Free Republic

“Finally.” It’s a word those who’ve spent years sounding the alarm about the plight of higher education have been saying a lot lately. Finally, the thought-policing and groupthink have become undeniable. Finally, the cost of toxic dogmas is coming clear. Finally, the bloat and cartel-like behavior is being seen for what it is. The train-wreck congressional testimony by the leaders of some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, the blatant and unrepentant campus antisemitism on display, and the laughably hypocritical double standards applied to speech have illustrated the problems in higher education, even for voters and policymakers who have neither...

In May of 2011, I wrote the following words in the Chronicle of Higher Education: “Online learning has become the third rail in American higher-education politics: Step on it and you’re toast.” In so doing, I planted my foot squarely on that electrified third rail. Besides being roundly criticized in the comments section, I learned that my administration at the time—which was, unbeknownst to me, planning a major online expansion—did not appreciate what they saw as an attack on their sacred (cash) cow. I was removed from my administrative position, had my pay cut, and was threatened with dismissal. Being...

As a battleground state in our national political contests, Arizona is also ground zero in the fight over the future of higher education in America. Higher-ed-reform advocates have notched several victories in Arizona recently, but the forces in favor of the status quo have stubbornly resisted many of these efforts, leaving much still to be done. Effective and lasting reform will require either a significant course correction by the state’s universities themselves, or else the direct intervention of the Arizona legislature or the Arizona Board of Regents (or both) to exercise more aggressive oversight, especially regarding curriculum and employment. For...

During the last dozen years or so, one of the more common higher-education stories has been a college or university rushing to judgment against a male student or faculty member over an allegation of misconduct with a female. The Obama education department encouraged schools to “get tough” by employing procedures that were grossly unfair to the accused individuals, usually resulting in their suspension or expulsion. Subsequently, many lawsuits were filed against colleges for having violated the rights of those who were disciplined. In most instances, the school lost, with the judges frequently denouncing the “kangaroo court” nature of the proceedings...

In its typically clueless way, The New Yorker is hot on the topic of whether the liberal arts—and especially classical education—have gone conservative. (The article is titled, “Have the Liberal Arts Gone Conservative?”) Better break out the smelling salts.You’d think this is an easy question. The left have attacked or hollowed out the liberal arts on campus, and the only people who take the classics seriously, and on their own terms, are conservatives. Leftist intellectuals insist on reading all classical literature through the current ideological filters, and students find it repellent, irrelevant, and above all boring.Emma Green, The New Yorker‘s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYWkuV5FbJM

The kerfuffle over the relative merit of forcing “viewpoint neutrality” in history classrooms puzzles me. No wonder: Although an historian by Ph.D., I have taught mostly economics for almost three decades! Historians, and I daresay others teaching the human sciences, could learn much from what I call “econogogy,” specific pedagogical techniques employed by many, though by no means all, economists. Students pay tuition or incur debt to develop independent analytical-thinking skills (and to have some fun), not to learn the political opinions of professors that they could see for free on X or Facebook. Dramatic current events, from terrorist attacks...

What does anyone here know about the Waldorf education system and the person upon who it is based, Rudolph Steiner? The school near us flies a flag with an image of the earth on it; no US flag. I know they are into biodynamics. Most of the folks I know who are really into biodynamics are usually pretty out there. I also know that many of the people who pioneered various education systems that came out of Germany during the era of John Dewey were socialists or strongly leaned that way. What constructive information can you provide other than nut...

X FX recently released a new version of the wildly popular 1980s TV miniseries Shōgun. Shōgun is based on a famous novel by James Clavell and is set in Japan in the 1600’s. The network shares, “FX’s Shōgun, based on James Clavell’s bestselling novel, is set in Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. “Lord Yoshii Toranaga” (Hiroyuki Sanada) is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.” However, at least one writer is...

There’s a highly organized, concerted effort underway here in NH to get outrageous amounts funded for NH schools and education agendas. I smell a racket in the making. This organization seems suspect and needs more looking into – which leftist/globalist entities are supporting and pushing this: The New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project.

After decades of the academy’s never-ending stream of new jargon, one can’t be blamed for ignoring another entry. But as with all the others, what begins as a crackpot idea quickly finds its way into university rules and regulations. That’s what’s happening with “cultural taxation.” For a few years now, individual campuses of California State University have been considering turning what seemed like just another grievance into an opportunity to promote a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda. A typical university policy statement (such as this one from California State University, Fullerton) reads, “Faculty members from traditionally underrepresented groups may...

