I recently published an op-ed with The Daily Wire. The article offers a simple but revolutionary proposal for education reform:
Colleges and universities are accredited on the backs of their faculty, on their degrees and academic achievements. But what if the qualifications that secure college and university accreditation instead secured accreditation for individuals scholars, allowing them to offer accredited courses as private-practice professors, thereby opening the door to a host of free market innovations?
The piece is linked below. I want to take this opportunity to make my readers aware of the op-ed and to offer a postmortem on the piece.
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Postmortem on the “Private-Practice” Professor (PPP) Proposal
The response to my op-ed has been tremendous. I saw a flood of readers to my Substack; my inbox piled up with enthusiastic support for my proposal; and the piece over performed on social media with glowing support.
Clearly, the proposal struck a chord. Many have reached out to me, asking what they can do to help make the proposal a reality. I admit that I am unsure the best path forward. However, I will say what I believe is the most efficient path, and perhaps from this we might discern some less efficient options as well.
The economic benefits of the PPP are obvious. However, the road I believe to be most efficient for making the PPP a reality trades on a secondary feature of the proposal, namely, its capacity to slow woke indoctrination.
The proposal removes the weapons typically used to silence opposition to woke ideology within the academy. The PPP need not fear an ideological hiring committee, nor complaints to a DEI officer, nor the cowardice of an administration held hostage by woke students. He is subject to none of these. Hence, in addition to its tremendous economic benefits to students and scholars alike, the PPP proposal takes considerable steps toward disarming the woke regime.
Now, whatever you may think of Ron DeSantis, he has unquestionably governed Florida with an eye to stifling the woke agenda. Were a governor, like DeSantis, to recognize the value of the PPP for both education reform and for stifling woke indoctrination, I could envision a series of moves to quickly make the PPP model a reality.
Such a governor could lean on an accrediting body based in his state to provide accreditation to PhD holders whose degree is from an accredited school. He could lean on all colleges that take state funds to accept PPP credits. He could institute a school choice policy — if one did not already exist — where the dollars follow the student, and to this policy he could append approval for the use of said dollars toward courses by PPPs.
These several steps would, with near immediacy, provide a basis for recognition of the PPP as an accredited entity, empower parents to seek out and hire PPPs to educate their children, provide leverage for institutions to accept PPP credits, and set the free market to work on the sorts of possibilities outlined in my DW op-ed.
Should this post makes its way into the hands of anyone with the power to leverage such changes, feel free to reach out to me.
Short of this exceedingly efficient road, the route nonetheless identifies the leverage points on which advocates of PPP might focus.
Governing Bodies. A growing body of parents and politicians have taken aim at education reform in recent years, and part of this is the growing push for school choice, where state dollars follow the student. Such initiatives open the door for parents and politicians to enact some recognition of PPPs. By approving the use of state dollars for PPP courses, the state offers tangible legitimacy to the PPP.
Accrediting Bodies. Were an accrediting body, such as the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), persuaded by the proposal — be it for economic or political reasons — such a body could provide accreditation to individuals, granting them the same stamp of approval given to institutions. The accrediter could, in turn, lean on schools it accredits to accept PPP courses as part of its accrediting relationship.
Degree-Granting Bodies. Clearly, if colleges and universities were willing to accept PPP courses, this would be a major step toward legitimizing PPPs. However, colleges and universities have the most to lose from the proposal, so I expect they are the least likely to cooperate. Having said this, struggling schools in search of a more economically lean and competitive model may afford an interim step.
I could imagine a struggling college or university embracing a hybrid between traditional faculty and PPPs. For example, the school trades its full-time faculty for a series of independent academic contractors, scholars who are affiliated with the school but essentially operate as PPPs. These PPPs recruit students, whether through the school or independent of it, offering whatever classes they like within their discipline, entirely on their own terms, including pricing. The school, in turn, offers record-keeping and accrediting services for those classes — and degree-granting services, should a student earn sufficient credits. In exchange for these umbrella services, the PPP pays the school a percentage of his earnings, though the percentage would be meager in comparison with the typical economics of a traditional college or university.
Admittedly, this sort of transitional proposal is less than ideal. For it continues to deny credentialed scholars the freedom to offer accredited courses independent of an institution. Nonetheless, it may provide an interim step.
Once again, if this post finds its way into the hands of anyone with the leverage to enact any of the above steps, please feel free to contact me.
In my next post, I will look at some further benefits of the PPP proposal. Specifically, I will look at the ways in which higher education has lost its way with regard to incentive structures, the purpose of tenure, and the nature of the liberal arts more general. Be watching for more on these points in part 2.
This model has a flavor of the medieval University of Paris, where students would attend lectures taught by anyone who had credentials and was willing to rent a space and put the word out. Students would pay per lecture, admission to the lecture hall gathered at the door. Credentials were issued by an examining body after the student passed a high-stakes examination. A professor who had a high rate of students passing the credentialing exam would be in demand and could make a comfortable living.
This might be comparable to the few states that allow anyone to sit for the bar exam with only an apprenticeship with a credentialed lawyer. This is the same exam taken by graduates of a law school and requires lots of initiative and hard study to pass it.
I think it has real potential.
I love this idea. And, I've often thought about it. As an independent scholar and a homeschool dad, I've often wondered why credentialed scholars cannot individually offer accredited courses outside of the university. I love the plan you've laid out and the thoughtful points you've address. I've offered private tutoring to homeschool families, but would love to be able to offer an accredited course to college-aged students. How do we make this happen?