This post is an essay by Ilana Horwitz recently published in Times Higher Education. Here's a link to the original. It draws on her new book, The Entrepreneurial Scholar: A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond. It explores an argument that I came to develop over the years of working with doctoral students -- … Continue reading Ilana Horwitz — PhD Students Should Think Like Entrepreneurs
I don't know about you, but I love reading brutal book reviews. It's a lot of fun to watch a skilled writer skewer someone else's work with surgical precision (see here and here). In the interest of balance, I thought it would be right and proper to present a review that eviscerates one of my … Continue reading A Brutal Review of My First Book
For anyone who’s interested, I’m posting below an updated list of all my publications and course syllabi, including links to these works and to full course materials. Here’s a link to the list as a Word document, which is way more useful. Feel free to share. David Labaree Links to Publications and Course Materials December 8, … Continue reading Links to All My Publications and Course Materials — An Update List
This post is a piece I just wrote about an issue I've been mulling over for years. It's about how getting a doctorate is not just another in a long chain of degrees. It's a transformative experience, and prospective doctoral should prepare to strap themselves in for the ride. Doctoral Study as a Transformative Experience … Continue reading Doctoral Study as a Transformative Experience
This post is a classic paper by Peter Rossi from 1987 (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Volume 4, pages 3-20), which addresses a chronic problem in all policy efforts to change complex social systems. The social organizations of modern life are so large, so complex, so dependent on the cooperation of so many … Continue reading Peter Rossi: The Iron Law of Evaluation and Other Metallic Rules
Today I'm posting Max Weber's classic piece, "Science as a Vocation." It was originally delivered as a speech at Munich University in 1918. Its relevance for scholars today is as great as it was then, asking these questions: What does it mean to be a scientist? What are the sources and limits of scientific authority? … Continue reading Max Weber’s “Science as a Vocation”
This post is an essay by Elizabeth Steere that was recently published in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. For teachers worried about students who turn in AI produced essays, she provides an analysis of 50 some essays she generated using ChatGPT using prompts from past assignments she's deployed in her own teaching. … Continue reading Elizabeth Steere — Anatomy of an AI Essay
This post is a piece that is included in my newish book, Being a Scholar: Reflections on Doctoral Study, Scholarly Writing, and Academic Life. In it 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 … Continue reading Universities Give Away Knowledge and Sell Degrees
This piece was published in Inside Higher Ed in June, 2020. Here’s a link to the original. It speaks for itself. The argument here seems particularly pertinent in light of the current conflicts on campuses across the country over free speech and the war between Israel and Hamas. DOCTORAL DYSFUNCTION Many doctoral students today are tending to fall into … Continue reading Doctoral Dysfunction
This post is a piece by Gurwinder Bhogal, published recently in his blog The Prism. Here's a link to the original. It's a lovely collection of principles to live by when you're trying to make sense of the world. For academics, who make their living this way, these principles are … Continue reading 30 Useful Principles
