Higher Education

Would Martin Luther King Be Able To Get A Job At The University Of Texas Today?

In the 1940s and 1950s, U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) led a movement to purge communists from positions of power. Many government employees, academics, writers, labor union leaders, and entertainers were inappropriately fired or blacklisted for the “crime” of having (or being suspected of having) a different ideology than Sen. McCarthy. Later generations use the...

August 6, 2020

Higher Education

China’s Confucius Institutes: A ‘Mussolini Model’?

Who said the following? Students must “make progress both ideologically and politically, which means that they should study Marxism, current events and politics. Not to have a correct political point of view is like having no soul.” No, this is not the Ivy League’s new Mission Statement. Yet. It comes from Chairman Mao’s 1957 essay, “On...

June 26, 2020

Higher Education

U.S. Higher Education: Too Big Not To Fail?

As someone who has researched American higher education for the past three decades, one thing I can tell you is that it involves a lot of numbers. A lot of graphs. A lot of percentages. What it doesn’t provide is a lot of clarity. Why? It’s not the fault of the numbers gatherers, who are...

May 8, 2020

Higher Education

To ‘Save The Children,’ Harvard Magazine Calls For The Abolition Of The Family

After he left the presidency of Harvard University, Derek Bok offered this anatomy of the soul of American higher education today: “Universities are like riverboat gamblers and exiled royalty: their desires are never satisfied.” But Harvard Magazine has now upped the ante, going far beyond an insatiable desire for mere money. The May-June 2020 edition of the...

April 21, 2020

Higher Education

This Time Of Adversity Calls For A New Approach To Meeting Demand In Online Education

“Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.” So wrote the 4th Century, B.C., political philosopher, Aristotle. And over 23 centuries later, education is facing adversity of its own. As COVID-19 upends daily life, we are experiencing entirely new concerns about supply and demand. These are most acute in health care, of course,...

April 6, 2020

Higher Education

The Disease That Could Topple Traditional Higher Education

“Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.” So wrote the 5th century B.C. Greek historian, Herodotus, widely regarded as the “Father of History.” If change breeds illness, might it also be true that illness breeds change? This is the thesis of a recent report chronicling the challenges faced by American higher education due to...

March 26, 2020

Higher Education

Will U.S. Education Remedy A Half-Century Of Neglecting Civics Education?

Civics education in the United States is in a state of crisis, which, if not addressed, will doom our constitutional democracy. If the above assertion sounds unduly apocalyptic, consider these facts: Recent polling of Americans’ civic literacy, conducted by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, should shame all of us involved in education: While 90% of...

February 21, 2020

Higher Education

New Study: Despite Nonstop Talk Of ‘Making College More Affordable,’ Tuition Continues To Outpace Inflation

Many universities today, stung by growing public criticism of college tuition hyperinflation, have engaged in public relations efforts highlighting their attempts to curb tuition growth. This is understandable. There is only one problem: A new study argues that tuition increases nationwide continue nonetheless to outpace inflation. According to the study, performed by the tech finance outfit, Self, “in...

January 29, 2020

Higher Education

‘The Risk is Minimal’: Justice Scalia On The Need For A Convention of States To Restrain Federal Power

In my prior piece, “Resistance on the Right: Will Conservatives Ever Come Together on an Article V Convention of the States?” I explained that under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if two-thirds of the states approve resolutions calling on Congress to hold an amendments convention, Congress has no choice but to obey. I then...

November 11, 2019

Higher Education

Resistance on the Right: Will Conservatives Ever Come Together on an Article V Convention of the States?

Did you know that the Constitution provides a means for the people, acting through their states, to propose constitutional amendments, without needing any support or participation from the U.S. Congress? Under Article V of the Constitution, if two-thirds of the states approve resolutions calling on Congress to hold an amendments convention, Congress has no choice...

November 7, 2019

Higher Education

Grade Inflation in U.S. Higher Education: Honor Roll of Schools Battling Grade Inflation, Part 4 of 4

(Author’s note: In response to my 10/29/19 Forbes piece, “Death to Merit —College Admissions Process Descends Into the Abyss,” a number of readers asked me to expand on a subject I mentioned in the course of that piece—grade inflation. What follows distills my research over the years on this subject.) In an honorable attempt to arrest grade...

October 31, 2019

Higher Education

Grade Inflation in U.S. Higher Education—Ending the Scam, Part 3 of 4

(Author’s note: In response to my 10/29/19 Forbes piece, “Death to Merit —College Admissions Process Descends Into the Abyss,” a number of readers asked me to expand on a subject I mentioned in the course of that piece—grade inflation. What follows distills my research over the years on this subject.) Why should we care that 45% of...

October 31, 2019