Despite being an avid watcher of the K-12 sector and its various internecine dramas, I confess I did not have “high-school diplomas” on my bingo card of likely 2024 controversies. … Continue reading “Indiana’s Worthwhile Academic Experiment”
To the editor: M.I.T. requires all freshmen, regardless of their intended major, to take 2 semesters of calculus, 2 semesters of physics (and if you don’t pass the calculus, you … Continue reading “Admissions standards at M.I.T”
On March 28, 2022, Stuart Schmill, Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced the school’s plan to restore the consideration of standardized … Continue reading “Rescuing “Virtue and Talents” Amidst the War on Tests”
An unfolding case at Smith College shows how the obsession with race can blind administrators to facts and lead them to act in ways that harm innocent people. In 2018, … Continue reading “The Appalling Smith College Case—Race Tramples on Truth and Justice”
As a lecturer in the humanities, I have had the privilege and challenge of moderating discussions of controversial topics, often based on literary texts. Over the past two years, the … Continue reading “Addressing Masculinity in Higher Ed”
Colleges have been trying to stop COVID-19 from spreading on campus, and after a year of experimentation, failure, and success, officials may have found their way. Campuses are combining widespread … Continue reading “COVID-19 Campus Changes: Testing and Sequestering Students”
When students think back to their college days, they may remember a philosophy class that made them question their life or an art class they thought would be easy, but … Continue reading “Students Aren’t Learning Life Skills; Colleges Need to Teach Them”
Credential inflation refers to an increase in the education credentials required for a job—for example, a job that used to be done by high school graduates but now requires new … Continue reading “Credential Inflation: What’s Causing It and What Can We Do About It?”
Colleges and universities around the country are proving to be easy prey to hackers with ransom demands. In Massachusetts, Cape Cod Community College was defrauded of $800,000 last year, while … Continue reading “As Budgets Tighten, Colleges Still Vulnerable to Ransomware”
Universities reveal the "tragedy of the anticommons."