Few works on higher education have generated as much press and interest as Richard Arum and Josipa Roska’s Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (University of Chicago, 2011). Reviews, attacks, accolades and discussion have accompanied its publication and we are now seeing the ultimate measure of interest in higher education: the conference. Within months…
Category: Deanspeak
Posts about the wide realm of higher education from a deanly perspective
In Search of an Interesting College Student . . .
Exactly how ineffective is higher education? How much is wrong? Please, please, let me count the ways. A book a week, a screed a fortnight and an expose daily seem to be populating the media, each of which take a different tack highlighting the many woes of American higher education. In this melange of negativity…
Academia on the Clock
At the intersection of financial aid, college culture, academic policy, long established practice, and the Registrar’s Office is the credit hour. As discussed in an earlier post, the credit hour is a unit of currency demonstrating academic activity or work. It is also the focus of recent federal regulation. The Department of Education made its…
AAC&U Presentation
Many thanks to all who attended the presentation – I greatly appreciate your time, questions and participation. You can access information about the March 5, 2011 presentation at the AAC&U conference by clicking above at “pages” or by clicking here. David Potash
Poor Options, Smart Choices
If, sadly, a twenty-two year old is killed by a bus, the news media will quickly report the untimely demise of a man. Ask a group of middle-aged Americans about a twenty-two year old who lacks a full-time job and lives in his parent’s house, and they would be unwilling to call that person an…
I Read a Good Book and Wondered Why
Arguments on behalf of the liberal arts are borne, more often than not, out of fear. “The liberal arts are under attack!” academicians decry, faced with budget cuts and the vagaries of student enrollment trends. People do not understand their importance, it is claimed, with a tone whose undercurrent is condescending. The most popular major…
The Burr That Keeps On Giving
The neuroscientists are hard at work. Their discoveries, hypotheses and suppositions are gaining traction, within and outside of the quad. Science is helping us gain better and deeper understanding of how humans learn. This is no slow process, either. The pace is rapid and shows no sign of abating for decades. Imagine what we will…