School teacher punished by order of Camillus.

A “Voluntary Mandatory” Retirement?

BY AARON BARLOW What’s with our disdain for age? I felt it myself for a bit in the sixties, that “don’t trust anyone over thirty” nonsense. But I got over it—even before I got old myself. The people who were influencing me most back then, I realized, were even older than my ancient parents who,…

Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz

Education in the Corporate Oz

BY AARON BARLOW One of the more depressing articles I’ve read recently—outside of politics—is Kevin Carey’s “The Creeping Capitalist Takeover of Higher Education” for Huffington Post. He writes:               Instead of students receiving a reasonably priced, quality online degree, universities are using them as cash cows while corporate middlemen…

Outdoor classroom

On the Tenured and Teaching

BY AARON BARLOW The traditional classroom is an admittedly questionable structure. It limits learning by confining bodies of knowledge within four walls, scuffed floor and ceiling generally too low. It also keeps things out, particularly a world that should have an impact on every type of learning. It reinforces hierarchy: no matter that teachers try…

Scientist at console.

Can We Move Beyond Our RPT Assumptions?

BY AARON BARLOW “Peer review,” cried the provost, “that’s the gold standard.” Sometimes it seems like the only standard. And we are being told to grasp it strongly. Why not? It lets us off the hook. Accepting it without question, we can ignore at least a couple of the urgent concerns regarding Reappointment, Promotion, Tenure…

Computers on a desk.

Too Perfect?

BY AARON BARLOW Maybe it was just too perfect a topic for my classes today. Certainly, though, I couldn’t resist. It had everything. It had: Topicality that would keep students interested; Relationship to our university system (City University of New York); Room for discussion of student value, something particularly important for first-year college students; Relevance,…

In Defense of Editors

BY AARON BARLOW This past Monday saw publication of my last issue as Faculty Editor of Academe. After six years, it is time for change and I thoroughly approve of the AAUP’s plans for the magazine going forward. In fact, I suggested many of them. When I awoke a few hours ago,  I saw that another…

Continuing Assumptions About Aging

BY AARON BARLOW Writing in InsideHigherEd, Rebecca Gould claims that mandatory retirement at 65 would be “a good first step toward dismantling hierarchies and opening opportunities for many more young scholars.” The assumption, of course, is that young scholars are of more value than older ones. And that older scholars don’t need opportunities. Oh, and that senior academics…