Category: Higher Education

Two stories rocked the world of higher education in the past week. The first, and most widely discussed, was a cheating scandal whereby families of means paid test takers and/or coaches to have their children admitted to elite universities through

Be clear about what a college education means and what sort of skills your students should have upon graduation. If you are, University of Chicago (UC) President Robert Zimmer argued recently at the University of Richmond, your stance towards free

I was recently reminded of the powerful nature of incentives. I shouldn’t need reminding — I am an economist, and economists work with incentives. I have also been in various positions of authority for most of my adult life. But

“You made it.” Dr. Julian Hayter, the faculty speaker at Jepson’s 2018 Senior Banquet, launched his remarks with this simple statement. It’s a familiar theme during Commencement season because it reflects an important accomplishment — four years of hard work

Like Stover, I believe the humanities and social sciences are valuable in and of themselves. We are better for knowing ideas. Having seen Coriolanus or read Thucydides makes us more interesting, more complex, and more capable. Being interesting to one’s

In the last installment, I laid out Alfred Marshall’s argument that we are better off because we have come to understand key ideas. Marshall further pointed out that if we destroy the embodiment of the ideas, such as the law

In a March 4 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Justin Stover wrote, “The humanities are not just dying—they are almost dead.” He argued that there is no coherent instrumental argument to “save” the humanities. Instead, the humanities simply