Category: Higher Education

Schooling the Meritocracy: How Schools Came to Democratize Merit, Formalize Achievement, and Naturalize Privilege

by David Labaree, posted in Credentialing, Featured, Higher Education, Meritocracy, Schooling

This is an essay about the historical construction of the American meritocracy, which is to say the new American aristocracy based on academic credentials.  Here's a link to the original, which was published 2020 in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal of the Historiography of Education.   An overview of the argument: Modern systems of public schooling have transformed … Continue reading Schooling the Meritocracy: How Schools Came to Democratize Merit, Formalize Achievement, and Naturalize Privilege

Commentary on James Sweet’s Essay about Historical Presentism

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, History, Identity Politics

This post is a commentary on an essay by James Sweet, president of the American History Association, which appeared recently on the AHA site, along with an author's note in which he responds to the intensely hostile reaction his essay provoked from other historians on social media in just the two days after the original … Continue reading Commentary on James Sweet’s Essay about Historical Presentism

The Truth about the Imposter Syndrome

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, Meritocracy, Students

This post is a piece from Harvard Magazine about a chronic state of mind that arises among undergrads at elite universities, the Imposter Syndrome. Here's a link to the original. The Imposter Syndrome is a chronic feature of student culture at elite universities.  At core, it's the creeping sensation that you're out of your depth, … Continue reading The Truth about the Imposter Syndrome

Course Syllabus: History of Higher Education in the US

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, History of education, History of Higher Education Class

This post contains all of the material for the class on the History of Higher Education in the US that I taught for at the Stanford Graduate School of Education for the last 15 years.  In retirement I wanted to make the course available on the internet to anyone who is interested.  If you are … Continue reading Course Syllabus: History of Higher Education in the US

Universities Give Away Knowledge and Sell Degrees

by David Labaree, posted in Consumerism, Curriculum, Featured, Formalism, Higher Education, Research

This post is a piece I just wrote.  I tried unsuccessfully to publish in five different venues and gave up, so I'm posting it here.   I focus on an issue that I've been thinking about for quite a while:  How to understand the core business model that governs American universities.   The answer is in the … Continue reading Universities Give Away Knowledge and Sell Degrees

Steven Brint — What Comes After Meritocracy?

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, Meritocracy

This post is an essay by Steven Brint, from the current issue of Chronicle Review, responding to the recent wave of critiques of the American meritocracy.  He asks an important question:  If we abandon meritocracy in its current form, what should be put in its place? He suggests that selective colleges should stop the current … Continue reading Steven Brint — What Comes After Meritocracy?

Rags to Riches: How US Higher Ed Went from Pitiful to Powerful

by David Labaree, posted in Featured, Higher Education, History of education

on An Unlikely Triumph: How US Higher Education Went from Rags in the 19th Century to Riches in the 20th This is a piece I published in Aeon in October, 2017.  It provides an overview of my book that came out that year, A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendancy of American Higher Education.  It's a highly improbable … Continue reading Rags to Riches: How US Higher Ed Went from Pitiful to Powerful

The Trouble with Ed Schools

by David Labaree, posted in Ed schools, Higher Education, History of education, Teaching

I'm posting this as a public service.  Read it and you won't need to read -- much less buy -- my 2004 book with the same title.  It provides an overview of the book's argument, which was originally published in Educational Foundations in 1996.  Here's a link to the original.  This is an overview: Everyone … Continue reading The Trouble with Ed Schools

The Rise of the Community College and the Limits of Educational Opportunity

by David Labaree, posted in High School, Higher Education, History of education, Social mobility

This post is a piece I originally published in 1990 in Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization.  Here's a link to that version. Later I included a slightly revised version as a chapter in my book, How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning.  The text below comes for the latter version. Here's an … Continue reading The Rise of the Community College and the Limits of Educational Opportunity

Blake Smith — The Woke Meritocracy

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, Meritocracy, Wokeness

This post is an essay by Blake Smith that first appeared in Tablet.  Here's a link to the original. It's about a phenomenon I started noticing a few years ago in the peculiar process of admissions to elite universities.  In this process it's not enough to present yourself to the admissions committee as the ultimate … Continue reading Blake Smith — The Woke Meritocracy