Did You Know? How North Carolina’s Institutions Rank Among the Nation’s Top Colleges
How do North Carolina’s colleges rank amongst the nation’s top colleges? Do going to these schools make a big difference in earnings after graduation? Using both Forbes and the Wall…
Vocational Education Goes to College
When the University of Georgia announced that “student success” would be heavily weighted in future tenure decisions, it opened the door to the possibility of a long-overdue change in college…
Reform in 2022: Our Hopes for the New Year
While the year 2021 wasn’t quite as tumultuous and unpredictable as 2020, the higher education landscape continues to look very different: overall enrollment continues to drop and countless institutions have…
Did You Know? Undergraduate Enrollment Still on the Decline
Despite many universities going back to in-person teaching this fall, undergraduate enrollment is still on the decline. Back in Fall 2020, in the midst of lockdowns and virtual classes, undergraduate…
Reading: Feeding the Mind and Soul
Imagine a room full of fresh-faced humanities graduate students tasked with answering this timeless question: “Why read literature?” These eager youths race to the white board, markers in hand, scribbling…
Many NC Students Are Missing out on Core Knowledge
What will they learn? That is the question that the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has been asking America’s colleges for thirteen years in a report by the…
10 Books We’d Like to Find Under the Christmas Tree in 2021
One of my favorite projects at the Martin Center is the cultivation of our higher education library. So far, we’ve collected nearly 750 books about higher education and educational philosophy.…
Let the Buyer Beware!
“Almost all students cite getting a better job as a primary reason for attending college,” writes Preston Cooper in the opening paragraph of his new study, entitled Is College Worth…
Universities Have Forgotten Their Purpose: Pursuing the Contemplative Life
Editor’s note: this essay is adapted from a talk delivered by Jessica Hooten Wilson at Word on Fire’s Good News Conference on November 7, 2021, in Orlando, Florida. Universities are…
Three Ways to Teach Students How—Not What—to Think
How do we teach students how to think rather than what to think? If the latest election cycle showed us anything, it’s that parents care deeply about what their children…