Oct 20, 2026 · 1 hr · 14 segments
Ted Mitchell, President of the American Council on Education (ACE) joins host and Studiosity Senior Fellow, Goldie Blumenstyk for a deep dive into the current state of higher education in the U.S…
Ted MitchellGuestGoldie BlumenstykHost
You know, I think you're right to note that it is very different than it has been in the past.
And I won't go all the way back through, but one of the things that is true about American education in general is that it's contested terrain.
And it makes sense that it's contested terrain because it's the place where we get to describe what we want the next generation to be, to feel, and to think.
And so, you know, every, you could look at epochs in American history and you could see the way education has changed over time.
And whether that's all the way back to the revolutionary generation where they saw their first goal as to teach people to not be monarchists.
And, you know, one of the, Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration said that we have to teach, we have to create schools of unlearning to teach people that monarchy is not good and democracy is good.
Is it to teach blacks to be free and prosperous in a democratic society, or was it to return them to semi-slavery? Anyway, to cut that off, what's different about this is that this is really the first time that higher education has been that kind of contested terrain.
And so we saw right at the beginning, in the beginning of the Trump administration, which was what I was responding to in that meeting you referred to, the Trump administration basically saying, no, higher education is now under our control.
And we will determine who gets taught, we will determine who teaches, we will determine what gets taught, and we'll determine how things get taught.
Actually, I just want to stop you for a second here because it just strikes me as like, one of the reasons the government can make these claims and have kind of assert this authority is that it actually does have a major role, right? Maybe in a way it didn't before?
Well, the government, this is where now the struggle is being met, is does the fact that the federal government provides vouchers to students to be able to spend in the higher education of their choice, And let's remember, this is a voucher system and it is about choosing between different options.
Does that give the government the ability to determine the curriculum? I think not.
Similarly, we have 60 years worth of science that's based on science driven by inquiry and discovery, not by political priorities.
I guess what I'm trying to get to here, and you've explained it, is This there's over the last 60 years, a different sort of contract has evolved between higher education and the government.
And now suddenly that contract is being upended a little bit, quite a bit, actually.
You know, I think you're right to note that it is very different than it has been in the past.
And I won't go all the way back through, but one of the things that is true about American education in general is that it's contested terrain.
And it makes sense that it's contested terrain because it's the place where we get to describe what we want the next generation to be, to feel, and to think.
And so, you know, every, you could look at epochs in American history and you could see the way education has changed over time.
And whether that's all the way back to the revolutionary generation where they saw their first goal as to teach people to not be monarchists.
And, you know, one of the, Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration said that we have to teach, we have to create schools of unlearning to teach people that monarchy is not good and democracy is good.
Is it to teach blacks to be free and prosperous in a democratic society, or was it to return them to semi-slavery? Anyway, to cut that off, what's different about this is that this is really the first time that higher education has been that kind of contested terrain.
And so we saw right at the beginning, in the beginning of the Trump administration, which was what I was responding to in that meeting you referred to, the Trump administration basically saying, no, higher education is now under our control.
And we will determine who gets taught, we will determine who teaches, we will determine what gets taught, and we'll determine how things get taught.
Actually, I just want to stop you for a second here because it just strikes me as like, one of the reasons the government can make these claims and have kind of assert this authority is that it actually does have a major role, right? Maybe in a way it didn't before?
Well, the government, this is where now the struggle is being met, is does the fact that the federal government provides vouchers to students to be able to spend in the higher education of their choice, And let's remember, this is a voucher system and it is about choosing between different options.
Does that give the government the ability to determine the curriculum? I think not.
Similarly, we have 60 years worth of science that's based on science driven by inquiry and discovery, not by political priorities.
I guess what I'm trying to get to here, and you've explained it, is This there's over the last 60 years, a different sort of contract has evolved between higher education and the government.
And now suddenly that contract is being upended a little bit, quite a bit, actually.
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