In an earlier millennium, yours truly undertook graduate studies in history and persisted a couple of years before getting cold feet. Some new PhDs could not find academic positions; some … Continue reading “Are English Departments Really Dying?”
Over the last several years, a burgeoning new genre has put the book-watching world on notice. “New Adult,” a coinage first used by St. Martin’s Press in 2009, refers to … Continue reading “A Popular Fiction Genre is Unreadable Garbage. Blame Colleges.”
America’s education establishment beams out a message to young people like a pulsar: Go to college! A high percentage of them do. Once the students are enrolled, however, the schools … Continue reading “A Book Full of Advice for High School and College Grads”
Freshman composition occupies a unique position in a college curriculum. It is the only class required of about 90 percent of enrollees whose diverse aptitudes and prior writing experience present … Continue reading “College Writing Courses Are in Trouble, But This Isn’t the Solution”
Academia has a long history of ignoring original minds who push their fields forward. There was the monk Gregor Mendel, who experimented with cross-breeding peas in his monastery garden. His … Continue reading “The Forgotten Man We Need Now for College Writing Reform”
The list of top-rated college writing programs is dominated by private institutions. But North Carolina State University is one of only a few public universities to break through. It is … Continue reading “How Much of an Effect Do University Writing Programs Have?”