In the beginning, God created the heavens, the earth and American higher education. We lived in a bucolic state of nature until an evil serpent, U.S. News & World Report, tempted us to partake of the Tree of Knowledge: namely, college rankings. A fall from grace ensued.
That’s what you might think when reading about the recent spate of attacks on U.S. News. Six elite law schools — including Harvard and Yale — announced that they would no longer participate in its rankings, which reward schools whose graduates earn high salaries. Critics say that penalizes institutions that prepare students for less lucrative jobs in the nonprofit world.
They’re right. I hope this news spells the death knell for the U.S. News system, which has likewise encouraged undergraduate colleges to favor wealthy applicants. But there were rankings before U.S. News, and there will be rankings after it. What we need are lists that compare schools along different lines, including how well they promote public service.
