Book Reviews
University practices, innovations, and controversies make for great books. The following articles explore the latest in book-length higher-ed commentary, identifying what’s worth reading, what isn’t, and everything in between.
How English Departments Became Broken
If you really want to understand the horrors of war, don’t just read accounts written years after a battle, but instead read first-hand accounts by soldiers who were on the…
The Growing Problem of Authoritarians in the Academy
Most Americans firmly believe that educational institutions should be places where all ideas can be discussed and no one need fear reprisal for saying the wrong thing or pursuing the…
The Weak Case for Unrestrained Academic Freedom
Debates about the shape and limits of academic freedom are virtually constant in institutions of higher education, but they have recently become a matter of widespread discussion in the general…
How Strong Is the Ivy League Curriculum?
We hear over and over that the eight universities comprising the Ivy League are elite institutions. They train our future leaders and do so much to advance knowledge. That’s what…
The Diversity Game Is a Gigantic Con
In his famous story “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Hans Christian Andersen imagines a situation where everyone fears to speak the truth about an obvious falsehood, namely that the emperor’s supposedly…
Why Does American Higher Education Work So Poorly?
After enjoying many decades of high public support, higher education in the U.S. is in serious decline. Polls show that a sizeable percentage of the populace now doubts that college…
Universities’ Stalinesque Procedures Are Silencing Unpopular Professors
At one time, most Americans (and virtually all academics) would have agreed with the famous saying, often attributed to Voltaire, “While I disagree with what you say, I will defend…
Yes, the College Bubble Will Deflate
For the entire existence of the James G. Martin Center, we have been arguing that, due to governmental policies, higher education has been badly oversold. That is, many students have…
Bad Legal Education Puts America in Jeopardy
It is worrisome that “progressive” activism has managed to infiltrate so much of American higher education, but wildly politicized sociology and English departments can do us only marginal damage. Few…
Is Standardized Testing Good or Bad?
Should colleges and universities—especially those regarded as elite—use the scores students earned on standardized tests in making admissions decisions? That has been a heated subject of debate for several decades.…