For those of you who thought this article was about Southeast Missouri State University's football team, I apologize. I couldn't resist the "hook".

Most universities publish their goals from time to time and among them is always the quest to become one of the top universities in the country. Whether it is football, basketball or the university's academic programs, who doesn't want to be No. 1? Being among the best is a lofty goal and a laudable effort.

The U.S. News and World Report Magazine ranks colleges and universities each year.

So does Barron's and the Princeton Review. Yet, the criteria for ranking universities is, according to many college presidents, so suspect that many universities are not included because they refuse to submit their data for comparison. They don't want to be a part of the deception. The key question for consideration is "Can U.S. universities be ranked?

American universities, by design, are to be responsive to the needs of the people they are created to serve. Since no two populations are the same, no two universities are the same either. One cannot copy the programming of another and expect to serve well the needs of the local constituency. For example, Michigan is a state where the dominant industry is the production of automobiles, trucks and tractors. To prepare people to work in those industries the University of Michigan and Michigan State University have academic programs in automotive, electronic and plastics engineering. By contrast, the state of Missouri is dominantly an agricultural state, with very little automobile or truck production. Thus, the University of Missouri has excellent agriculture programs but limited programs in automotive-related engineering.

Now, reason out the answer to this question, "If Michigan excels in engineering and Missouri excels in agriculture, how then can we rank these two institutions whose programming is like apples and oranges? Add to the mix The University of Colorado, which excels in mining technology, the University of Southern California (just a few miles from Hollywood) that excels in the various areas of the performing arts, and many other universities across the country with diverse programming.

How about Harvard, which always seems to be at the top of anyone's rankings for U.S.

universities? Unfortunately, Harvard offers no engineering or agriculture at all. If I want to be an engineer or a farmer I can't even consider Harvard. However, they offer excellent programs in theology, business, education and the arts and sciences.

Every university would like to be No. 1, or at least in the top 20 of U.S. universities. Unlike comparing football teams where you can sometimes decide who is No. 1 on the field, a university's academic ranking is at best "mythical." You just can't compare apples and oranges. Higher education in the U.S. is more like the fruit salad served at a church supper.