BY JEFFREY R. WILSON This is a guest post by Jeffrey R. Wilson, a Preceptor in Expository Writing at Harvard University, where he teaches the “Why Shakespeare?” section of the university’s freshman writing course. My essay in the May/June 2016 online version of Academe, “What Shakespeare Says about Sending Our Children Off to College,” is meant to…
BY KELLY HAND We all like to hear about deserving low-income high school seniors who have won generous college scholarships. However, as Nick Anderson points out in a recent Washington Post article, “For the Poor in the Ivy League, a Free Ride Isn’t Always What They Imagined,” low-income students struggle on a daily basis with…
BY CRAIG VASEY AND LINDA CARROLL This is a guest post by Craig Vasey and Linda Carroll. Craig Vasey is professor of philosophy and chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion at the University of Mary Washington. He is a former member of the AAUP’s national council and current chair of the Committee…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL Last week, Thomas Farragher provided some thoughtful commentary on the perils of underfunding public higher education in Massachusetts. It’s an important discussion that reaches well beyond how much money flows to higher education. Mr. Farragher argued that the cost of attending U Mass Amherst is $26,445 annually but that tuition is…
Sheryl Sandberg’s commencement address at UC Berkeley has attracted considerable media attention because it includes some extended personal reflections on the sudden loss of her husband. Although there is very clearly a tabloid aspect to the media interest in Sandberg’s remarks, the personal elements of her observations actually do give considerable depth to what…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL It’s graduation season. Sometime, hopefully before the end of the previous fall semester, those colleges and universities seeking a commencement speaker locked in the deal. It’s interesting to look at the wide variation in approaches to commencement spread across America’s colleges and universities. Some colleges have done away with a commencement…
On the editorial page of the May 15 edition the Toledo Blade, the editor criticizes the plans to reform higher education in Ohio, asserting in the headline: “This Is No Reform: Gov. John Kasich Is Only Making a Less Valuable Degree Accessible. What Kind Of Bargain Is That?” Here are the opening paragraphs that establish the context:…
BY MARTIN KICH An article on the AsiaOne website cites a news item that originally appeared in the Huaxi Metropolis Daily, reporting that “a robot is being designed to compete with 12th graders during the college entrance examination in 2017 and get a score qualifying it to enter first-class universities in China.” Indeed, in the…
To President Frederick, the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, fellow recipients of honorary degrees, thank you for the honor of spending this day with you. And congratulations to the Class of 2016! (Applause.) Four years ago, back when you were just freshmen, I understand many of you came by my house the night…