Academics

What follows are descriptions of four college courses. Three of them are real courses and one is not. Can you identify the fake?

A. The Adultery Novel. Students will read a series of 19th and 20th century works about adultery and watch several films about adultery. They will apply critical approaches to place adultery in its aesthetic, social and cultural context, including: sociological descriptions of modernity, Marxist examinations of the family as a social and economic institution, and feminist work on the construction of gender.
B. Queer Musicology. This course explores how sexual difference and complex gender identities in music and among musicians have incited productive consternation during the 1990s. Music under consideration will include works by Franz Schubert, Holly Near, Benjamin Britten, Cole Porter, and Pussy Tourette.
C. Whiteness: The Other Side of Racism. This course will spark critical thinking on these questions: What is whiteness? How is it related to racism? What are the legal frameworks of whiteness? How is whiteness enacted in everyday practice? And how does whiteness impact the lives of both whites and people of color?
D. Foodways, Heteronormativity, and Hungry Women in Chicana Lesbian Writing. This course will analyze foodways in recent Chicana lesbian literature, examining writings that illustrate the cultural endurance of heteronormative constructions of gender even as they demonstrate how these beliefs are disrupted, destabilized, and transformed in queer literary kitchens.

Some people would have you believe that the age of “political correctness” is over. Supposedly, the movement to stifle speech that could be regarded as offensive by individuals in certain “protected” groups has lost its impact, especially in the institution where political correctness activists found their strongest support – higher education.

Unfortunately, that simply isn’t true.

A course at Duke University entitled “American Dreams/American Realities,” was recently named one of the most bizarre political correct courses by the Young America’s Foundation.

Gerald Wilson taught the course in the spring semester as part of the school’s history curriculum. It was ranked 11th among the 12 courses highlighted by the Young America’s Foundation, which attempted to find what it considered the most troubling examples of leftist activism in the college classroom. The Young America’s Foundation is a Washington-based think tank that promotes conservative ideologies among college students.

One of the phrases we hear over and over again from the American higher education establishment is that it’s “the envy of the world.” I have never actually seen evidence to back that contention up, like a statement from the German Prime Minister saying, “We Germans are so envious of your fantastic higher education system in America!” I have, however, seen quite a lot of evidence that Americans aren’t terribly impressed with the results of our colleges and universities.

On October 2, The Conference Board, an organization of American businesses, released a survey entitled “Are They Really Ready for Work?” The report, which was based on responses from 431 employers, hardly gives a ringing endorsement of our education system. Only 10 percent of the employers said that they find graduates of 2-year colleges “excellent” in terms of their overall preparation for work and only 24 percent rated graduates of 4-year colleges as “excellent.”

The greatest area of deficiency identified by the business respondents was in communications. Roughly half of new workforce entrants with 2-year degrees and more than a quarter with 4-year degrees were rated as “deficient” with regard to their ability to write and understand written material. That finding is not surprising, given the results of last year’s National Assessment of Adult Literacy, which concluded that literacy among college graduates was shockingly low – and falling.

RALEIGH- In recent days several professors have disparaged the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and its research. One paper in particular came under fire from Catherine Warren, head of the Women’s and Gender Studies and North Carolina State University. According to a press report, Dr. Warren called it “inane crap” and said it was riddled with inaccuracies.

The Pope Center stands by its study, “A Room of One’s Own,” by Melana Zyla Vickers. “The paper is a careful analysis of the women’s studies programs at the five campuses offering these programs,” says Jane S. Shaw, executive vice president of the Pope Center. The paper, originally issued March 30, 2005, is available here.

One of the phrases we hear over and over again from the American higher education establishment is that it’s “the envy of the world.” I have never actually seen evidence to back that contention up, like a statement from the German Prime Minister saying, “We Germans are so envious of your wonderful higher education system in America.” I have, however, seen quite a lot of evidence that Americans aren’t terribly impressed with the results of our colleges and universities.

On October 2, 2006, The Conference Board, an organization of American businesses, released a survey entitled “Are They Really Ready for Work?” The report, which was based on responses from 431 employers, hardly gives a ringing endorsement of our education system. Only 10 percent of the employers said that they find graduates of 2-year colleges “excellent” in terms of their overall preparation for work and only 24 percent rated graduates of 4-year colleges as “excellent.”