Topic: Academics

A Modest Proposal for Fixing the College Modern Language Requirement

Jan 15, 2021 · · No Comments on A Modest Proposal for Fixing the College Modern Language Requirement

In her fine opinion piece for the Martin Center, Megan Zogby bemoans the “Quixotic” requirement that North Carolina college and university students take between two and four courses in a language such as Spanish, French, or German. This requirement, Zogby asserts, “appears to have no meaningful effect on the language proficiency of college graduates.” What is more, … Continue reading “A Modest Proposal for Fixing the College Modern Language Requirement”

Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon

Jan 14, 2021 · · No Comments on Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon

Penguin Classics is partnering with Disrupt Texts to replace Shakespeare and Homer with Ibram X. Kendi. What is Disrupt Texts? For the uninitiated, it is a new radical movement in classrooms which seeks to disrupt the “hegemony of English” and the Western canon by replacing them. According to its own website, Disrupt Texts is a “crowdsourced, grassroots effort by … Continue reading “Did You Know? Disrupt Texts Is the Latest Attack on the Western Canon”

The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed

Jan 13, 2021 · · No Comments on The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed

Alan Jacobs’ new book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, is a coaxing argument to read “old books that come from strange times.” Readers of his previous works The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction and How to Think will not be surprised that Jacobs, distinguished … Continue reading “The Spurning of Old Books: The Devaluation of the Past Threatens Higher Ed”

Drake Group President: Congress Must Protect Student-Athletes’ Rights

Jan 11, 2021 · · No Comments on Drake Group President: Congress Must Protect Student-Athletes’ Rights

The fight to protect student-athletes’ rights has been a long uphill battle. The injustices that college athletes suffer at the hands of their academic institutions are many, including a shameless disregard for athletes’ physical, financial, and educational well-being. To make matters worse, the NCAA, founded to protect student-athletes from exploitation, has failed in its mission … Continue reading “Drake Group President: Congress Must Protect Student-Athletes’ Rights”

Leaving the Blight of Higher Education: Part II–Farewell, Faculty

Jan 8, 2021 · · No Comments on Leaving the Blight of Higher Education: Part II–Farewell, Faculty

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part essay; part I can be read here. The previous essay dealt with the moral decline of the student body in higher education—one of the motives behind my recent retirement after three decades of teaching college English. When I began teaching, most of the English faculty members, … Continue reading “Leaving the Blight of Higher Education: Part II–Farewell, Faculty”

Did You Know? UNC Schools Will Get Millions in COVID-19 Funding

Jan 7, 2021 · · No Comments on Did You Know? UNC Schools Will Get Millions in COVID-19 Funding

Last week, Congress approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, a $2.4 trillion spending package that includes $23 billion in aid for public and non-profit colleges and universities. The relief package will provide about $286 million in new Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding (HEERF) to UNC system schools. Of that amount, almost $90 million is … Continue reading “Did You Know? UNC Schools Will Get Millions in COVID-19 Funding”

The Ways in Which Colleges Legally Silence Troublesome Scholars

Jan 6, 2021 · · No Comments on The Ways in Which Colleges Legally Silence Troublesome Scholars

Radicals on campus do more than just “cancel” speakers. Failure by administrators to stand firm alters the atmosphere at colleges as well as, eventually, our system of government. The most profound consequences may come less from ideological zealots than from our own cowardice to oppose them. Some colleges now respond to ideological intimidation not by … Continue reading “The Ways in Which Colleges Legally Silence Troublesome Scholars”

Did You Know? In 2020, Students Stopped Transferring

Dec 31, 2020 · · No Comments on Did You Know? In 2020, Students Stopped Transferring

Students listened to public health advice for 2020: stay at home. A report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that transfer students fell by 8.1 percent compared to fall 2019. That was more than three times the 2.4 percent decline in overall student enrollment. Rather than make a change in an uncertain environment, … Continue reading “Did You Know? In 2020, Students Stopped Transferring”

Money for Nothing: The Worst of Student Loan Debt Hits College Dropouts

Dec 30, 2020 · · No Comments on Money for Nothing: The Worst of Student Loan Debt Hits College Dropouts

I can’t remember a single alternative to college proposed to me, for me, my entire school-age life. That I would go to college after high school was presented by adults and taken by me as a given. How I would pay for it was always a thing to be figured out later. My mom had … Continue reading “Money for Nothing: The Worst of Student Loan Debt Hits College Dropouts”