January 13, 2008 - The Annapolis Group Takes On US News & World Report!
January 13, 2008 - Over the last 20 years, a cultural icon has emerged from the American obsession with rank, prestige, and celebrity. Yes, we’re talking about the annual ranking of the “Best Colleges” by “US News & World Report.” Along with the growing popularity of this annual rite of self-congratulation and self-abnegation have arrived some major controversy and cynicism. Who, after all, gets to decide what is “best”? And best for whom? Should “self-reporting” of test scores and “peer ratings” affect a college’s ranking and, consequently, high schoolers’ choice of colleges?
A few brave souls have fought what they consider this horribly abusive system. Most notable of these was Reed College in Oregon, whose president some ten years ago told “US News” to take a hike. Since the editors of “US News” were not a hiking sort of group, they totally nailed good old Reed College, sending this magnificent college precipitously down in the rankings the following year. The people who truly knew Reed (professors, administrators, rival colleges, students), of course, knew Reed as the same great institution of higher learning. But thousands of impressionable high schoolers did not, and Reed’s reputation took a temporary hit.
“US News” recently let it be known that any college refusing to provide them with its standardized test scores would be arbitrarily assigned a mean test score one standard deviation below that of its immediate peer group, and that the college’s ranking would reflect this “lower” score. Was this an abuse of power? Was it worth fighting over? Well, a rebellious group of small liberal arts colleges (calling themselves “The Annapolis Group”) has decided to band together in defiance of the tyranny of “US News” and withhold certain information deemed crucial by the magazine. Will the magazine cave in and use other criteria? Will it cease this silly rite-of-spring and do something important, like ranking beautiful celebrities? Or will the colleges suffer like hungry strikers on the picket line, glaring resentfully at their “scab” competitors who dance to “US News’” tune and mysteriously move up in the rankings?
Stay tuned! Look out for word on THE ANNAPOLIS GROUP!