Liberal Arts and Money – A Comment

Jordan Weissmann of The Atlantic posted an article titled “Money Is a Terrible Way to Measure the Value of a College Major” http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/money-is-a-terrible-way-to-measure-the-value-of-a-college-major/283290/#comments I commented on what I feel is the pecuniary value of a liberal arts education, and, on how earnings might reflect the quality of the liberal arts courses in a school.  Here is […]

Thoughts About Change

I posted some thoughts about change in higher education on Carnegie Mellon’s website.  I wrote it as a comment on their news page http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/society/2014/winter/world-economic-forum.shtml.  The page contains information about their prescence at Davos. I have been reading a book on governance and found it interesting with respect to how universities might be changed.  I talked about […]

Andrew Simmons in The Atlantic on “The Danger of Telling Poor Kids That College Is the Key to Social Mobility”

Here is the link: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/the-danger-of-telling-poor-kids-that-college-is-the-key-to-social-mobility/283120/ This is my comment, which explains my view on the essay.  (For some reason The Atlantic rejected this comment for a couple of days, before posting it.)  I think the article itself is good and worth reading. “The thought behind this essay is so well-meaning that I am loathe to […]

Jordan Weissman at The Atlantic Reports on a New Federal Reserve Report on Underemployment

You can read his article here  http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-growth-of-college-grads-in-dead-end-jobs-in-2-graphs/283137/#comments  You will find a link to the Fed’s paper. Unfortunately, when the Fed looks at the data they leave out recent grads who are still in school, even part-time.  I posted two comments that give my view on this and other aspects of the article.  Here they are. […]

An Informative Comment on My Post, “Duke University Professor Calls It Like It Is”

Someone responded to my recent comment on a Chronicle of Higher Education article. (See  Duke University Professor Calls It Like It Is) I find the person’s observation, though anecdotal like mine, as more evidence that what I have seen is not unusual.  Here is part of what they wrote. “I read your Washington U. tale, and found it believable […]

Video of Dog Walking Grand Rapids Style!

I have been vacationing and friends thought I should post this old video I took a while back in Grand Rapids, MI.  It’s fun, short and an interesting idea.  So, here it is. Dog Walking – Grand Rapids Syle!

Duke University Professor Calls It Like It Is

Michael Allen Gillespie, a professor of political science and of philosophy at Duke University, has written a revealing piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education.  I recommend it for its honesty about grading (or not really grading) and about professors “cheating” students by not fairly grading them in a way that shows them what they […]

On David Kirp’s New York Times Op-Ed, Do Advisors Help?

David Kirp has spent worked on higher education issues for a long time and can be outspoken.  I was a little surprised at this op-ed http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/opinion/how-to-help-college-students-graduate.html?ref=opinion&_r=0.  Here is why. “Professor Kirp must realize that the programs that he advocates would be instituted in universities where “”the pursuit of money…has become a virtue” and where “Nowhere […]

Political Science: University of Michigan, too?

Here is what I found.  They use the same text as Washington University, except that I don’t think they have outside readings.  On the other hand, if, as is apparently true in Wash. U.’s case, the readings don’t matter, what does it matter what text they use? (See my previous post.) The link to the […]