This post is a piece I just published two years ago in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. Advice for New Ph.D. Students David F. Labaree Entering into a Ph.D. program is a challenging endeavor for anyone, so I thought I’d pass on a little advice to those of you beginning such … Continue reading Advice for New PhD Students
This post is a favorite piece by an old friend and terrific scholar, Harold Wechsler, who sadly died a few years ago. Here’s a link to the original, which appeared in Teachers College Record in 1981. In this paper, Wechsler explores a longstanding issue in American higher education. How do students and colleges respond when the initial core … Continue reading Harold Wechsler — Group Repulsion in the History of US Higher Ed
This post is a reflection on Max Weber’s “Politics as a Vocation,” which he gave in 1919 at Munich University. “Science as a Vocation” is the other famous speech he gave at Munich in 1917, which I posted here a few years ago. Compared to the science lecture, it’s very long — 23,000 words — so … Continue reading Reflections on Weber’s “Politics as a Vocation” and the Role of the Professor
This post is a lovely essay by Clare Coffey that was recently published in The Bulwark. Here's a link to the original. It's an ode to the most wonderful of civic institutions in American life: the snow day. Can you remember what if felt like when you woke up one morning, dreading the thought of … Continue reading An Ode to Snow Days
Here’s a piece I published several years ago in Inside Higher Ed. Here’s a link to the original. It's also included in my new book, Being a Scholar: Reflections on Doctoral Study, Scholarly Writing, and Academic Life. Hope you like it. THE ESTHETIC PLEASURES OF ACADEMIC WRITING WHILE IT MAY SEEM UNLIKELY, SUCH WRITING CAN ACTUALLY … Continue reading The Esthetic Pleasures of Scholarly Writing
This post is a review by Phil Christman in The Bulwark of a new book by John Warner -- More than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI. Here's a link to the original. In this essay, Christman and Warner explore a view of writing that I've been thinking about for years: … Continue reading Against the AI Writing Machines
This post is a collection of tips about good writing that I have used in classes over the years. I hope you find them useful. Academic Writing Is a Process of Entering an Ongoing Conversation So you don’t just jump in, you try to situate your argument in the larger conversational arena. Orienting the reader … Continue reading Writing Tips
This post is an overview of the 2014 book by Stanford classicist Ian Morris, War! What Is It Good For? In it he makes the counter-intuitive argument that over time some forms of war have been socially productive. In contrast with the message of 1970s song by the same name, war may in fact be good for something. … Continue reading Ian Morris — War! What Is It Good For?
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 