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.

Apr 3, 2018 · Kaye McGarry

The Skills Gap: Employers Expect More Than What College Grads Offer

National surveys have consistently found that businesses have difficulty finding employees with the right skills. Even among college graduates searching for work, employers have found them lacking employable skills. Research…

Mar 30, 2018 · George Leef

Bad Language Gets a Tenured Female Professor Fired for ‘Sexual Harassment’

Tenure used to provide faculty members with solid protection against all but criminal behavior. But now it is proving no match for weak excuses for firing professors who administrators want…

Mar 28, 2018 · David Clemens

A Dreamer of the Golden Dream: Jerry Brown’s Future for Higher Education

The title of this article alludes to Joan Didion’s famous essay about “love and death in the golden land,” a cautionary tale about the wreckage left behind when dreams collide…

Mar 16, 2018 · George Leef

Nancy MacLean Continues to Embarrass Duke, but Exposes its Double Standards

Last year, Duke University History Professor Nancy MacLean became one of the country’s best-known academics for her book Democracy in Chains. That is not, however, to say that her book…

Mar 12, 2018 · Terry Stoops

Is the UNC System Serious about Teacher Training Reform?

On Valentine’s Day, The University of North Carolina System released “Leading on Literacy: Challenges and Opportunities in Teacher Preparation Across the University of North Carolina System.” For me, it was not love…

Mar 9, 2018 · George Leef

Forcing Students to Apply to College Is a Bad Idea

Legislators in New Mexico are pushing a bill that would make students apply to at least one college while they are still juniors in high school. This legislation reflects the…

Mar 2, 2018 · Richard Bledsoe

University Programs Cultivate the Crisis of Relevance in the Arts

I spent the early 1990s in art school. Little did I know that one of most negative experiences I had there was a harbinger for the direction of college art…

Feb 28, 2018 · John Staddon

Science and Its Discontents: Too Few Jobs—or Too Many Scientists?

“The United States is producing more research scientists than academia can handle,” so begins a July 2016 article by respected New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata. It turns out…

Feb 26, 2018 · Dan E. Way

North Carolina Works to Ensure Success of Military Students

Drone pilots have assumed an increasingly valuable role in military operations. Soon they may be able to leverage their unique experience into academic credits through the North Carolina Community College…