Higher Education in America

On the contrary, they say, professors who are active in research are more motivated than their unproductive colleagues to keep up-to-date with their field.

According to sociologists Jonathan and Stephen Cole, almost all of the scientific papers that are cited most frequently and considered most significant are written by members of a handful of leading departments, while the vast accumulation of other published articles have little or no influence on the progress of the field.

Writings in scientific journals fare better; only 25 percent are reportedly never cited.

From 1985 to 2000, the proportion of freshmen claiming to be bored in class reportedly rose from 26 percent to 40 percent. According to Amy Liu, Jessica Sharkness, and John H. Pryor, HERI Findings from the 2007 Administration of Your First College Year (YFCY) National Aggregates (2008), p. 9, the percentage of freshmen reporting that they were “fre

A staggering 98 percent of all published articles in the arts and humanities are never cited, and the corresponding figure for articles in the social sciences is 75 percent, a figure only slightly less dismaying.

According to Page Smith, a longtime professor at UCLA, “the vast majority of the so-called research turned out in the modern university is essentially worthless.

More than 80 percent of government research money goes to just one hundred academic institutions.3

Today, the largest share of support for university research (almost 60 percent) comes from the federal government.

Nevertheless, studying did not decline any more among students who worked than among those who didn’t.