Summer Reading Questions and What They Reveal About Faculty
After three decades in higher education as student and teacher, this year I begin a new role, as parent. My eldest daughter will attend a small liberal arts college in…
NC State to Spend Millions of Tax Dollars Advancing Corporate, Government Interests
In 2014, North Carolina State University became the new home for PowerAmerica, a $140 million dollar project aimed at promoting research in the advanced electronics industry. Just two years later,…
The Ugly Truth Behind a College’s “Diversity” Requirement
Hamilton College has for years had an open curriculum, allowing students the freedom to shape their education as they think best. Whether that’s a good idea is debatable, but the…
Hillary Clinton’s New College “Reforms”
Seemingly, nothing now stands between Hillary Clinton and the Democratic nomination, so it’s worth looking anew at her proposals regarding higher education. Back in May, Professor Gary Wolfram critiqued the…
Automatic Pay Raises for Teachers Create Perverse Incentives in Graduate Education
In 2013, North Carolina stopped giving automatic pay raises to public school teachers who earn master’s degrees. In the legislature, the debate focused on teachers and whether graduate degrees make…
Students Learn Climate Change Advocacy, Not Climate Science
For almost thirty years, I have taught climate science at three different universities. What I have observed is that students are increasingly being fed climate change advocacy as a surrogate…
To Save the Humanities, Make Them More Hands On
The humanities may not be dead, but they are certainly moribund on many college campuses. Once the crown jewels of higher education, now they are valued about as much as…
Fisher Decision a Disappointment, But Won’t Stop Campaign Against Racial Preferences
When the Supreme Court agreed to hear Abigail Fisher’s challenge to the University of Texas’s admissions program a second time, it seemed that the writing was on the wall. Why…
Making Distance Learning Personal – and Successful
Information technology has disrupted so many industries and human activities that everyone expected it would disrupt education as well. A few years ago, the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) seemed…
Shocking: The Chronicle Supports the Case Against College for All
The May 6 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education contains two illuminating and rather unexpected articles: “Should Everyone Go to College?” by Scott Carlson and “When Everyone Goes to College: a Lesson from South Korea” by Karin Fischer. What makes these pieces so interesting is that they say clearly what so many in the higher education community have long been at pains to deny, namely that a country can go overboard on higher education.