Author Profile

Harry Painter

Harry Painter joined the Pope Center in 2014. He has a B.A. in English from Saint Mary's College of California and an M.A. in political science from the American University in Washington, D.C.

In addition to his work with the Pope Center, Harry writes part-time for Judgepedia, a project of the Lucy Burns Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. Previously, he has written about music for Consequence of Sound, a Chicago-based blog. While living in Washington, he worked as an intern in social media and research at the Institute for Humane Studies and at the Cato Institute. He also worked part-time educating middle- and high-school students at conferences for Envision Experience.

Harry is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Articles by Harry Painter

Election 2016: Where the Democratic Candidates Stand on Higher Education

Oct 7, 2015 · Harry Painter

Higher education has already become an important issue in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primary race. It should receive considerable attention in the first primary date, scheduled for October 13 on CNN. In general, Democrats have been more specific and more vocal about their higher education plans than the Republicans. This is nothing new; higher education has long been a favored interest group and source of power for Democrats.

An End to the Textbook Racket?

Sep 25, 2015 · Harry Painter

The extent to which innovations such as open textbooks, textbook reserves, and skirting textbooks altogether and sticking to primary sources will disrupt the cartel-like textbook market is still unknown. But the speed at which new means of delivering written information are appearing suggests that textbook publishers’ best days are behind them.

Lake Wobegon Performance Measure Reveals All Community Colleges Above Average

Aug 31, 2015 · Harry Painter

North Carolina’s community college “earnings gains” measure may make the community colleges look good to those who do not look too closely, but it does not tell us much about how good they actually are. The system needs to go back to the drawing board; the new measure is more public relations than a true measure of performance.

Election 2016: Where the Republican Candidates Stand on Higher Education

Aug 5, 2015 · Harry Painter

Higher education is often an ignored issue in presidential campaigns. The 2016 campaign, however, may be different. The focus on higher education looks to be unusually strong, with issues such as student debt affecting many millions of potential voters and receiving multiple mentions in campaign speeches and interviews on both sides of the aisle.

Freshman Reading Choices 2015: Welcome to Groupthink U.

Jul 10, 2015 · Harry Painter

Unfortunately, colleges often use their summer reading programs not to help students make the leap to the higher standard of scholarship that should be demanded of them at the collegiate level, but to expose them to books that may influence them to adopt the political agenda of the left.

The Missing Element of Higher Education: High School Guidance

Jun 26, 2015 · Harry Painter

The emergence of a holistic, individual-centered approach to guidance, which informs students of alternate paths, is promising. New innovations are addressing an issue that public high schools have been straining to solve. Raising awareness of alternate careers, apprenticeships, and earning non-degree certificates will allow more students to enter the workforce early and without amassing debt. That may not be the right path for everyone, but more high school graduates need to be aware of those options and more. Any progress in this long-neglected area is welcome.

Is it Time to Cast Off the Tradition of Three-Month Summer Vacations?

May 25, 2015 · Harry Painter

College is no longer just for recent high school graduates; in North Carolina’s community college system, the third-largest system in the nation, the average student is 28. College students of the older, “non-traditional” variety need flexibility. They often have steady jobs, families, and other priorities, and they would prefer the option to finish as quickly as possible, without semester-long breaks. Does it really make sense that they are tied to the same academic calendar as their younger peers who prefer summers off?

Big-name commencement speakers: revered tradition or a waste of time and money?

May 8, 2015 · Harry Painter

There is an argument to be made for giving students the commencement speaker they want. Many schools choose based on student input: it’s their graduation, and they or their parents paid hard-earned money to make that happen. But how many of those students would spend money on a commencement speaker if given the choice to save it?

All diversity, all the time, everybody, right now

Apr 27, 2015 · Harry Painter

Diversity proponents are pushing an extreme agenda that will go far beyond academia’s already major commitment to the concept. An event at UNC-Chapel Hill illlustrates just how far they intend to go.

The libertarian roots of the Lumina Foundation, Part 2

Apr 10, 2015 · Harry Painter

Richard Cornuelle, the Indianapolis libertarian activist who started United Student Aid Funds (USAF), had a fight on his hands. His organization, whose downfall led ultimately to the creation of today’s college-access giant known as the Lumina Foundation, was created with the goal of competing with the federal government’s nascent student loan programs.