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.

Sep 20, 2019 · Martin Center Staff

What We’re Reading: Western Culture, Groupthink, and Queer Criminology

Jenna A. Robinson, President Jacques Barzun’s magnum opus, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, has been a revelation—of my own inadequate history education. As the title says,…

Sep 19, 2019 · David Waugh

Did You Know? 86 Colleges Have Closed or Merged Since 2016

Since 2016, colleges and universities have fought to stay open as enrollments fall, especially liberal arts colleges. Many colleges are adding more certificate programs in technology fields and dropping low-enrollment…

Sep 18, 2019 · George Leef

Which Country’s Higher Education System Is Best?

Many Americans crow that our higher education system is “the envy of the world,” even though it’s nearly impossible to point to any proof of that. In truth, however, some…

Sep 16, 2019 · Jay Schalin

UNC Board Steps Up to Defend Civil Discourse on Campus

An important new front in the culture war has opened up at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one with major implications about intellectual diversity and how universities…

Sep 13, 2019 · John Staddon

The Mess of Federal Funds Is Changing the University

The modern American university has changed almost beyond recognition from the form it had even 100 years ago. It is larger, more “diverse,” more of a business, and more industrialized…

Sep 11, 2019 · Martin Center Staff

The 20th-Century Idea of a Cultivated Man

Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from the 1910 introduction to The Harvard Classics by Charles W. Eliot, a long-serving president of Harvard and an advocate of a liberal arts…

Sep 9, 2019 · Shannon Watkins

Advising and Peer Connections: Helping Transfer Students Earn a College Degree

Jumping right into a four-year university after high school isn’t for everybody. There are numerous reasons why, for some students, attending a community college and then transferring to a four-year…

Sep 6, 2019 · Shannon Watkins

The Better Teacher: A Professor or Another Student?

Professors, particularly at research universities, wear many hats. On the one hand, they are instructors, entrusted to pass on knowledge to their students. On the other hand, they are researchers…

Sep 5, 2019 · Madeline Baker

Did You Know? Most UNC System Grads Stay in North Carolina

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly reported the percentage of in-state freshmen at UNC-Chapel Hill. The correct figure is 82 percent. For a lot of students in…

Sep 4, 2019 · George Leef

Can American Higher Education Be Restored?

People who analyze and write about higher education generally fall into two camps. One camp consists of those who believe that our system is “the envy of the world” and…