One of the world’s oldest universities offers a degree program to help students navigate the uncertainties of modern life.
Of all the hallowed American institutions that have experienced a loss in public esteem over the last few years, perhaps none has suffered a bigger drop than higher education. Whether the explanation is sky-high tuition, grade inflation, moral confusion or, lately, the milk and cookies for students anxious about the election, the most egregious examples always seem to be from the most elite institutions.
There is a way to restore trust, but it will require buy-in from both universities and employers: Focus more on what people study rather than where they study. And one of the most valuable courses of study is a curriculum developed a century ago, commonly known as Philosophy, Politics and Economics, or PPE.
A college degree is supposed to signal qualities employers value, such as intelligence, judgment and an ability to work with others. A degree from an elite university is supposed to signal these qualities in abundance. It was never an accurate signal — lots of people who don’t go to college possess these qualities, and lots of people who do go don’t — but in a noisy labor market, employers need some sort of screening mechanism, and for a century or more, higher education provided it.
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
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