Today’s Anxious Freshmen Declare Majors Far Faster Than Their Elders – WSJ. But they need advice. I wrote. I am a former professor who taught at Washington University in St. Louis. With honest advice these earnest students will do well. Unfortunately, they cannot count on college officials to always give them that honest advice. In the words of David Riesman […]
Good News: Today’s Anxious Freshmen Declare Majors Far Faster Than Their Elders – WSJ
March 20, 2015 by
Law Schools Keep at It – But That is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
March 18, 2015 by
Law Schools Face New Rules on Reporting Graduates’ Success – WSJ. I commented. The take away from this story – and from stories about college athletics – is not that Law Schools – or athletic departments – are corrupt. Colleges are corrupt. Very few people would buy a product from a corporation that has […]
Math’s Enigma’s? Great, But Some People Want to Keep Them a Secret.
March 14, 2015 by
On Pi Day, Celebrate Math’s Enigmas – NYTimes.com. I had to comment. True, oh so true: “…it’s only when we try to stretch our minds around mathematics’ enigmas that true understanding can set in.” (The Op-Ed’s last line.) But, far too true, too: “…stretch[ing] our minds around mathematics…” is what so many unscrupulous college administrators […]
UNC Chancellor Resigns Over Numerous Scandals – Then Immediately Swept Up by Washington U. as “Chief Academic Officer”
March 12, 2015 by
Book Review: ‘Cheated’ by Jay M. Smith and Mary Willingham – WSJ. I just read this review and will soon get the book. I will only quote one line from the review: “The best-case analysis of Mr. Thorp is that he was hopelessly incompetent; explanations go downhill from there.” Where are the faculty at Washington […]
Kevin Carey’s Good Idea (MOOC’s) Needs Help
March 10, 2015 by
College for a New Age – NYTimes.com is a good editorial about Kevin Carey’s new book. He has good ideas about MOOC’s, but he needs help, as I pointed out. “I’m a former professor. I now write a blog on higher education’ inside-higher-ed . I have read several of Mr. Carey’s essays. He understands higher education, […]
Excellent Op-Ed (And From Me, How to Hold Colleges Feet to Fire with Online Access)
March 5, 2015 by
Here’s What Will Truly Change Higher Education: Online Degrees That Are Seen as Official – NYTimes.com. From my perspective, as a former math professor, this excellent article misses only one important point about the conflict between traditional colleges and online courses – a point that my experience teaching from an online MIT course at Washington […]
Graph in The Economist is flawed
Technology and universities: The log-on degree | The Economist. This graph shows an increase from 1992-2015 of almost 100%, but that is the increase in advertised tuition. The true, or net, increase is 22%. There is a link to the data on my blog (inside-higher-ed ) in the post “How the Government Exaggerates the Cost […]