The term “graduation” typically means that you graduate “from” something. As we enter the college graduation season, however, it is wise to take a moment to discuss what graduation will mean for transitioning seniors –especially young adults — both leading up to graduation day and in the months that follow. Graduation comes with well-earned accolades…
In the best of all possible worlds, my students end the semester with renewed interest in learning. Having developed a commitment to improving their communication skills, their writing eclipses what they produced at the start of the term. They might be able to catch a few more literary allusions, but that’s not absolutely necessary. Oh,…
Over this past year, there has been some major turnover among television talk show hosts. Some of them are moving on to “other projects,” “other Interests,” or “new challenges” (most notably Jon Stewart and Craig Ferguson) and some are simply switching venues (most notably Stephen Colbert, who is presumably also switching personas). But David Letterman’s…
Stephen J. Lubben has contributed an article on the bankruptcy filing by Corinthian Colleges to the New York Times. Here are some excerpts from the article, titled “Corinthian Colleges’ Lean Business Model Leaves Little for Creditors”: “Corinthian Colleges, the for-profit education company familiar to corporate law professors for its appearance in textbooks about securities regulation,…
Last year, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan presented the following commencement address at Arizona State University. Like most previous Secretaries of Education, Duncan has neither been a teacher nor a school administrator. Worse, I believe that he is the only member of President Obama’s Cabinet who does not have a graduate degree. So, it should…
Smiley, Jane. The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton. New York: Knopf, 1998. Much of Jane Smiley’s growing reputation has derived from her penetrating depictions of contemporary life in the rural Midwest. But she has also written several well-received historical novels, including The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton. Set on the…
The think-tank Demos has done a report on the causes of soaring tuition costs and debt levels for students enrolled at public colleges and universities, and the report is getting some national attention. Here is an excerpt from an article on the CBS News site MoneyWatch: “Thanks to rapidly rising tuition costs, America has a…
Over the past few days. There has been a great deal of media coverage of the Far Right lunatic theory that long-planned military exercises in western Texas are a cover for a planned federal takeover of the state. Supposedly some shuttered Walmarts have been leased by the federal government for use as detention centers, and…
On the same day in mid-March, the ABC news service in Australia (which is, as far as I know not affiliated with ABC network in the U.S.) published these two brief stories. The first item concerns an unexpected twist to “Book Week” at a British school: “Book Week, where children dress up as their…