Higher Education

Justin McBrayer, wrote this interesting piece for the New York Times.  He argues that there is a misleading distinction embedded in the common core standards when it comes to teaching students the difference between facts and opinions. We’re all probably familiar with the drill. Students are given a list of sentences and asked to distinguish the facts from the … Continue reading "Are Public Schools Teaching Kids to be Moral Nihilists?"

On Thursday-Friday, February 26-27, the Prindle Institute and the DePauw Philosophy department will host Young Philosophers Lecture Series. The series was started by Andrew Cullison, Director of the Prindle Institute, in 2008 at SUNY Fredonia. This is the first year that the series will be held at DePauw. The lecture series brings four recent Ph.D. grads to campus to deliver … Continue reading "Prindle and DePauw Philosophy Department to host Young Philosophers Lecture Series"

Recently, Dartmouth’s president, Philip J. Hanlon, banned hard alcohol across the entire campus and implemented  mandatory four year sexual violence prevention and education programs. By banning all alcohol with a 30 proof or higher for everyone on campus, regardless of age, President Hanlon hopes to rid Dartmouth of its party school reputation and take strides against … Continue reading "Dartmouth Bans Hard Liquor On Campus — What Could This Mean for DePauw?"

After an emotionally-charged and educational first DePauw Dialogue, many students, faculty, and staff are asking: What’s next? in terms of campus-wide education and commitment to inclusion and diversity.  Previous discussions of the Multicultural requirement (“M”) as an addition to DePauw’s graduation requirement list brings about important issues of both ethical and social concern.

The other day, I took a test. It didn’t take long, just a few keystrokes and some flashing images on a computer screen. Fifteen minutes later, my results suggested something that I was dreading: I may be a racist.

With the recent announcement of details regarding DePauw University’s Day of Inclusion activities, some in our community have questioned whether cancellation of school and requirement of attendance is warranted for this large-scale community discussion and day of learning. On DePauw’s intellectually driven campus, it is important to analyze the ethics involved with such a decision, … Continue reading "Ethics of School Cancellation – Day of Inclusion"

Officials at Brown University have ruled that the fraternities Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Chi “created environments that facilitated sexual misconduct” at fraternity parties. Brown University isn’t the first college where stories of sexual assault at fraternity parties have made national news. There was the situation with the Rolling Stone University of Virgina incident which resulted in a … Continue reading "Decreasing Sexual Assault: Should Sororities Host Parties Too?"

Due to recent campus controversies, DePauw University’s administration is in the process of deciding upon an additional distribution requirement to the curriculum. If passed, they will call it the “M” credit for “multicultural”. This new addition would not affect the current students at DePauw, as it would have to be ‘grandfathered’ into the curriculum for … Continue reading "The “M” Requirement: Building Bridges"

I have been a student athlete for as long as I can remember. From personal experience, it is not an easy task. Learning how to balance schoolwork with a regimented athletic schedule places a lot of pressure on a person. Not only must a student athlete excel in the classroom in order to keep grades … Continue reading "Student-Athletes: Expectations and Responsibilities"

Continuing my discussions of the ethics of various educational practices, this post finds its focus in what might be the only part students like about test-taking: study guides.  Study guides are an educator’s way to review material pertinent to the test, direct students in what to study for evaluation, and to provide assurance that studying for … Continue reading "Study Guide Ethics"

Continued education, especially college, has long been seen as a positive and transformative experience, changing those who enroll and readying them for the world after graduation. But what happens when unhealthy competition enters the mix? Columnist and mother Lucy Clark knows all too well. In her piece, strikingly titled, “My daughter, my beautiful failure,”  Clark details … Continue reading "“My Beautiful Failure” and Competition in Higher Education"

Come out to Prindle on Tuesday, November 4 at 7 PM for a screening of the film Kids for Ca$h, a riveting, non-fiction thriller about a judicial scandal that shocked America when it catapulted to the headlines in January of 2009, and lead to the wrongful jailing of over 3,000 kids.  The issue of zero tolerance policies … Continue reading "Kids for Ca$h Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion"

What’s the point of a liberal arts degree? Is asking whether it’s useful even a valid question? Inside Higher Ed spotligthts St. John’s College as a model of a broad education, and how just because it may not provide specific technical knowledge, it can give a depth of meaning and understanding to technical subjects — … Continue reading "Is Your Degree Important?"

That’s right. This post has the word “ain’t” in its title. So what? In a recent interview, Harvard University Professor of Psychology and celebrated writer, Stephen Pinker, explains the “curse of knowledge,” and his perspective that academia has placed too many old-ruled restrictions on how writers should or should not write. Explaining that the word “ain’t,” … Continue reading "Literary Hazing “Ain’t” Ethical"

Does anyone remember Occupy Wall Street? Hello? Anyone? Well just when you thought they had packed up and gone home, the movement is back and is taking on America’s embedded institutions in a totally different way. The Washington Post recently reported on a story regarding one of the most widely discussed problems in American economics today: the exponential … Continue reading "No Jubilation in For-Profit Education"

Thanks to the D3TV crew for having me on their news show last night, and thanks for posting the clip of my interview. Here’s the interview. In it, I discuss some goals for the Prindle Institute. I talk about two of our new programs, the Prindle Prize program and the Prindle Post. I also discuss … Continue reading "Director Interview with D3TV"

Much has been said of the markedly high rates of sexual assaults on college campuses. While the conversations all point to different solutions to the problem, many revolve around the same source: the disproportionate amount of sexual assaults committed within fraternities.

A few weeks ago Spring-Serenity Duvall, an assistant professor of communications at Salem College, banned student emails. It began with a syllabus policy identifying when students could email her for things, the idea being that students simply shouldn’t email for things that they could easily find out for themselves. But the list became complicated, and … Continue reading "Should Professors Ban Student Emails?"

Don’t be fooled by the (sometimes) off-color nature of this examination of the student loan problem. Through the humor, Oliver identifies some serious moral worries about the nature of what we might call the student loan problem. Highlights include: Total student loan debt is more than auto-loan debt and more than credit-card debt. Student loan … Continue reading "Humorous (but Serious) Critique of Student Loan Problem"

By taking on a voice of its own, performance art often eclipses the common perception of art as simply inert. Emma Sulkowicz, a senior Visual Arts major at Colombia University, is doing just this by protesting her rapist’s presence on campus for her senior thesis. In the above video, Sulkowicz shares that she was raped on … Continue reading "Emma Sulkowicz Protests Sexual Assault with Performance Art"