Category: Academia
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The Overeducated
I once had a graduate student with whom I became friends. Ned Flynn, to give him a name, one day told me that after he finished high school he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and get a job with the railroad. His mother, however, wanted something 'better' for her son. She wanted him…
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Glenn Reynolds on the What Comes After the Higher Ed Bubble Bursts
Here. Excellent analysis of the problem, but he also offers solutions: For higher education, the solution is more value for less money. Student loans, if they are to continue, should be made dischargeable in bankruptcy after five years — but with the school that received the money on the hook for all or part of…
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They Pay So Much for So Little
Update (11/27): I am told the sign is a fake. I suspected as much. Fake or not it makes an important point. The point being that (i) the Left has done much to destroy the universities, and (ii) government programs, e.g., federally insured loan programs, have done much to cause an education bubble. The cost…
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On Used Books, Marginalia, Underlining, and Teaching
My library extends through each room of my house, except the bathrooms. (I suspect that in the average household, where the only purpose of reading could be to inspire excretion, it is the other way around.) If I weren’t pro-Israel I would say that my library commits territorial aggression against my wife’s ‘Palestinian’ books; her…
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Graduate School and Self-Confidence
This from a reader: . . . I am now in my senior year as a philosophy major, considering strongly the prospect of grad school. However, I remain deeply frustrated with myself with regard to my academic discipline and intellectual ability. Instead of philosophy making me proud–which some claim it does–it humbles me. But it…
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Another Side of the Education Bubble: The Law School Bubble
Who hasn't thought of attending law school? Before doing anything rash, you may want to peruse the posts of law professor Paul Campos at Inside the Law School Scam. He began the blog in August so you could easily take it da capo. And then there is the student loan crisis and the moral and…
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Lynne Ballew
At the time I knew her, in the mid-'70s, I had no idea what a remarkable person she is. I was a graduate student and she was a young professor. We spoke a few times in the hallway. A while back I was re-reading some Plato and I came upon a marginalium of mine: "Ask…
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Academic Rot Exposed
I plugged this site a few days ago. By now I've read most of the posts, and they are good. #65 of 100 reasons not to go to graduate school is up. Title is Teaching is Less and Less Rewarding. The abdication of authority by professors and administrators that set in in the '60s …
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100 Reasons Not to Go to Grad School
Here.
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The Higher Education Bubble
Good analysis by Michael Barone. Federal subsidies have caused college costs to skyrocket while quality goes down. What does all the money buy? Administrative bloat: Take the California State University system, the second tier in that state's public higher education. Between 1975 and 2008, the number of faculty rose by 3 percent, to 12,019 positions. During…
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Of Plagiarism and Paraphrase
My man Hodges has some interesting and useful entries on these topics, especially for those of you who labor in the academic trenches. Start here.
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Catholic University Returns to Single-Sex Dorms
A paucity of common sense, a lack of wisdom, a tendency among those in authority to abdicate . . . these are among the characteristics of contemporary liberals. Common sense would suggest that in a sex-saturated society putting young men and women together in the same dormitory would be an unwise idea, one rather unconducive to the traditional…
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Philosophy in Academe and Out
From a reader: Well, you must have read this sentence a million times but let me tell you once again, anyway: I have been an ardent follower of your blog and simply admire it. I thought you might be the best person to write to as I am confident you will also give me …