This article, "The Business Model is the Wrong Model" by Peter Katopes in Inside Higher Ed might be of interest to everyone. The article raises some interesting questions about the incoporating of "business practices" into higher education. The link is here: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/02/16/katopes
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There an interesting article on the sense of entitlement of college students today that lead them to think they deserve at least a B, if not an A, for merely putting effort into the class. The article is "Students Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes" by Max Roosevelt in The New York Times. The link is here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?_r=1&ref=ed…
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A Professor Rancourt of the Physics Department at the University of Ottawa has refused to hold class because he did not want to become part of "our societal structures" that oppress and exploit people and the planet resources. Apparently he had something better to do than teach a physics course, i.e., political activism, and defended his decision not to teach class on the grounds of academic freedom. More of Professor Rancourt's trials and tribulations, as well as Stanley Fish's criticism of them, can be found on Stanley Fish's blog on the New York Times website at http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/the-two-languages-of-academic…
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Of what should these national standards consist? Let me propose that music should be one of the core components of these national standards. Now at first music may seem a strange subject to start with – wouldn’t mathematics, science, or rhetoric be a more suitable choice to begin? The utilitarian features of these disciplines are self-evident: everyone needs to read, write, and count to function in society, while science is especially prized because we need scientists to manipulate nature for our greater material comfort and national defense. But what does music provide other than the amusement of smiles and well-wishes? What value does music have in and of itself?
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This is an article, "I'm Leaving," by an anonymous professor who writes that he has become the professor he did not want to become — and needs to leave academia. It appeared on October 31, 2008 on the website, Inside Higher Ed. Its link is here: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/10/31/smith
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I am an Associate Professor of Political Science at Saginaw Valley State University. I teach courses in political philosophy as well as the Introduction to Political Science course. I received my B.A. in Political Science and English Literature with a Minor in Russian Studies at Marquette University and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science at Louisiana State University. My research interests are in Russian politics; politics and religion; politics, literature, and film; and political philosophy with a focus on the works of Eric Voegelin.
