This post is an op-ed by Jon Zimmerman that was recently published in the Wall Street Journal. Here's a link to the original. A Trump Voter Walks Into My Office It’s no joke—universities impoverish themselves by suppressing conservatives. By Jonathan Zimmerman Despite what you might have read about left-wing monoculture in academia, we really do … Continue reading Jon Zimmerman — A Trump Voter Walks Into My Office
This post is an essay by Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder that recently appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education Review. Here's a link to the original. I fully agree with the argument they make here -- about how higher education institutions have increasingly been failing to treat their own students as adults. I … Continue reading Khalid and Snyder: Stop Treating Students Like Babies
This post is a lovely essay by Steven Mintz, which was published in January in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. It connects with a piece I posted here a couple weeks earlier, looking at the way schools turn off students and what college might do to improve their own ability to engage … Continue reading Steven Mintz — Most Kids Find K-12 Education Boring and Stressful
[This essay is now a chapter in my new book, The Ironies of Schooling.] Professionals, by definition, are more skilled than amateurs in any given field, but they both experience failure. And to an average observer, they appear to fail in similar ways. The practitioner is moving along nicely in carrying out his or her … Continue reading Failing Like a Professional: Professionals Choke, Amateurs Panic
This post is Gary Smith's modest proposal on "How to fix college finances." His answer: "Eliminate faculty, then students." It appeared as a guest essay recently in the Washington Post. Here's a link to the original. Enjoy this ride into the wonderful world of Jonathan Swift. How to fix college finances? Eliminate faculty, then students. By Gary … Continue reading A Modest Proposal
This post is an op-ed that Deborah Malizia and I just published in the San Jose Mercury News. Here's a link to the original. It follows up on an earlier op-ed we did on the subject. Schools’ shift from community to competition harms our youth U.S. education system created in the 19th century to serve the … Continue reading School’s Shift from Community to Competition Can Harm Our Youth
This post is an essay about academic writing by Steven Mintz, which was originally published in Inside Higher Ed. Here's a link to the original. It speaks for itself. January 23, 2024 Writing With Style, Force, Flair and Impact How to get your students to love language and take pleasure in writing. By Steven Mintz Hamlet … Continue reading Steven Mintz — Getting Students to Write with Style, Flair, Force, and Impact
This blog post is an essay by Caitlin Flanagan recently published in Atlantic. Here's a link to the original. If colleges were in fact teaching students how to think, she says, then they would be encouraging students to consider the best arguments on the other side of the issue they are most ardent about. Colleges … Continue reading Caitlin Flanagan — Colleges Aren’t Teaching Students How to Think
This is a piece I published in 2012 in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education. It draws on my experience over the years working with doctoral students in education. The advice, basically, is to approach your apprenticeship in educational research doing the opposite of what everyone else tells you to do. Hope you like it. SERMON ON EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH … Continue reading Sermon on Educational Research
This post is a classic essay by Anders Henrikkson, published in Wilson Quarterly. Here's a link to the original. It's comprised entirely from statements about European history drawn from student essays. Anyone who has ever graded exams will recognize the genre. Here are a few of my favorite lines from this piece: The Crusades were a … Continue reading A Brief History of Europe Culled from Student Papers
