ABSTRACT
The latest in a long line of depressing reports on the condition of our colleges is "Declining Standards at Michigan Public Universities," put out by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The report finds that Michigan's state universities are "suffering from a general erosion of academic standards and a radical politicization of the undergraduate curriculum." The report finds that the "process" school of composition seems to dominate 133 of 140 freshman writing classes at state institutions. Rules, good writing, and simple coherence are sometimes depicted as habits of the powerful and privileged, sometimes as coercion of the poor and powerless. At some point students have to leave the university and find a job, usually one offered by a company that cares less about oppression and feelings than about those basic skills. Patrick Scheetz finds that "not enough graduates have the ability to write, speak, reason, and relate to others in a satisfactory manner" to hold down a job.
