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.

Aug 2, 2017 · Indrek Wichman

Engineering Education: Social Engineering Rather than Actual Engineering

We engineers like to solve technical problems. That’s the way we think, that’s why we chose our major, that’s why we got into and stayed in engineering. There are several…

Jul 28, 2017 · Rick Diguette

Teaching Freshman English: It’s a Battlefield

So you think you might like teaching college English. You love the language and its great works. Lots of people are like that, including me. Good, but beware. Teaching college…

Jul 26, 2017 · Adam J. MacLeod

Law Schools Guard Entry to the Profession and Should Teach Virtue

Law school faculties hold a sacred trust. We guard the outermost portals into the legal profession, a group that wields powers to shape society in profound and lasting ways. Several…

Jul 24, 2017 · Shannon Watkins

Study Only What You Want? Not If You Want to Be Successful

Recently, a general education course at UNC-Chapel Hill, “Big-Time College Sports,” was canceled. This sparked controversy after the course’s professor, Jay Smith, argued that the class, which he had taught…

Jul 19, 2017 · Trent Bertrand

My University Treated Me Like a Criminal Over a Joke

For the past six years, I have taught an undergraduate course on international economics at Johns Hopkins University. Most of my students thought it was a very good course. So…

Jul 17, 2017 · J.T. Klimek

Student Governments Can Help to Restore Faith in Higher Education

Higher education has a public relations problem on its hands. The results of a new Pew Research survey show that almost 60 percent of Republicans believe higher education has a…

Jul 14, 2017 · George Leef

Professors Should Write Books That Seek Truth, Not Inflame Passions

The academic enterprise is supposed to be about truth. Those who are entrusted to teach are expected to convey knowledge to their students, not their opinions. And when academics write…

Jul 12, 2017 · Jane S. Shaw

Purdue Shakes Up Academe (Not All Presidents Are as Innovative as Mitch Daniels)

Five years ago, higher education was abuzz over distance learning, a “disruptive technology.” The big question was whether traditional colleges and universities could incorporate the new technology or if they…

Jul 10, 2017 · Robert M. Whaples

An Inside Perspective on Radicals’ Treatment of Wake Forest’s Eudaimonia Institute

Last fall Wake Forest University announced a $4.2 million donation to fund “the study of human flourishing” at the university’s newest institute—the Eudaimonia Institute (EI). Although it took people a…

Jul 7, 2017 · George Leef

Meet the Professor Who Has Been Punished for Denouncing Tenure

For most professors, the quest for tenure is an all-consuming obsession. It confers security against job loss and cements your position at the college or university. With tenure, you’ve “made…