Barbour recounts his experience as a teacher of religious studies to students whose political and social stances are related to conservative religious views. Differentiating between students who are thoughtful participants or silent observers and those who stridently label the academic community as liberally-biased, Barbour describes his…

An Egyptian court ruled this month that the American University in Cairo could not bar a woman who wears the traditional niqab headdress from entering its library--the latest episode in the struggle between religion and secularism on Egypt's university campuses. The American University has outlawed the niqab--which covers the entire head except…

Teach for America has become a household name, attracting ever more recruits, donors, and cachet. Its dogged recruiters prowl college campuses around the country, and each year more students line up to apply. No one argues with Teach for America's mission: to help underprivileged students succeed. But some educators have questioned its approach. …

The investigations of student-loan programs around the country echo previous scandals in the financial world involving stock offerings and mutual funds. The relationships between lenders and financial-aid officers seem to raise the same questions about impropriety, conflict of interest, and possible fraud. Indeed, lessons from Wall Street can…

The investigation of New York State's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, into the questionable practices of lenders in federal student-loan programs has helped raise public awareness of one of the greatest scams in our government: The Federal Family Education Loan program, otherwise known as the guaranteed-student-loan program, is unnecessarily…

Colleges must teach their students the virtues of philanthropy if they hope to produce graduates who will give back to the institutions and to society at large, the philanthropist and businesswoman Sheila C. Johnson told attendees at The Chronicle's Presidents Forum here last week. "My hope," she continued, "is that today's graduates will set a…

Federal and state officials investigating the student-loan industry are turning their attention to matters of race, hoping to protect students of the nation's historically black colleges. But the colleges themselves are not sure they want the help. New York's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, and the chairman of the U.S. House education…

Last month the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federally financed "Nation's Report Card," released the results of its 2006 tests of historical knowledge among schoolchildren. Although there were hints of small improvements since the last NAEP test in 2001 (47 percent rather than 43 percent of 12th graders had at least a…

For more than 40 years, student-loan providers have helped millions of American families achieve the kinds of dreams made possible by the best higher-education system in the world. Federal guaranteed loans, or loans made by individual lenders that are backed by the federal government, have made college more affordable by being the lowest-cost…

Educators, mental-health officials, and law-enforcement officers often do not share information about troubled students because they are confused by what they can disclose under complex and overlapping privacy laws, according to a report on the Virginia Tech shootings. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and two other Bush cabinet secretaries…

Skepticism among lawmakers in Congress that colleges are adequately trying to control costs may hinder legislation that would extend tax breaks for higher education, according to the chairman of the influential Senate Finance Committee. Senator Max S. Baucus said skepticism on Capitol Hill has been fueled by anger over multimillion-dollar coaches'…

At a June 2007 forum, Vietnam's president and minister of education outlined an ambitious plan to overhaul their country's troubled educational system, while a panel of American academics and scientists highlighted the importance of higher education to Vietnam's rapidly growing economy and suggested potential models for reform. Two decades after…

The law of diminishing returns, a simple but powerful concept that is widely known by everyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics, is often flagrantly disregarded by many -- including the richest among us. The law states that there comes a time when additional infusion of a factor of production no longer leads to an increase in…

The 3-mile neighborhood along the boulevard from San Diego State University to the City Heights is one of San Diego's most diverse, with more than 30 languages spoken among its 72,000 residents. It has also developed a reputation as one of the city's most impoverished and crime-ridden. More than a decade ago, as part of an effort to transform City…

This article reports on Justin F. Murray and Sarah M. Kinsella, the founders of a Harvard University student group called True Love Revolution that promotes the practical benefits of sexual abstinence until marriage and how Murray and Kinsella look forward to living the message after graduation. These "true love" revolutionaries cast chastity as a…