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 […]
A Bad Assumption By an Obama Admin. Advisor
June 15, 2014 by
SUSAN DYNARSKI is a professor of economics, education and public policy at the University of Michigan. She has advised the Obama administration on the findings of her student-aid policy research. She wrote this piece in the New York Times. Finding Shock Absorbers for Student Debt – NYTimes.com. My comment on what she missed, without which, all […]
Value of College – Continued
May 30, 2014 by
The Value of College: It’s Not Just Correlation – NYTimes.com. I just posted a comment I made on the above article. I added a second comment. Two people responded. I think the two responses are informative, of both thinking and facts. I will post all the comments. MY COMMENT: Today’s college “degree” is not your […]
Wall St. Journal Article on a Graduate Here in St. Louis
May 26, 2014 by
An outrageous, sad, but too often true, story: For New Graduates, Path to a Career Is Bumpy – WSJ.com. Here was my comment: “What happened to this young woman is outrageous. I’m a retired math professor. I live in St. Louis. Years ago I taught at SIUE (Southern Ill. Univ. at Edwardsville). It is similar […]
Workers at N.Y.U.’s Abu Dhabi Site Faced Harsh Conditions
May 19, 2014 by
This is the lead article on today’s Times. Workers at N.Y.U.’s Abu Dhabi Site Faced Harsh Conditions – NYTimes.com. This very good article helps demonstrate just how much American universities think they can get away with in their essentially business operations. Few businesses can take advantage of a decades old brand. Few businesses have the […]
Frank Bruni Gets Closer to the Truth, But Just Closer
May 18, 2014 by
This is his column for today: Class, Cost and College – NYTimes.com. I have a post and a link to one of his previous columns. I made a couple of comments on his column to try to explain why I don’t totally agree with him. Here there are, in reverse order. second comment “…reminded…of the greatness […]
Important Read: The Soul of the University by Nicholas Lemann
Here are two links to it: The Soul of the University – Higher Ed Reporter. The Soul of the Research University