Letter to the Editor: How to teach students how to think

Dec 19, 2021 · Letters to the Editor · Comments Off

To the editor: Excellent article: how to teach students how to think. I have a few additions: read the new methods of reporting the most catastrophic events of the past century by reading Soviet and Polish dissident literature, primarily Solzhenitzen (the Gulag Archipelago) and Shalamov (the Kolyma Tales) novel form of reporting on Auschwitz done … Continue reading “Letter to the Editor: How to teach students how to think”

Another Professor Shouted Down—This Time Over Pronouns

Mar 31, 2017 · George Leef · Comments Off

Universities in the United States do not have a monopoly on intolerant and disruptive students. Canada has them too, as shown by a recent incident at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The school had arranged for a panel discussion on the subject of free speech and political correctness in Canada. Four speakers were invited and … Continue reading “Another Professor Shouted Down—This Time Over Pronouns”

The importance of demanding performance before promotion Jul 24, 2022
To the editor: A response to Robert Weissberg: It might have been a failure of good intentions, but it was more likely to have been living so high up in an ivory tower as to be unable to see the ground. I lost interest in college about three quarters of the way through my first … Continue reading “The importance of demanding performance before promotion”
Compromising our values undermines our educational system Jul 24, 2022
To the editor: I have read Robert Weissberg’s excellent article “How the Best of Intentions Created Today’s Academic Disasters.” This important article captures the often unspoken and infrequently discussed concerns harbored by many of us in academia and the business community. Too often, we have compromised our standards and values on behalf of diversity and our … Continue reading “Compromising our values undermines our educational system”
Grading students serves the system – not learning Jul 17, 2022
To the editor: I was pleasantly surprised by Douglas King’s “A Defense of the ‘Ungrading’ Movement” (July 13, 2022). This article was very good, I thought, at uncovering the intentionality inherent in the assignment of grades. The process of grading pupils and students serves the system — not learning. As an unintended consequence, King’s crucial admission/realization begins … Continue reading “Grading students serves the system – not learning”

Peer-Reviewed History is Dying of Wokeness Aug 12, 2022
What is the state of academic history? Take a look at the latest issue of the American Historical Review, the flagship journal of the academic discipline. It doesn’t publish bread-and-butter research articles; those go to specialist journals and fill published essay collections. Instead, its articles illustrate entire schools of historiography, using research as an entrée … Continue reading “Peer-Reviewed History is Dying of Wokeness”
Did You Know? UNC’s Minor in Social and Economic Justice Doesn’t Require Economics Courses Aug 11, 2022
UNC-Chapel Hill offers a wide variety of major and minor programs to its undergraduates, and each student’s résumé carries the authority of the first public university in the United States. However, if one peers beyond the grandiose titles of some students’ undergraduate programs, one is liable to find the contents rather vacuous. For example, UNC’s … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC’s Minor in Social and Economic Justice Doesn’t Require Economics Courses”
Breaking Away From Leviathan: Colleges Can Thrive Without Federal Funding Aug 10, 2022
Can an academic institution be truly free if it relies on government funding? Perhaps in some perfect world, but today in the U.S., however, unencumbered generosity is not part of relationship between the federal government and higher education. Federal dollars mean federal mandates, and those mandates grow increasingly draconian. More and more, they stifle debate … Continue reading “Breaking Away From Leviathan: Colleges Can Thrive Without Federal Funding”