Ohio colleges receive failing grades for not requiring core courses, report says

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Several colleges in Ohio, including top-ranked schools, received failing grades from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for not requiring students to take seven subjects it says are essential to a liberal arts education.

They are literature, composition, economics, math, intermediate level foreign language, science, and American government/history.

 “What Will They Learn?” assesses what value students are actually getting from college, the organization said.

Of the 1,098 institutions studied, 23 received an ‘A,’ 389 received a ‘B,’ 329 received a ‘C,’ 259 received a ‘D’ and 98 received an ‘F.’

“One wonders what tuition and tax dollars are going toward when most colleges—even public ones—don’t require basic economics, foreign language, American history or even literature,” said Michael Poliakoff, director of the What Will They Learn? project, in a press release. “Are we really preparing our nation’s next generation of leaders when our colleges are failing to ensure the most basic skills and knowledge?”

None of the 38 Ohio colleges listed received an A. Public universities generally did better than private institutions.

The University of Akron, University of Toledo and Xavier University received a B. Baldwin Wallace College, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, Ohio State University and Youngstown State University received  a C. John Carroll University received a D and Case Western Reserve University, the College of Wooster, Hiram College, Kenyon College and Oberlin College received an F.