Generation Z: The Intolerant Ones
The post-millennials have arrived. As the oldest millennials turn 37, demographers have designated a new generation for those born after 1996, Generation Z. The oldest members of this cohort just…
Sperber’s ‘Beer and Circus’—An Unintentional Argument for Community College?
The year 2000 saw the publication of Beer and Circus, the notable book by former Indiana University professor Murray Sperber. It was a big step forward for the analysis of…
A Professor’s Tough Examination—Of Our Higher Education System
There are lots of people in our higher education system who claim that it is “the envy of the world” and just needs more money to graduate more young Americans…
The State of Private Higher Ed in North Carolina
Private colleges and universities face challenges distinct from their public counterparts. For one, unlike public institutions, they are not the recipients of generous state funding. Instead, they rely heavily on…
College Students’ Disability Claims Show Unintended Consequences of ADA
Twentieth-century American sociologist Robert Merton popularized a term that is now a part of our everyday vocabulary. “The Law of Unintended Consequences,” often cited but rarely defined, posits that actions…
Free College Is Just Another Middle-Class Entitlement
Tennessee legislators received a shock in 2012 when a study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce predicted that by 2020, 55 percent of Tennessee jobs would require…
A Worrisome Trend for Higher Education: Declining Enrollments
A specter is haunting higher education—the specter of declining enrollments. University and college enrollment has fallen nearly 9 percent since 2011, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, and no one…
Colleges Reject Duty to Teach Liberty’s Framework
Though college leaders constantly remind the public about the value of a college degree, graduates sometimes leave without important knowledge. As Americans celebrate the 4th of July holiday, it’s a…
Man in the Middle
Community colleges are the unheralded linchpins at the center of state educational systems. They get less funding than K-12 schools and universities, but are expected to correct the failures of…
College Sports and Educational Opportunity: Exposing the (Half) Truth
Conventional wisdom and public perception hold that college sports provide educational opportunities for thousands of student-athletes who could not afford to attend college without them. The National Collegiate Athletic Association…