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THE BIZZARE RANKINGS OF GEORGIA PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES AS THEY ARE CLEANING UP THE ELITES' MESS AND EDUCATING THE MASS FOR LESS

Abstract

Some of the most persistent, nationwide, K-16 science misconceptions regarding the flow of energy and matter in ecosystems were found to be rooted in the intuitive beliefs of R. Feynman, a Nobel Prize laureate, graduated from MIT and Princeton and lectured at Cornell and Caltech (Said, 2024). At Georgia public universities, these misconceptions were long identified, challenged, and possible remedy measures were proposed (Said, 2009; Said and Martin-Hansen, 2019). Recently, the 2025 Best National Universities - US News Ranking, placed Georgia State University (GSU) at #4 among the nation's "Best Undergraduate Teaching". On the other hand, and as a result of another reputational survey by the 2025 World University Ranking (Times Higher Education), the two largest Georgia public universities, University of Georgia (UGA) and GSU, received the failing "teaching" scores of 42.2 and 31.3/100, respectively. Given the contradictory results of the two reputational ranking systems leaves us to question the validity of reputational surveys altogether. The academic performance at Georgia's two public universities, UGA and GSU, is quantitatively assessed using the quantifiable and comparable data of official course evaluations, and the most recent reputational survey results are compared and contrasted with actual performance indicators. In 2023, GSU alone, admitted 27,610 students with an in-state cost of $10,500, compared to 16,390 admissions for the Total Eight Ivies, with costs of roughly $60,000 and $70,000. To quantitatively assess academic performance at the Nation's universities, ranking systems need to rely less on perceptions and reputational surveys that reward only the rich elites, and make use of the readily available, quantifiable, and comparable data of official course evaluations; also, rankings should account for admission size and affordability.

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