The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much – NYTimes.com. “This is just another peak behind the door that hides the real goals and social order of America’s system of “higher” education. But its not only public schools that play fast and loose with their descriptions. Private colleges do, also – most even more so. […]
It Cost a Fortune NOT to Grade Teachers by Their Students’ Test
March 25, 2015 by
Grading Teachers by the Test – NYTimes.com. Raj Chetty coauthored an important paper cited in this article, but, apparently not completely believed. I commented. “Professors Rockoff, Chetty and Friedman, found something more than that “…teachers who improved students’ scores…raised the students’ chances of going to college as well as their salaries later in life…” They […]
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 […]
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 […]
Rip Van Skillsgap? (Paul Krugman, Again)
February 23, 2015 by
Paul Krugman Thinks a Degree is an Education?
February 23, 2015 by
Knowledge Isn’t Power – NYTimes.com. Unfortunately, Prof. Krugman writes that there isn’t that much of an education problem. Here is what I wrote. (Please ignore the terrible writing. I was in a big hurry and made too many changes, too fast. Embarrassing.) “I highly regard Prof. Krugman’s analysis of FACTS. So it is disturbing when […]
Penn Professor Tells It Like It Is
February 18, 2015 by
I highly recommend reading this. College, Poetry and Purpose – NYTimes.com. Though I made a comment, it is so similar to others, that, for regular readers, I just recommend the NY Times piece. Here is my comment. Prof. Hall is correct about students as “customers”; though the problem is not with them. It is with […]
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