I am looking for a decent place to host a web site or two. The plan is to post information the certain folks (you know who) might not like. No, I’m not talking porn in any form. Let’s put it this way: We don’t want this site to get ‘parlered’ if you know what we mean. It’s just a host that will be scalable. For the nerd/geeks out there, I am looking to install a LAMP stack for Wordpress with a CRUD backend attachment. Does anyone have any ideas?

Brian Deese is “an MIT Innovation Fellow, focusing on the impact of economic policies that strengthen the United States’ industrial capacity and on accelerating climate investment and innovation.” Before that, Deese assisted Joe Biden as Director of the National Economic Council. Asked in 2022 how American families could cope with surging gasoline prices, the NEC boss said, “this is about the future of the liberal world order, and we have to stand firm.” As Sir Bedevere(Terry Jones) might say, who is this who is so wise in the ways of economics? Deese is the son of Boston College political science...

Cops cite ‘freedom of speech’ An Israeli physics professor’s lecture at the University of Nevada Las Vegas was interrupted by anti-Israel protesters late last month, but campus cops refused to remove them — citing the First Amendment.This led Professor Asaf Peer, who was discussing the topic of black holes, to ask “What about my freedom of speech?”According to The Jerusalem Post, Peer was but a mere quarter-hour into his lecture when the shouting protesters (pictured) “burst into the room […] with banners and flags.”Protesters’ placards commemorated Islamic University of Gaza physicist Sufyan Tayeh (killed in a December Israeli airstrike) and...

For the last 20 years or so, many colleges and universities have embraced the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology by hiring administrators to promote it throughout the school. Although DEI might sound benign, its fundamental beliefs are not; they’re hostile to the foundations of Western civilization, including individualism, private property, free enterprise, and logic. Moreover, many people who are drawn to DEI positions are steeped in racial hostility. That toxic brew has landed Penn State Abington in federal court. Zack De Piero was a professor who taught English and composition courses. He had been with Penn State Abington since...

In an appearance on ABC's "The View," psychologist and TV personality Dr. Phil asserted that "the lockdowns of schools did more harm to children than COVID ever could have. In '08, '09, smartphones became common, and kids stopped living their lives and started watching other people live their lives, and so we saw the biggest spike and the highest levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicide since records have been kept. COVID hits 10 years later, and the same agencies that knew what had already happened are the agencies that shut down the schools for two years. Schools are the...

I recently discovered that George Mason University, where I teach, plans to adopt a “Just Societies” course requirement. “Students entering Mason in Fall 2024 or later will be required to take two Mason Core courses that have the Just Societies flag.” If you read any closer, you unsurprisingly discover that this is a thinly veiled woke-indoctrination requirement. Students are not exploring substantively different views on justice; they are hearing about “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” in all its Orwellian wonder. ... What’s so terrible about the Just Societies framework? Let me count the ways. First, the requirement plainly takes the correctness...

The aerospace industry desperately needs young talent if we expect it to grow, innovate, and continue providing the services we need and expect in the modern era. The jobs are plentiful, but the skilled workers are not. The leaders of the industry must do a better job of communicating with the next generation of aviation pilots, machinists, and mechanics. If they don’t, the future of aerospace is in jeopardy.A recently released industry report a detailed that “the aircraft mechanic shortage has reached a critical point" and the outlook for growth is precarious. This is detrimental not only to commercial aviation,...

A story in Inside Higher Ed last week revealed that two more Ivy League schools, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania, have stopped publishing “dean’s lists” that recognize high levels of academic achievement. As one anonymous Penn alumnus put it, “The war against individual achievement continues unabated.” Other Ivies (e.g., Brown and Harvard) had already abandoned—or never really embraced—the concept of recognizing merit in this manner. These latest moves are still another sign that much of higher education is contemptuous of the values that produced American exceptionalism, among them appropriately and generously rewarded hard work. To some, it is not...

Liberals really are extremely fragile people. This helps explain why they need “safe spaces” with cuddly stuffed animals, grief counselors, and warning labels against “microaggressions.”The latest evidence is a completely unironic and totally un-self-aware piece in the New York Times about the anguish of liberal law professors having to teach constitutional law at a time when the Supreme Court leans right. It’s so upsetting that some professors are moved to tears and can’t conceive of continuing. The New York Times thinks this is actually “a crisis.”Seriously, you can’t make this up:Rebecca Brown, at the University of Southern California, has been...