Best, Brightest and Rejected: Elite Colleges Turn Away Up to 95% – NYTimes.com. “This is interesting news and good coverage. Here is my comment: These statistics are worrying for all of us, socially, economically and politically. I can only speak from my experiences teaching at a regional college, and then teaching at an “elite” school. […]
More on “Corporate Cash Alters University Curricula”
April 8, 2014 by
Corporate Cash Alters University Curricula. There were some replies to my comment. I replied to one and someone very thoughtfully replied to that and….. Anyway, here they all are. Anthony Bonefeste wrote, “Acedemic freedom” is all well and good. But charging six figures to mislead students into thinking that there is a career in Germanic Poetry […]
Corporations Join Up With Colleges to Design Curricula – WSJ.com
April 8, 2014 by
Corporations Join Up With Colleges to Design Curricula – WSJ.com. This reporting is excellent and important. I commented but this is a topic that I want to think about more. Here is my comment. “Good news? or, bad news? Here is the view from a former math professor who has been worried about higher education […]
Groucho on: “Colleges Increasing Spending on Sports Faster Than on Academics, Report Finds” – NYT.com
April 7, 2014 by
Colleges Increasing Spending on Sports Faster Than on Academics, Report Finds – NYTimes.com. GROUCHO (Dean Quincy Adams Wagstaff ): Have we got a stadium? FACULTY: Yes. GROUCHO: Have we got a college? FACULTY: Yes. GROUCHO: Well, we can’t support both. Tomorrow we start tearing down the college. —From Horse Feathers, 1932, starring the Marx Brothers […]
Error in Social Progress Index? Inadverdently Noted in New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristoff
April 3, 2014 by
Here are the links to the column and the Index Editorials, Columns, Op-Ed, Letters, Opinionator and More Opinion – The New York Times. Social Progress Index – Data – Social Progress Index – The Social Progress Imperative. The error is described in my comment. “Please Correct: “…the United States excels in access to advanced education…” […]
New York Times Conflates Teaching with Marketing and Then Notes Students Could Do Better?
April 1, 2014 by
Here are links to two articles in today’s The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/education/using-the-arts-to-teach-how-to-prepare-for-climate-crisis.html?rref=us&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article and http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/us/us-students-strong-at-problem-solving-but-trail-other-nations.html?ref=us (only online for now) The first article seems to be about how a professor, one of many, is using a creative new approach to teaching about climate change issues. I looked at ratemyprofessor.com for her. Here is what I found. She is tremendously […]
Krugman on “No Skills Gap” Part II
March 31, 2014 by
There was a reply to my comment on Paul Krugman’s Op-Ed. (See Krugman Relying on Flawed Data on “Skills Gap”) It asked an excellent question. Here is the comment and my reply. Comment: “Then, of course, we would see employers preferring those who received a degree when it still was an education. But we don’t […]
Krugman Relying on Flawed Data on “Skills Gap”
March 31, 2014 by
In today’s New York Times, Prof. Krugman has a column arguing that there is no “skills gap”. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/krugman-jobs-and-skills-and-zombies.html?ref=opinion&_r=0 I believe he is making a misake which I explained in a comment. “I am afraid that Prof. Krugman – whom I admire greatly – is making a fundamental mistake. He is, probably unknowingly, equating a “degree” […]
Higher education: Is college worth it? | The Economist
Here is The Economist take on it. Higher education: Is college worth it? | The Economist. Compare this with The Atlantic Magazine’s Gung-Ho-All-The-Stats-Show-Everyone-Should-Go approach. If you search this blog for “Atlantic” you will see how undiscerning they are. That is very unfortunate for such a highly regarded magazine.