In his State of the Union Address, President Obama took the unusual step of commenting on the need for rethinking accreditation. He also touted the creation of a College Scorecard. The Scorecard would create benchmarks – a low cost of attendance, high graduation rates, high employment rates, and high salaries – by which consumers would…
At this time of year, college applicants struggle to find the right institution for them. In the early stage of the process, the first decision is to determine whether or not they would feel most comfortable at a large institution or in a smaller setting. I always encourage students to visit those campuses that meet…
Debe Terhar, the President of the Ohio Board of Education, has sparked controversy by posting a picture of Adolph Hitler on her Facebook page alongside a text expressing opposition to President Obama’s gun-control proposals. Worse, when asked to explain the juxtaposition of the two items, Terhar offered the following disclaimer: “I did not compare our…
The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education calls on America’s college & university faculty to join in the search for new ways to fund higher education. In the United States, quality public higher education was once accessible to most Americans able to benefit from it. The way it worked was simple—taxpayers funded public colleges and universities…
A website called foreclosure.com is sponsoring an essay contest for current undergraduates in America’s colleges and universities. The contest was introduced in 2009. First prize is $5,000, and there are four runners-up prizes of $1,000. The students must write an 800- to 2,000-word essay on an assigned topic, and this year’s topic is the following:
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…
This is a guest post by Virginia Kuhn, associate director of the Institute for Multimedia Literacy in the School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California. Her article, “Embrace and Ambivalence,” appears in the newest issue of Academe. Digital dissertations are sometimes said to be commonplace; however such talk usually refers to an artifact that is digital but…
Just what is the right thing to do, the right thing to do morally? That is not always so easy a question to answer, maybe hardly ever is it such an easy question. In higher education there are many situations that pose just that sort of question. Moral issues, questions and dilemmas have existed and…
Last week, I attended a presentation by William Doyle, a professor at Vanderbilt University, about his proposals to change the way student aid works in America. His analysis was sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development, who also hosted the presentation. You can read the report on CED’s website. Professor Doyle’s ideas center around one…