Previously I have commented on the announcement by David Coleman of the College Board of the new SAT to be released in 2016, without much good to say about the so-called “improvements” that supposedly are designed to better reflect what students have actually studied in high school, but appear to be simply more “dumbing down” […]
The College Graduation Rate Conundrum
Every college and university, particularly those that rely heavily on taxpayer support, is striving to improve the four-year graduation rate of their students. And it makes sense as a high priority objective—many knowledgeable observers consider the four-year graduation rate a critical measure of institutional success and a low four-year rate of graduation is a very […]
A Bright Spot for the Liberal Arts at UT-Austin
For many years, there has been considerable angst over the severe decline in the study of the humanities in American higher education. This decline has been particularly precipitous since the mid-1960s and, in fact, studies show that bachelor’s degree completions in the humanities nationwide declined from 14% of the total of all degrees in 1966 […]
The Real Issues with Boko Haram
The kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian girls by the radical terrorist organization known as Boko Haram has aroused the outrage of all civilized people and has become a particular cause for the cultural elite in the U. S. My first reaction was, where have they been? This behavior is consistent with that of radical Islam […]
The New SAT: More Dumbing Down?
The big announcement in March by David Coleman of The College Board on the new SAT to be released in 2016 was met with mixed reviews, but mostly negative from the observers in whom I have the most confidence. The “improvements”, according to Coleman, are designed to better reflect what students have actually studied in […]
The Commoditization of Higher Education
In all of the conversation about the “creative destruction” in higher education that is universally assumed to be imminent due to the rapid growth of online and hybrid or blended delivery systems, I was suddenly struck by an article in the March 3 issue of Forbes magazine by Caroline Howard, “No College Left Behind: Randy […]
Exposing the Dirty Little Secret in College Finance
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal by Douglas Belkin exposes a shady element of college finance that, while long- and well-known by insiders, seems finally to be raising a fair amount of pushback from those families and students who are in many cases borrowing money to finance the scheme. I have reference to […]
The Coming Disruption from Competency-Based Education
A couple of articles this past summer by Paul Fain in Inside Higher Ed (www.insidehighered.com) brought to my attention with more clarity the promise and inevitable disruption of the trend toward competency-based higher education. He reports on pilot programs now underway at a growing number of for-profit institutions and at least 25 or so […]
The Humanities Wars
We are besieged by commentary in the battle over the humanities curriculum in higher education—do we need more emphasis?, do we need less?, is it all about jobs?, is it all about competency in a skill set?, what about critical thinking?, what about making good citizens?, what about the pursuit of meaning in life?, […]
The Undermining of History Standards in Texas Higher Ed
(Note: A version of this essay was previously posted to www.seethruedu.com, an initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation focused on higher education reform. I am pleased to be a contributor to this site and I invite Pilgrim readers to visit the site for enlightened commentary on higher education issues from a number of knowledgeable […]
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