The Trouble With Tenure – NYTimes.com. I believe this is just another fix that misses the fundamental problem. I tried to point that out in this comment. I am a former professor. I taught for 25 years, at both an elite school, Wash. U. in St. Louis, and, before that, at a regional state school. […]
Good Article – But, From Whence Commeth These Teachers?
August 18, 2014 by
Teaching Is Not a Business – NYTimes.com. This is a good article by someone who also understands universities. But, (my comment on the NY Times site) Though I agree with Prof. Kirp, I would ask “from whence commeth these teachers?”. To get good teachers, we need good colleges. That second “good” means “not irresponsible or […]
Columbia Cancels High Visibility Concert – What Does This Really Mean?
August 18, 2014 by
Columbia Cancels Concert Amid Safety Concerns – NYTimes.com. I don’t know the answer to my own question. But, given that the adminstrators and faculty at Columbia haven’t changed, I worry that this particular concert was cancelled simply because of its high visiblity (It got in the Times.), and not because of any serious change in […]
Princeton Grading Policy Change – Solving for the Winning Solution? And to What Problem?
August 8, 2014 by
There is a report in today’s New York Times. It has links to the announcement by Princeton’s president, and to the faculty committee’s report. Princeton Is Proposing to End Limit on Giving A’s – NYTimes.com. The reason I ask if this is solving for the “winning solution” (See below for a definition) is that Princeton […]
“Teaching Teaching” A Start on the Right Track
July 29, 2014 by
A few days ago I posted a comment on a Times Magazine article about teaching math (by Elizabeth Green). Today, Joe Nocera published an op-ed on Ms. Green’s forthcoming book that the magazine’s article was excerpted from. Teaching Teaching – NYTimes.com. To readers of this blog, there is nothing new in my commen, which is […]
To Ross Douthat: Universities Acting Against Their “Business Plan”? No, Not Even If It Reduces Rape, Sorry.
June 29, 2014 by
In Stopping Campus Rape – NYTimes.com. , the author makes suggestions for college administrators that he thinks (probably correctly) would reduce campus rape. The only problem – they would hurt the universities. Here are the two suggestions he makes for administrators: “…break their schools’ symbiotic relationship with the on-campus party scene…” “…separate the sexes and […]
Americans Think We Have the World’s Best Colleges. We Don’t. – NYTimes.com
June 28, 2014 by
There is more data (“Academically Adrift” reported on this a few years ago.) that show that the “average” college grad in American Americans Think We Have the World’s Best Colleges. We Don’t. – NYTimes.com. To illustrt]ate the data, I commented as follows. “The poor quality of k-12, especially high school, is DUE to the corruption (over […]
From NYT Mag: “…is this a recessionary blip or the dawn of a whole new economic age?” My Answer: “No, It’s the Education Stupid.”
June 22, 2014 by
It’s Official: The Boomerang Kids Won’t Leave – NYTimes.com. This is a sad article. Yes, it describes the effects of a terrible recession. But moreso, it describes the lingering effects of not honestly giving students a good education. It describes the effects of a thirty-plus year of misallocating national resources away from university education to […]
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