As ISI put it, “Though a university education can cost upwards of $200,000, and college students on average leave campus $19,300 in debt, they are no better off than when they arrived in terms of acquiring the knowledge necessary for informed engagement in a democratic republic and global economy.” Despite the outrageously inflated cost of tuition, ISI found last November that college graduates, on average, knew little more about civics than their less educated peers.

It’s hard to blame students for their ignorance, since they don’t learn what colleges don’t teach. While there was no relationship between a school’s prestige and civic learning, there was a strong relationship between students’ scores and the number of classes required in economics, American history and political science.

Notably, at several elite schools (including Brown, Georgetown and Yale), where classes in basic history and economics are brushed aside in favor of trendier subjects like “queer theory,” the seniors actually scored lower than the freshmen. That’s right: students at these schools are paying up to $40,000 a year to become dumber. Inexpensive state schools, which generally stick to the basics and don’t offer as many courses in politically correct nonsense, did a better job than the Ivy League of increasing their students’ knowledge. Students at no-frills schools like Grove City College, the University of Mobile, and Central Connecticut State showed the greatest improvement between freshman and senior year.

What should be done? ISI recommends raising the number of required courses in history, political science and economics, and improving the assessment of learning outcomes in these subjects. This is important because, as ISI found, “students who demonstrated greater learning of America's history and institutions were more engaged in citizenship activities such as voting, volunteer community service, and political campaigns.”

Last summer, when I wrote a column encouraging students not to blow their tuition money on frivolous classes, liberal bloggers accused me of “promoting ignorance.” But at least I can place the Civil War in the correct decade—which is more than a lot of my peers can say.

College students, and the taxpayers who help subsidize their education, are not getting their money’s worth.