Source: Endowments Boom as Colleges Bury Earnings Overseas – The New York Times I commented. I’m a former math professor who taught at Washington U. in St. Louis. From my vantage point, It is a sad statement for our society that this article is news at all, but I do hope that it will wake […]
A Graph Worth a Lot WSJ
October 25, 2017 by
Source: College Costs Continue to Edge Higher – WSJ I commented. It’s important to understand that colleges, not only use discriminatory pricing (“discriminatory” in its economic sense), but advertise a high tuition for branding purposes. Here is what that high price says to the “customer” (once quaintly called the “student”). You, the customer, are going […]
Maybe We’ve Been Thinking About the Productivity Slump All Wrong – The New York Times Me: You Betcha
July 26, 2017 by
Source: Maybe We’ve Been Thinking About the Productivity Slump All Wrong – The New York Times Here is what I wrote To paraphrase a politician, “It’s the education, stupid.” But, don’t we have the greatest universities in the world? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that those universities are doing anything to broadly disseminate knowledge. Our […]
As Paperwork Goes Missing, Private Student Loan Debts May Be Wiped Away – The New York Times
July 18, 2017 by
David Brooks See the Symptom – But Not the Disease
June 23, 2017 by
Source: Mis-Educating the Young – The New York Times Here is my comment. You have described the symptoms well, but you have missed the disease. The disease is letting higher education operate as a market economy – while assuming that, as a non-profit, it is altruistic. Just listen to Clark Kerr and David Riesman on […]
“America’s Broken Democracy” by Jeffrey D. Sachs Misses the Main Point: Money Can’t Trick Education, at Least Not So Easily
May 31, 2017 by
Source: America’s Broken Democracy by Jeffrey D. Sachs – Project Syndicate Here is the comment that I posted. Thomas Jefferson saw clearly how to prevent the system being overcome by what he called “kings, priests and nobles”. Here is what he wrote. “…Preach…a crusade against ignorance…improve the law for educating the common people. Let our […]
Cheating and “Retention”
May 31, 2017 by
This story ran in the NY Times: As Computer Coding Classes Swell So Does Cheating . I began to wonder if a general concern for actual “education” – at least in courses where major corporations would care – was making an appearance again. I couldn’t help but remember A Tale Out of School and I wrote this comment. Washington […]
Colleges Resist Federal Effort to Gauge Student Outcomes – WSJ
April 10, 2017 by
Source: Colleges Resist Federal Effort to Gauge Student Outcomes – WSJ Nothing new here to readers of this blog I wrote, Of course they don’t want anyone to know. Want to see the smelly reason why? Just read “A Tale Out of School” (on my blog inside-higher-ed ) to get a realistic sense of how “outcomes” […]
Take on the 800-lb Gorilla
Source: US workforce: paying young Americans to learn the right skills I made the following comment. Someone has to take on the 800 lb gorilla. I have seen it in action up close and Bill Gross has pointed out that it really is an 800 lb gorilla. Here’s Bill Gross. “…To radically change the system…would […]