The experiences of agricultural workers and of industrial workers have illustrated the futility of trying to resist advancements in automation. In 1790, 90% of the American workforce labored on farms. By 1900, the percentage had declined to 28%, and by 1990, it had declined to 2.6%. Likewise, employment in manufacturing in the U.S. peaked at…
Henry Levin of Columbia Teachers College writes: Among all of the vehicles for socializing the young, schools are a very powerful one, because students spend considerable time there and schools have specific functions in preparing young people for adulthood. Clearly, knowledge and cognitive functioning are an important goal of schools and provide crucial skills for creating productive workers and…
This article appeared in the September 2011 Labor Day issue of the Right Flier, the newsletter of the Wright State University chapter of AAUP. In my previous post to this blog, I suggested that the unions of the future will, by necessity, need to look different and function differently than they do today, and I…
Yesterday, I found out that my university is the first school in the nation that will accept the completion of a course through the MOOC-provider Udacity for transfer credit. OK, it’s not my university exactly. I work for Colorado State University – Pueblo. That’s a large branch campus in the Colorado State University system located…
In a commentary in response to the Democratic National Convention, Mark Naison, a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program, points out the gap between what Obama said and the realities of his education initiatives. After the election, no matter who wins, there is going to be a…
Rand Paul has a new video online that is being distributed by the National Review. He asks viewers to sign a petition and make contributions in support of national “right to work” legislation. The video emphasizes three points about “Big Labor’s power of forced unionism”: It has crippled America’s competitive edge. It has forced countless…
Tonight at the Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama called upon America to “cut in half the growth in tuition costs over the next 10 years.” I’m sure many conservatives will condemn that as yet another impossible promise brought by an overdose of hope. But there are a lot of ways that colleges and the…
The other day, I wrote on this blog: With the big money leaving the equation, maybe we can get back to the education we were trying to develop in the first place, education that, in many cases, is still quite the best in the world. It is best because the residue of the truth–that education…
Wesleyan University president Michael Roth wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times that appeared yesterday. Titled “Learning as Freedom,” it brings us back to John Dewey and his vision: Education should aim to enhance our capacities, Dewey argued, so that we are not reduced to mere tools. Roth is responding to critics who see…
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) just released their “annual list of America’s Best Colleges for Free Speech.” FIRE does great work in promoting free speech on college campuses, but I’ve often been critical of their ratings system for missing some campus policies that restrict free speech. In my book, Patriotic Correctness: Academic…