How to Respond to a Right-Wing Rant

I live in a largely rural and very Republican region of Ohio. Somewhat regularly, letters to the editor that make my very progressive wife shriek are published in our daily newspaper. She usually reads them to me out loud and then suggests, for the umpteenth time, that I should write a reply so that anyone…

Political Courage for Academic Freedom in New York City

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spoken out against the forces of repression in the controversy over speakers supporting Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Here’s his full statement: Well look, I couldn’t disagree more violently with BDS as they call it, Boycott Divestment and Sanctions. As you know I’m a big supporter of Israel, as…

Preliminary Comments After a Week of MOOCing

The start date for this is problematic for any professor taking the MOOC. Most of us are just beginning teaching for the semester and are faced with other start-of-session duties. The same is probably true for many others enrolled in MOOCs–and one of the reasons, I suspect, that so few finish them is simply that…

Ready . . . Set . . . Graduate

As American higher education begins to adapt to the changes that engulf it, one basic assumption must be that policy makers and educators see the education system in America as a continuum. For the moment, educators divide into two basic camps:  basic and postsecondary.  Each group has issues and opportunities, sometimes interrelated, but each approaches…

Elite Education Versus “The Rest”

Shaun Johnson of The Chalk Face, a website dedicated to questions of public education (particularly to the struggle against the so-called “reformers” who are attempting to eradicate it), has a post at Good which, though it is aimed at demonstrating why the current “reforms” should be viewed with suspicion, also shows why we should be a…