James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal argues, “What is called the problem of ‘sexual assault’ on campus is in large part a problem of reckless alcohol consumption, by men and women alike.…If two drunk drivers are in a collision, one doesn’t determine fault on the basis of demographic details such as each driver’s sex.…
In Kosovo, students had been clashing with police for weeks, with dozens of police and students reportedly injured in the process. The students were intent on removing not just the head of Pristina University, the small country’s major university, but also a number of the faculty, after it became apparent that their academic credentials were…
In an earlier post, “Meningitis B at Princeton and at the University of California at Santa Barbara” (https://academeblog.org/2013/12/10/meningitis-b-at-princeton-at-the-university-of-california-at-santa-barbara/), I reported on the outbreaks of the disease among students at the two campuses and on the decision by the Centers for Disease Control to allow a vaccine not yet approved for use in the U.S. to…
An “On the Issues” Post from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org. _______________ In November, the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and Workforce launched an electronic forum to gather comments from contingent faculty members about their working conditions and the effect of those working conditions on students. The recently-released…
An “On the Issues” Post from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education [http://futureofhighered.org] _______________ In a recent article, Derek Bok, former President of Harvard University, pinpointed several misconceptions about higher education that are driving our national discussion and policy. He tackles, for instance, the almost exclusive emphasis on college as an agent of…
We at StudentDebtCrisis.org have just launched a new petition on MoveOn.org. It’s in support of Rep. Frederica Wilson’s (D-FL) new bill, H.R. 3892 – The Student Borrowers’ Bill of Rights. Sign the petition here: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/restore-basic-consumer?source=c.url&r_by=5462310 The bill seeks to:
The most disturbing consequence of the contemporary belief that any sort of ‘progress’ in education stems from individual initiative and can be proven by testing is the devaluation of the teacher. Problem is, we don’t learn on our own; learning always involves community. Language itself builds from–and builds–community, and learning is dependent on language. And…
This is a guest post by Jane Arnold, a professor of English and reading specialist at Adirondack Community College (SUNY). Her article, “What Do the Students Think?” appears in the online version of the January-February 2014 issue of Academe. In my essay, “What Do the Students Think?” the students point out that their educations often moved so…
In an article slugged “Tools for Teachers” on its website, the American Federation of Teachers presents what it says are “10 Myths About the Common Core State Standards.” I had a hard time getting beyond its rebuttal to the first “myth”: 1. “The standards tell us what to teach.” FACT: The Common Core State Standards define…