Over the last several years, Davidson College’s inhospitality to freedom of thought has caught the attention of concerned alumni. Among other concerns, a group of alumni was deeply dismayed by the campus’s lack of support of, and sometimes even hostility towards, open inquiry and free expression. In 2018, these alumni formally organized themselves into an … Continue reading “Revitalizing Freedom of Expression at Davidson “
Standardized educational tests do not perfectly measure student aptitude or achievement, and no one argues that they do. But they can differ from all other available measures in two respects: their standardization and their independence of education insider control. To be truly standardized, the same content must be administered in the same manner to all … Continue reading “The US Test Mess”
When I was in high school in the mid-1990s, we were all required to swim in gym class. This was before wokeness. Since then, concerns over “accessibility,” “inclusion,” “acceptance,” and changing clothes in a locker room have all but killed physical education. The decline was already in motion, even back then. The girls and boys … Continue reading ““Contract-Grading” and the War Against Academic Excellence”
Woke medical education is expanding across the United States, which is cause for great concern. One of the last common experiences people have today is going to the doctor. When one is sick and in need of treatment, typically one would want the most intelligent and skilled doctor available. Medical schools, however, are not striving … Continue reading “In Medical Schools, Woke Ideology Trumps True Healthcare”
The past decade has ushered in dramatic growth in the number of postsecondary degree options available to US students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the US increased by 22 percent from 2010 (1.6 million) to 2019 (2.0 million). Likewise, master’s degrees increased by 20 percent, … Continue reading “Are More Options Always a Good Thing? The Backfiring Effects of Academic Proliferation”
Challenges to Academic Freedom, a new volume edited by University of Georgia professor Joseph Hermanowicz, offers a fresh slate of perspectives on some of the issues potentially clouding academic freedom’s future. It’s a worthwhile collection, and it arrives at an opportune time. While I can’t touch upon each entry in the space here, a few … Continue reading “The Biggest Threat to Academic Freedom? We Don’t Teach It.”
Last October, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released its national report on the state rankings for public higher education. The ranking is based on median student loan debt and median earnings for university graduates. The report uses the U.S Department of Education College Scorecard to determine median student loan debt and median earnings. The median … Continue reading “Did You Know? States Ranked by Debt and Earnings”
On February 25, Wyoming’s state senate passed a budget amendment to end funding for the University of Wyoming’s Gender and Women’s Studies program. State senator Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle) was concerned that the program promoted “service and activism.” “We’re training activists” with state money, Sen. Steinmetz argued, adding that she lost sleep after studying the array … Continue reading “Gender Studies on the Chopping Block”
Contrary to popular belief, the wars of tomorrow won’t be fought in the trenches. They’ll be fought in labs and lecture halls around the world. Powerful minds, rather than powerful machines, will prevail. And if powerful machines are to prevail, then powerful minds will be required to create such machines. China, the United States’ biggest … Continue reading “Could the Game of Chess Help Create Smarter STEM Students?”
In 1985, Roosevelt Montás arrived in the United States aged twelve, speaking no English, accustomed to life in a rural mountain village of the Dominican Republic where he had passed his boyhood—a village with one shared telephone. Six years later, he matriculated to Columbia University. He went on to earn his PhD there, and subsequently … Continue reading “A Life-Changing Meeting of Minds”