This is a link to a Single Variable Calculus course as taught in 1970 at MIT. Calculus Revisited: Single Variable Calculus | MIT OpenCourseWare. Having this course, with videos, transcript and problems is a wonderful resource. Comparing this course with today’s courses helps us see what it really means, in terms of learning, for faculty to require so much less study effort for […]
Harvard President Misses What College Really Is in Most of the Country
December 18, 2014 by
Harvard President Faust on federal college ratings, campus sexual assault and more – The Washington Post. I commented. “I have read Pres. Faust’s speech. I read it as a former professor, (I taught at Wash. U. in St. Louis.) As it is, it is highly misleading – probably due to a lack of Pres. Faust’s […]
Recovery at Last? Writes Paul Krugman. I Worry “Not For All”
December 8, 2014 by
Here is a link and my comments. Recovery at Last? – NYTimes.com. “…Many young Americans graduated into a labor market that didn’t want their skills, and will never get back onto the career tracks they should have had…” [quoted from Krugman’s Op-Ed] The fact is true. The implication is false. The reason so many will […]
Thoughtful Op-Ed From Law Prof on Rape – But a Big IF
November 16, 2014 by
Mishandling Rape – NYTimes.com. I commented. “”…if schools are genuinely interested in preventing sexual assault…” That is when I stopped reading this thoughtful, but moot, article. Until the genuine interest of colleges is no longer self-aggrandizement – whether that be through football, through endowment, or through attracting students with inflated grades and parties – and, […]
More Indications of What is Wrong: “On B-School Test, Americans Fail to Measure Up”
November 6, 2014 by
On B-School Test, Americans Fail to Measure Up – WSJ – WSJ. Here is my comment: ” For a former math professor, this report has no surprises. First, there is this. The difference in scores (of what looks like about one sigma) is just a reflection of changes in American higher education. Arum and Roksa, […]
Looks Like Marketing to Me “New on Campus: The 3-Year Degree”
November 6, 2014 by
You can read the article,New on Campus: The 3-Year Degree – WSJ – WSJ#livefyre-comment. or just read the quote from it on my comment. ” First note this fact, from “Academically Adrift” by Arum and Roksa: Students are reguired to study 45% less than in the 60′s, and 35% less than in 1980. Gain in […]
In One Sentence Piketty Explains “The Great Wage Slowdown of the 21st Century”
October 7, 2014 by
David Leonhardt has a good analysis in today’s NY Times. (The Great Wage Slowdown of the 21st Century – NYTimes.com) He realizes the importance of education to economic growth and decreasing inequality. Yet he makes the same mistake that so many make. I commented. “The accuracy of the conclusions reached here are almost completely erased […]
A Look at Stats on College Costs and Aid – WSJ
September 22, 2014 by
A Look at Stats on College Costs and Aid – WSJ. I’m providing this link for readers. (I also added a comment.) “Expectations are usually based on past experience. In this case they shouldn’t be. In most parents’ college experience- around 1980 – a college degree required about 20 hours of study per week. Now […]
More On: Why are so many college students failing to gain job skills before graduation? – The Washington Post
Why are so many college students failing to gain job skills before graduation? – The Washington Post. I added two comments. COMMENT Of course, students “think” they are better prepared than they are. That’s what we professors are there for, to make sure they all “think” they are getting a good education. Here is how […]