To the editor:

I met recently with an old friend who has taught teachers and is now a college dean. He’s concerned about the chronic underfunding of universities and the impact it is having on education. I spouted my line about education scarcity being the midwife of aristocracy. But that is not what I want to talk about just now; there is a more fundamental issue.

People allow politicians to starve higher education because they don’t trust or value the authority of education. There have always been differences in intelligence and always will be. There will always be people with better educations. But historically, less intelligent and less educated Americans have looked up to those who are educated, to college professors. Education-based expertise was once acknowledged and respected. Politicians can only get away with underfunding colleges when a majority of their constituents no longer value what colleges do.

Where does that leave us? For individual problems we rely upon experts every day. From car mechanics and techies to doctors, we need people with know-how to navigate a technological world. But what about more complicated issues that affect all of us together, like justice and economics or scientific issues like fracking or climate change? If we spurn the authority of advanced education, if we refuse the professors, who’s left? Only two bases for authority remain. The first is a bank account and the second is a gun. When the only credible voices are wealth and muscle the world becomes a place where might makes right.