Professors as Independent Contractors

George Leef

In my Pope Center Clarion Call today, I discuss the prospects for a return to professors teaching as independent contractors, as was the case centuries ago.

Adam Smith understood that professors' incentives align much better with student interests when they are paid directly by the students.  When they're paid by the college or university, their incentives incline them toward shirking as much as they can get away with.

Real competition in education will have huge implications.

  • Share

Most Commented

March 31, 2025

1.

Keeping Watch

Columbia's descent into chaos is by its own hand. Actions to right the university must be swift and tough....

March 24, 2025

2.

A Reckoning for Higher Education?

Are American colleges and universities finally getting their comeuppance?...

April 15, 2025

3.

Fighting Harvard and the Other Cultural Warlords

The academic bureaucracies and professoriate are so deeply committed to their radical program of replacing American society with their own vision of a new order that we have no real choice b......

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

April 15, 2025

2.

Fighting Harvard and the Other Cultural Warlords

The academic bureaucracies and professoriate are so deeply committed to their radical program of replacing American society with their own vision of a new order that we have no real choice b......

October 12, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...