a new open system compared to the old dominion system?
With all this information available today and technology like blockchains, can we create a new superior system?