By Mark Bauerlein

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The Pluses and Minuses of Academic Research

By Mark Bauerlein

Stephen J. Mexal’s defense of academic research against people who argue that academics publish too much is spirited and entertaining, even the sarcastic parts.  He aims to refute people like me who claim that over-productivity is damaging the fields, particularly the humanities.

The argument comes down to an assertion of the benefits of quantity.  Even if most of the research that appears is transient or trivial or incompetent, he maintains, that is no reason to alter the system as a whole.  As Mexal asserts, “quantity doesn’t need to be the enemy of quality.”  Citing a 19^th-century librarian, he asserts that more material increases the chances that helpful, worthwhile cases will emerge.  Citing Vannevar Bush’s 1945 report on scientific research, Mexal asserts that “we cannot know in advance what lines of research will be of enduring value.”  We can only make that discrimination after the fact, and more quantity helps us do so.  Finally, he cites an early-20^th-century Italian sociologist who derived a principle that states, “Roughly 80 percent of the effects of any given event come from 20 percent of its causes”—once again, a claim that hails the value of quantity while accepting a large rate of ephemera.

These are interesting ideas and sources, but, in truth, they don’t really apply to the problems I and others have raised here and here and here.  The problems with the current system are not one of principle, but of practice and consequence.  Yes, we may agree in the abstract with an 80/20 rule, but when we get down to the specific circumstances of academic policy and procedure, abstractions don’t provide much guidance.

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By Patrick Deneen

This week I have been lecturing at the Ignatianum Academy in Krakow, Poland. It has been a marvelous experience thus far, including time spent in the classroom with bright students, as well as evenings spent dining with wonderful new and old friends in this beautiful city.

Last night I was invited to deliver a public lecture on the subject of “The Future of Democracy in America.” While I don’t break any new ground here (well, I never really break new ground – I just go over ground that seems less trodden these days), the talk was well-received, and I post it here for those who may be interested.

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Gina Barreca lists its considerable, and vital, benefits.......

Here’s what tenure “gets” those of us who regard education as a Good Thing:

1. Tenure protects teachers, scholars, and writers who might otherwise be judged exclusively by rich and powerful  gimmick-driven parents, career-administrators, members of the board, and smugly self-righteous alumni who otherwise insist that their whims and manias (or, in some cases, extremist tastes) be regarded as worthy of sustained attention;...

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What Does Tenure Get You?

May 24, 2011, 10:48 pm

By Naomi Schaefer Riley

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By Richard Vedder

New Pew Research Center data show that a large majority of Americans think U.S. colleges and universities offer only fair or poor value for the financial cost –but college presidents strikingly disagree, with a majority of them thinking college offers at least a good value (though college presidents are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the quality of American higher education compared to the world ten years from now). Similarly, a majority of Americans question whether college is truly affordable any more, a view that most college presidents do not share. More generally, people in the academy have views widely divergent from the mainstream of the American population.

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by Peter Augustine Lawler
A fine feature of REAL EDUCATION by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus is its sensitive and altogether unideological treatment of professors who become legends.

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By Peter Sacks                    

A growing chorus of critics says a college education is finished as the ticket to economic success and a middle-class life.

The economy of the future, these critics suggest, actually requires far fewer college-educated citizens, because the U.S. economy is generating tens of thousands of jobs that require little or no higher education. 

In essence, the critics of American higher education policy are challenging the long-standing belief that all U.S. citizens should have a decent chance to pursue a college degree, regardless of what kind of neighborhood they grow up in, what kind of schools are available to them, or whether their parents have university degrees.

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A beatification brings to mind timeless words from Henry James about timeless truths, in contrast to fleeting, garish distractions.

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The Florida State University economics department confers influence on the right-wing foundation that finances some of its professorial positions.

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