The past few months have witnessed a proliferation of important news, from the earthquake and its aftermath in Japan, to the explosion of democracy in the Middle East, to the massive restructuring of the world economy. These are events worthy of historical study. Exciting and important things are taking place on a massive scale around…
Measure What You Value and Value What You Measure
Few works on higher education have generated as much press and interest as Richard Arum and Josipa Roska’s Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (University of Chicago, 2011). Reviews, attacks, accolades and discussion have accompanied its publication and we are now seeing the ultimate measure of interest in higher education: the conference. Within months…
In Search of an Interesting College Student . . .
Exactly how ineffective is higher education? How much is wrong? Please, please, let me count the ways. A book a week, a screed a fortnight and an expose daily seem to be populating the media, each of which take a different tack highlighting the many woes of American higher education. In this melange of negativity…
Academia on the Clock
At the intersection of financial aid, college culture, academic policy, long established practice, and the Registrar’s Office is the credit hour. As discussed in an earlier post, the credit hour is a unit of currency demonstrating academic activity or work. It is also the focus of recent federal regulation. The Department of Education made its…
AAC&U Presentation
Many thanks to all who attended the presentation – I greatly appreciate your time, questions and participation. You can access information about the March 5, 2011 presentation at the AAC&U conference by clicking above at “pages” or by clicking here. David Potash
Who Is The Party Pooper?
Craig Brandon’s The Five-Year Party makes me think of reheated coffee: sometimes necessary but always bitter, acidic, and thin. A former journalism professor at Keene State, New Hampshire, Brandon has assiduously collected bad new and bad results throughout higher education in order to populate this book. He weaves together the negativity into an extraordinarily bleak…
Poor Options, Smart Choices
If, sadly, a twenty-two year old is killed by a bus, the news media will quickly report the untimely demise of a man. Ask a group of middle-aged Americans about a twenty-two year old who lacks a full-time job and lives in his parent’s house, and they would be unwilling to call that person an…