This post is an analysis of the engine for scholarly production in American higher education. The issue is that the university is a unique work setting in which the usual organizational incentives don’t apply. Administrators can’t offer much in the way of power and money as rewards for productive faculty and they also can’t do … Continue reading Lust for Academic Fame
This post is the statement issued on October 11 by the president and provost of Stanford. To me, it's the best such statement by university leaders that I've seen in response to the Hamas attack on Israel and the ongoing battle in Gaza. What I like is that they stay focused on the issues on … Continue reading Stanford Statement on Israel and Palestine
This post is a piece I wrote not long ago, something I’ve been meaning to write for years. An alternative title is: “School — Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It.” See what you think. School Gave Me the Creeps David Labaree Did you like school? I didn’t. … Continue reading School Gave Me the Creeps
This post is an essay by Peter Greene in which he discusses a fascination argument made by a free-market economist on why free-market approaches such as vouchers will not work with public education. The economist, Douglas Harris, shows how no fewer than six conditions that are necessary for the functioning of an efficient free-market economy … Continue reading Free Market Approaches Don’t Work for Public Education
The art of writing ultimately comes down to the art of writing sentences. In his lovely book, How to Write a Sentence, Stanley Fish explains that the heart of any sentence is not its content but its form. The form is what defines the logical relationship between the various elements within the sentence. The same … Continue reading Academic Writing Issues #7: Writing the Perfect Sentence
This post is a paper I presented as part of a panel on the politics of teacher education at the annual meeting of the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) in 2005. It was published that same year in the Journal of Teacher Education. Here’s a link to the original. The paper draws in part … Continue reading Life on the Margins: Why Teacher Ed Has So Little Impact on Ed Policy
This post is a fascinating essay by Yasheng Huang about the Chinese examination system, which was recently published in Aeon. Here's a link to the original. It draws on his new book, which I highly recommend: The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exam, Autocracy, Stability and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They … Continue reading Yasheng Huang — The Exam that Broke Society
Metaphor is an indispensable tool for the writer. It carries out an essential function by connecting what you're talking about with other related issues that the reader already recognizes. This provides a comparative perspective, which gives a richer context for the issue at hand. Metaphor also introduces a playful characterization of the issue by making … Continue reading Academic Writing Issues #6: Mangling Metaphors
This post is an essay by Rachel Shin about the hypercompetition among students at elite universities, which appeared several weeks ago in Atlantic. Here's a link to the original. She reports that Yale undergraduates have ramped up student stress by turning the application process for admission to what are supposed to be benign extracurricular activities … Continue reading Rachel Shin on Hypercompetition at Elite Universities
This post is an op-ed I published on my birthday (May 17) in 2018 on the online international opinion site, Project Syndicate. The original is hidden behind a paywall; here are PDFs in English, Spanish, and Arabic. It's a brief essay about what is distinctive about the American system of higher education, drawn from my … Continue reading The Exceptionalism of American Higher Education
