This post is an op-ed by Harvard undergrad Aden Barton, which was published recently in the Harvard Crimson. Here's a link to the original. To see the graphs he refers to, click on the link. The essay explores the reasons for the recent surge in careerism among Harvard undergraduate as a way to understand the … Continue reading Aden Barton — How Harvard Careerism Killed the Classroom
This post is a new piece I just wrote as the preface to the Chinese translation of my book, The Trouble with Ed Schools. For me, this was a nice opportunity to accomplish two things in looking back on this work, which was published in 2004. One is to show how the book came about … Continue reading Reflections on “The Trouble with Ed Schools” for the Chinese Edition of the Book
This post is an essay by Adam Grant published in the Times in 2018. Here's a link to the original. His theme is one that has long resonated with me: Doing well in school is overrated. If you're getting all A's, you're denying yourself a rich educational experience and missing out on the kind of learning … Continue reading Adam Grant — What Straight-A Students Get Wrong
Today I'm posting a wonderful essay by Daniel Markovits about the social consequences of the new meritocracy, which he published in Hedgehog Review. Here's a link to the original. As you may recall, last fall I posted a piece about his book, The Meritocracy Trap. In this essay, Markovits extends his analysis of the role … Continue reading Daniel Markovits: Schooling in the Age of Human Capital
This lovely essay explores the most common question that modernity prompts strangers to ask each other: What do you do? The author is the philosopher Alain de Botton, who explains that this question is freighted with moral judgment. In a meritocracy, what you do for a living is not just your job; it's who you … Continue reading Alain de Boton: On Asking People What They Do
This post is an essay by Michael Ignatieff published in the most recent issue of Liberties. Here's a link to the original. What he's talking about is independent thinking. Universities are supposed to be places where we teach people how to think for themselves, he says, but all too often we teach people to think like … Continue reading Michael Ignatieff: Epistemological Panic, or Thinking for Yourself
This post is an essay by one of my favorite historians, Johann Neem. It's a review of a new book, After the Ivory Tower Falls, written by Will Branch. In this review, Neem examines the way that the divide between those who attended college and those who didn't has defined and defiled American politics in … Continue reading Johann Neem — Revenge of the Poorly Educated
This post is a piece by Nathan Greenfield, reporting on a major study about the influence of institutional prestige on faculty hiring in the US. His article was first published in University World News. Here's a link to the original. He focuses on a new research analysis recently published in Nature. The study, conducted by a … Continue reading Nathan Greenfield and Val Bur– The Influence of Institutional Prestige in Faculty Hiring
This post is an article by Nathan Greenfield about how institutional prestige shapes faculty hiring. It was published recently in University World News. Here's a link to the original. He's reporting on a remarkable study by Daniel Larremore and Hunter Wapman, which involved "300,000 faculty members in 10,612 departments in 368 PhD-granting American universities." What … Continue reading Nathan Greenfield — How Institutional Prestige Shapes Faculty Hiring
This post is an essay by historian David Bell, which was published recently in Chronicle Review. Here's a link to the original. It's a clear analysis of how institutional self-interest is the driving force in the actions of elite universities. Money is a key component, but the dominant factor is preserving the brand. Citadels of … Continue reading David Bell — Elite Universities Operate on the Principle of Self Interest above All Else
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 