Academics

Future leaders in business, government, and civil society need more than just job skills. The following articles defend the value of liberal education, with a focus on academic quality and rigor, fundamental knowledge, and the ideas that have shaped Western Civilization. They also scrutinize academic programs that have departed from these ideals in the name of progressive ideology.

Jan 25, 2021 · Anna Martina

To Fight Student Loan Debt, North Carolina Schools Need to Stop Pushing Parent PLUS Loans

Student loan debt has received more attention lately, but one aspect has been left out of the debate: parents taking on loans for their children. While undergraduate students generally can…

Jan 21, 2021 · Megan Zogby

Did You Know? UNC Schools Delay In-person Classes

The fall 2020 semester did not go as planned for most students and many felt that their universities failed them. The spring 2021 semester isn’t looking too promising for them,…

Jan 20, 2021 · George Leef

The Harvard Professor Who Bemoans Higher Education

Most college professors applaud what American higher education does and want to see it expand to include even more students. One dissenter of note, however, is Harvard philosophy professor Michael…

Jan 18, 2021 · Shannon Watkins

Teaching Students Civil Dialogue in a Culture Hostile to Free Speech

It can be disheartening to witness how college culture has become inhospitable to viewpoints that fall outside of the ideological mainstream. For example, a March 2020 report by three professors…

Jan 15, 2021 · Lee Jones

A Modest Proposal for Fixing the College Modern Language Requirement

In her fine opinion piece for the Martin Center, Megan Zogby bemoans the “Quixotic” requirement that North Carolina college and university students take between two and four courses in a language such…

Jan 14, 2021 · Sumantra Maitra

Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon

Penguin Classics is partnering with Disrupt Texts to replace Shakespeare and Homer with Ibram X. Kendi. What is Disrupt Texts? For the uninitiated, it is a new radical movement in classrooms which seeks…

Jan 13, 2021 · Matthew Stewart

The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed

Alan Jacobs’ new book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, is a coaxing argument to read “old books that come from strange times.”…

Jan 11, 2021 · Shannon Watkins

Drake Group President: Congress Must Protect Student-Athletes’ Rights

The fight to protect student-athletes’ rights has been a long uphill battle. The injustices that college athletes suffer at the hands of their academic institutions are many, including a shameless…

Jan 8, 2021 · Thomas Bertonneau

Leaving the Blight of Higher Education: Part II–Farewell, Faculty

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part essay; part I can be read here. The previous essay dealt with the moral decline of the student body in higher…

Jan 7, 2021 · Jenna A. Robinson

Did You Know? UNC Schools Will Get Millions in COVID-19 Funding

Last week, Congress approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, a $2.4 trillion spending package that includes $23 billion in aid for public and non-profit colleges and universities. The relief…