This post is a piece I published in 2020 in the Chronicle Review. Here’s a link to the original. It’s about an issue that has been gnawing at me for years. How can you justify the existence of institutions of the sort I taught at for the last two decades — rich private research universities? These institutions … Continue reading How Not to Defend the Research University
This post is an essay by Julien Berman that was published recently in the Washington Post. Here's a link to the original. How higher education failed America’s poor For decades, policymakers claimed to expand college access. In reality, they steered poor students into the least valuable degrees. Julien Berman The best investment you can make … Continue reading Julien Berman — How Higher Education Failed America’s Poor
This post is an essay by Peter Wei published in his Substack Ecumene. Here's a link to the original. In this piece he explores an issue I've talked about here from time to time, one of the core problems that the current academic meritocracy poses for the meritocrats themselves. It's not just the losers in the … Continue reading Peter Wei — The Professional-Managerial Class Has No Future
This post is a piece I wrote recently about an issue that's been on my mind for a while. Here's a link to the article, and here's a link to the slide talk I gave on the subject. The story is in the title. You Don’t Need to Kill Yourself Trying to Get into the Ivies: … Continue reading You Don’t Need to Kill Yourself Trying to Get into the Ivies
This post is an essay by Ethan Ris that was recently published in Law and Political Economy Project. Here's a link to the original. He makes a very important and often overlooked point about the nature of the American system of higher education. It is highly stratified into a dizzying array of tiers: private ranks above … Continue reading Ethan Ris: The Colleges Are Alright
This post is an essay by Sara Weissman that appeared recently in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. The title tells the story: More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed. That means they are in jobs that don't require a college degree. More than half of recent four-year college graduates, 52 percent, … Continue reading Sara Weissman — More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed
This post is a recent essay by David Deming, an economist at the Harvard Kennedy Center and Education School, about the use of SAT and ACT scores in college admission. It appeared in Atlantic. Here's a link to the original. He says data show that using these scores benefit some disadvantaged students, who have a chance … Continue reading David Deming: The Worst Way to Do College Admissions
This post is a piece I published in 2020 in the Chronicle Review. Here’s a link to the original. It’s about an issue that has been gnawing at me for years. How can you justify the existence of institutions of the sort I taught at for the last two decades — rich private research universities? These institutions … Continue reading How Not to Defend the Research University
This post is an opinion essay that appeared in a recent Newsweek. Here's a link to the original. And here's a link and another and yet another for somewhat different spins on the subject. In the belief system of the American meritocracy, pursuing higher levels of formal education is the route to upward mobility and … Continue reading Diplomas May Be Killing the American Dream
This post is a piece I published in 2020 in the Chronicle Review. Here's a link to the original. It’s about an issue that has been gnawing at me for years. How can you justify the existence of institutions of the sort I taught at for the last two decades — rich private research universities? … Continue reading How Not to Defend the Private Research University
David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing 