THE REALLY BIG NEWS – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  Is it war?  No.  Is it the economy?  No.  Is it the GOP race for president?  Of course not.

The big news is that US News and World Report is about to come out with its annual rankings of colleges.  The trauma.  The agony.  The magazine sales figures.

It is, of course, a silly exercise, in part because the truly important questions are never asked.  What is being taught?  What kind of citizens are these colleges producing?  Whatever happened to the traditional academic role as pursuer of truth?  Has propaganda replaced education?  Are young minds being properly prepared for the future?

WaPo has a good report on how the US News rankings are made.  All it tells me is that higher education is big business more than big education, and people are starting to wonder about much of its value:

Bob Morse is a wonk, a number-cruncher who works in a messy office at a struggling publishing company in Georgetown.

He’s also one of the most powerful wonks in the country, wielding the kind of power that elicits enmity and causes angst.

Morse runs U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Colleges guide, the oldest and best-known publication to rank America’s premier colleges.

The annual release of the rankings, set for Sept. 13 this year, is a marquee event in higher education. Some call it the academic equivalent of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

Colleges broadcast U.S. News rankings on Web sites and in news releases, tout them in recruiting pamphlets, alumni magazines and “Dear Colleague” letters, and emblazon them on T-shirts and billboards. Institutions build strategic plans around the rankings and reward presidents when a school ascends.

“U.S. News doesn’t advertise the rankings,” Morse said in a recent interview at the publication’s headquarters. “The schools advertise for us.”

Morse, 63, has endured for two decades as chief arbiter of higher education’s elite.

No one can stake a credible claim to academic aristocracy without a berth on the first page of a U.S. News list. He is to colleges what Robert Parker is to wine.

COMMENT:  The usual suspects will wind up near or at the top.  Very worthy schools will be far below, and will struggle to make ends meet and provide some scholarship aid.  That's the sad part. 

September 4, 2011