Writing and teaching high school are not an unprecedented combination, especially when it comes to creative work. In this article, the author recounts her teaching experience as a high school teacher and how she was able to facilitate a learning experience to her high school class. Before she became a high school teacher, she was a college…

The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan began their biggest rivalries in college football in 1897. The University of Michigan's squad trounced the Ohio State University 34-0 in the first version of what fans in the heartland now refer to as "The Game." Last month Ohio State and Michigan again squared off on the gridiron, in a game…

The skyrocketing pay and benefits of corporate executives have kept reporters and, sometimes, prosecutors busy in recent years. The resulting public outrage over these tales of excess has contributed to a backlash. Now the news media, in searching for excessive pay in places where there seems to be no cap on costs, have increasingly focused their…

A street is named after her. Back-to-back conferences celebrate her. New books champion her. Hannah Arendt has joined the small world of philosophical heroes. During her life, she received honorary degrees from Princeton, Smith, and other colleges and universities. Denmark awarded her its Sonning Prize for "commendable work that benefits European…

Scholarship athletes in the US graduated at historic levels for the second consecutive year in 2005, according to a report released January 2006 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. However, even as African-American football players and Caucasian basketball players made significant gains, the numbers fell in other categories for a…

Neanderthals, those long-lost cousins of modern humans, will not remain lost for long, at least from the prying eyes of geneticists. Two teams of scientists announced that for the first time they had analyzed DNA from the nuclei of cells preserved in 37,000-year-old Neanderthal fossils. That, they say, lays the groundwork for determining the…

As the late Williams Sloane Coffin wryly observed that most churches and colleges were once wed and then most got divorced. Is it possible that a remarriage is in the works between these two estranged partners--and, of all places, at "Godless Harvard"? This article talks about cohabitation between the study and the practice of religion from a…

Certain words or terms are used so promiscuously and show up in so many contexts that they lose their specificity and soon become devoid of utility. The I-words, namely "interdisciplinary" and "interdisciplinarity", are so powerful that it is difficult to oppose anything done in their names, and cynical speculations abound that a person or…

This article talks about serious financial problems faced by the African Virtual University, the continent's largest online institution, forcing it to accelerate a major restructuring. The university was established in 1997 by the World Bank as a link between foreign and African institutions, and has been impeded by insufficient funds. As a…

Facebook is an online directory that connects people though social networks at schools, and while most students on any American campus are regular visitors to the site, many professors and administrators have yet to hear about Facebook, let alone evaluate its impact. This kind of social networking affects all levels of academe, and college faculty…

American universities are turning to captive companies, a highly specialized form of self-insurance, in an effort to cope with ever-increasing premiums. Indiana University formed the Old Crescent Insurance Company in 2005 to provide coverage for the institution's eight campuses, a move that gives it more control over costs while allowing the…

The US Commission on the Future of Higher Education, at a meeting in San Diego in February 2006, appeared to reach a consensus on the need to focus on three or four big ideas and not get mired in minutia. The Commission members discussed the need for increased transparency and accountability in higher education and praised the role played by the…

Director Terence Malick's movies contain his distinctive trademarks, namely sumptuous images of the natural world, a great deal of voice-over monologue, and an exploration of philosophical issues such as the purpose of life and the meaning of death. Malick's film "The New World" affords him a prefect opportunity to examine contrasts between the…

The Romanian philosopher E. M. Cioran was an influential European writer and thinker, celebrated in his mature years for works of sophisticated philosophical nuance. However, in his 20s, Cioran appears to have been a fascist and an anti-Semitic whose rants extended beyond masochistic attacks on his country.

German universities are taking part in a competition that supporters believe will reshape the country's higher-education system by funneling billions of dollars to institutions identified as the best in the nation. The competition, known as the excellence initiative, aims to improve research performance and increase the international…