To Fix Higher Ed’s Problems, Start With Gen Ed
Paula Marantz Cohen
March 12, 2026
We must revitalize general education—and, in doing so, we will begin to solve other problems facing the university.
Higher education is suffering on many fronts. Even as we decry government interference, most of us in academia agree that reform is needed. The sticker price for college is too high; the college admission process is out of kilter; fundraising has become disconnected from educational needs; faculty are focused primarily on research and publication at the expense of teaching; students are more concerned with landing well-paying jobs than learning to think with subtlety and discrimination.
Having spent more than 40 years as a professor (10 as a dean), I make this diagnosis from the vantage point of experience.
