One of the more important planks in the 2008 Democratic National Platform is a focus on improving higher education. That may come as a surprise to many. In fact, other than concerns about the cost, the overall consensus of the general public is that America’s colleges and universities remain among the best educational institutions in the world.

However, experts have begun noting that higher education is facing a critical time. Back in December, we acknowledged the work of Michael Wesch of Kansas State University. In our post, “If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words,” we took an in-depth look at the growing digital divide plaguing college campuses.

But Wesch was not the first to document that today’s typical college classroom is completely out of step with the business world described in Thomas Friedman’s, “The World Is Flat.”

Higher Education - In Danger of Becoming Irrelevant
In his 2006 report to the Panel on Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies for the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, David Wiley, Ph.D., offered a painful assessment of the current status of higher education in America. The former Director of the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State was unequivocal in his criticisms, informing panel members that “higher education has adapted very little” to the changes described by Friedman in his bestselling book and is therefore “in very real danger of becoming irrelevant.”

Consider Wiley’s description of the typical college classroom experience.

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