This article presents the author's view that online education mistakes information for education and training for teaching. He presents a historical look at "distance learning" as the original correspondence courses offered through the mail, and he observes that the past and present technologies were missing the main piece of…

This article describes the outcomes of the case "Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin," in which the plaintiff had accused the University of Texas (UT) of racial discrimination in the admission process. The author believes that the ruling of the court in this case makes it harder to hide race-based measures used in college admissions.…

In this article, the author states that "critical thinking" has mesmerized academics across the political spectrum and that even high school students are now being called upon to "think critically." He furthers adds that it is no exaggeration to say that "critical thinking" has quickly evolved into a scholarly…

This article is an exchange of ideas between Peter Wood, President of the National Association of Scholars (NAS), and Tom Klingerstein, Chairman of the Claremont Institute and NAS Board Director, on the study "What Does Bowdoin Teach? How a Contemporary Liberal Arts College Shapes Students" (by Peter Wood and Michael Toscano). This…

In this opinion piece, Michael Toscano writes that his criticism of the Common Core State Standards ultimately has very little to do with their innate quality, but rather that their relation to other social spheres is disordered. He refers to the full reordering of American education away from families and local communities--which he states are…

Whether political and/or religious academic bias exists is a question with important ramifications for the educational institutions. Those arguing for the presence of such bias contend that political conservatives and the highly religious in academia are marginalized and face discrimination. The question of academic bias tends to be cast in a…

The question of the relation between liberal education and political liberty, perennially important, is driven for this forum by the Obama administration's endorsement of "A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy's Future," according to which the chief ends of postsecondary civic education ought to include the promotion of sweeping…

A "civic recession" is as worrisome as an economic recession. "A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy's Future" (The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, 2012) should be praised for acknowledging the peril and seeking to rebuild the "depleted civic capital." Welcome, too, is the report's conviction that…

The claim that faculty conduct research is one of the main justifications for the modern university. Supposedly, academe carries out important, cutting-edge inquiries in which society has an interest. In fact, states this author, research at American universities is becoming narrow and artificial, out of touch with social realities, and of…

In this article, the author expands on "The Scandal of Social Work Education," a National Association of Scholars study documenting the commitment to left-wing "social justice" in social work programs at ten major public institutions. He presents a critical exploration of social justice ideology in academic and professional mental health training…

In this essay, the author discusses how affirmative action contributed to an unnatural rise in enrollments in college. In considering the higher education bubble, he makes the case that as the opposition to preferences continues to build, the momentum of this trend will only increase as funding shrinks. He offers some tentative answers to a series…

Educational institutions across America face growing pressure to accommodate the religious practices of Muslim students. One of the biggest hot spots in this respect may seem unlikely--the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in America's heartland. In Minnesota, controversies about religious accommodations have arisen at a number of public…

The most important concept in current environmental thinking is "sustainability". Environmental policies, economic policies, development, resource use--all of these things, according to the consensus, ought to be sustainable. But what is sustainability? What is its ethical foundation? There is little consensus about how these questions ought to be…

America's university presses are situated within a network of over one hundred universities, learned societies, and scholarly associations. According to a pamphlet put out by the American Association of University Presses, these presses "make available to the broader public the full range and value of research generated by university faculty."…

In this article, the author offers a "Pierce-ing," rational dissection of the notion of cultural equivalence that exposes the hypocrisy of its purveyors. He tackles three major argument lines--the Probabilities Argument, the Internal-Division Argument, and the Change Argument--and proves that it is simply very improbable that culture, in any…