Years ago I read a short piece about Richard Feynman, the Nobel-award winning physicist. I was intrigued. A genius who had the chops to work at the leading edge of his field and the communication skills to make science understandable to the public, he was known as brilliant, eccentric, dynamic, and the kind of thinker…
Author: David Potash
Doing Good and Giving Back
Higher education needs more friends like Robert Owen Carr. Fifty plus years ago Carr attended Lockport Township High School in rural Illinois. Thanks to a nomination from a high school counselor, Carr won $250 from a local woman’s club. The award made a big difference. Carr’s family of nine – six children, grandmother and two…
Diploma Mills Over the Years
A.J. Angulo, professor education and history at Winthrop University, has done all of higher education a service with his latest book. Diploma Mills: How For-Profit Colleges Stiffed Students, Taxpayers, and the American Dream is the first historical examination of for-profit higher education in the United States. This well-written study covers decades of for-profit education, from…
A Real College Guide: Humor and Care From the Source
At the heart of any good college are dedicated faculty. Architecture, athletics, traditions and social life may capture the public’s attention, but what really matters are the faculty – the professionals who educate, research, and define their institutions of higher education. Understand that – really grasp what the means and how it plays out – and…
Education Measures Up
In 2009, Walter W. McMahon, emeritus professor of economics and education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign wrote Higher Learning, Greater Good: The Private and Social Benefits of Higher Education. Using a human capital approach the question of what higher education does and does not provide to society, McMahon’s account is thorough, persuasive, and technical…
Ginsburg at Chicago
Inspiration, these days, is welcome from any source. Last night I found plenty in a 118-year old building listening to an 84 year-old jurist. It was a straightforward affirmation of basic values that resonate with me: democracy, civil rights, fairness, hard work, and discipline. Roosevelt University’s conference, The American Dream Reconsidered, provided an opportunity for Judge…
Liberal – A Vexed Term
Few terms are as politically charged as “liberal” – worn proudly by those on the left and a sign of scorn for those on the right. Tossed around frequently without clarity or rigor, “liberal” has become of a catch-basin for various ideas, policies, and values. This is not unusual. I am trained as an historian…