What Will They Learn?

What Will They Learn? was first published in 2009.[2][3] The report assigns a letter grade to over 1,100 universities based on how many of the following seven core subjects are required: composition, literature, foreign language, American history, economics, mathematics and science.[4] ACTA concludes that most of the country's leading universities do not have rigorous general education requirements.[5]

The 22 schools on the What Will They Learn? "A-List" for 2019–2020 include Baylor University, Bluefield College, Christopher Newport University, Colorado Christian University, Gardner-Webb University, Kennesaw State University, Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts, Morehouse College, Pepperdine University, Regent University, Southwest Baptist University, St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe), Thomas Aquinas College, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, United States Air Force Academy, United States Merchant Marine Academy, United States Military Academy, University of Dallas, University of Georgia, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, University of Saint Katherine, and Wyoming Catholic College.[21]

Nationally syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker wrote that What Will They Learn? is a guide that can "help parents and students determine where they might get the best bang for their buck." The study has been featured in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and newspapers across the United States.[5][8][22] Upon the report's release in 2009, the founder of US News and World Report, Mel Elfin, reassured ACTA that the anger of some of the higher education establishment "is probably a sign that you are on the right track [to reform]."[23]

In response to the strong performance of historically black colleges and universities, Michael Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund, said "the ACTA review’s finding that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) ‘demonstrate overall stronger general education requirements than other public and private institutions’ confirms the important role these universities continue to play in American higher education.[24]

In 2009, Debra Humphreys, vice president for communications and public affairs at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, said, "as is often the case with ACTA, they have posed some very good questions," but Humphreys criticized the study for being narrow in scope and called its methodology "inadequate."[3]

ACTA countered that claim by commissioning a Roper study in 2011. The study found that 70 percent of Americans agreed with ACTA that all students should be required to take core curriculum classes. That number jumped to 80 percent among 25- to 34-year-olds who, according to the survey, are those "just out of college who may find learnings from such classes are helpful in the job market."[25]

Murray Sperber of Indiana University said the report "documents higher education's dirty little secret: Schools are charging more each year and requiring many fewer traditional education courses. This results in a legion of students with spotty educations and meaningless degrees."[3]

Walter E. Williams, distinguished economist at George Mason University, wrote that “colleges often do not live up to their own promises. In college mission statements, as well as their course catalogs, they frequently exalt the virtues of a "well-rounded" liberal arts education. The reality is something different with only 68 percent of the schools ACTA surveyed requiring three or fewer of the seven core subjects.”