Maggie's Farm

From the article:

 For a small school located in the nearest thing to the middle of nowhere, Hillsdale has an outsized impact. Its graduates can be found working all over Capitol Hill and in the White House. Its monthly newsletter, Imprimis, has a circulation of 3.7 million, and its free online courses in history, politics, and philosophy have been viewed millions of times. It could reasonably be said that, under Arnn’s leadership, Hillsdale has become a full-blown multimedia company, which just happens to include a college among its many endeavors.

Get Ready for the Coming War Against Merit

It's a crazy subject. Higher ed tests were introduced to foster a meritocracy in admissions. As it happens (with the SAT, for example) the test is essentially an IQ test. 

IQ is one measure of a person's intellectual potential, but is it "merit"?  Would a college want a very high IQ lazy guy or gal with lousy grades? Yes, they might - and might guess right. And what about people showing great promise in one area, but no interest or energy in others? Elite schools used to want the "well-rounded" kid (academically solid if not brilliant, athletic, good social skills, etc).

Anyway, nowadays there are so many colleges desperate for paying butts on seats that there is opportunity for everybody to show what they bring to the table.

I am continually seeing words which are difficult to define. Merit is one, happiness is another. There are more on my list... 

Mitch Daniels at Purdue

Today’s Social Science Courses—More Feelings, Less Facts

Sowell: The Moral Bankruptcy Of Charter School Opponents

Yes, well, everybody knows it's just the cost of teachers' unions money. Nothing to do with education. 

A guy who tried the academic track in life came out deeply disillusioned.

What percent of students are true scholars, driven to education by pure curiosity?

 Proof that Some College Students Still Want to be Challenged

Heather MacDonald discusses the topic of her new book

Heather MacDonald: The Hysterical Campus

This is the second time in one week (see Roundup in Breast Milk?) where I have read of scientific journals stifling studies due to fears of mob action: Academic Activists Send a Published Paper Down the Memory Hole

I blame the cowards more than the "activists." 

Sample questions from the "Principles and Practices of Engineering Exam" provided by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.

That is via  Engineers refute allegations of gender bias in licensing exam

Diversity And Other Administrative Monstrosities: The Case Of The University Of Michigan

It begins:

 Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan at Flint and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, recently calculated that his university has nearly 100 diversity administrators, more than 25 of them earning over $100,000 a year. Collectively, they cost the University of Michigan, with fringe benefits, about $11 million annually. Adding in other costs such as travel and office space expenses, the total cost rises to perhaps $14 million, or $300 for every enrolled student at the U of M in the fall semester 2017...

Up to 20% of students in elite colleges claim disability: College Students’ Disability Claims Show Unintended Consequences of ADA.

Never underestimate some peoples' determination to game any system where they might find some advantage. 

BILL GATES’ $215 MILLION EDUCATION INVESTMENT WAS A MASSIVE FLOP

We could have told him that.  Just like Zuckerberg's 100 million in Newark schools. No measurable effect.

Colleges Can Hire Adjunct Faculty Cheap — but Does that Harm Education?

Unless you have another job, it's difficult to survive on adjunct gigs. 

The sad story of progressive education in Australia

At This New College, Yes to Latin and Hiking but No to Cellphones and Federal Aid. Like Hillsdale, in some ways: Wyoming Catholic College.

Article by George Leef.

Peterson is right. The Liberal Arts have been degraded by neo-Marxist jibber-jabber, and few students find inspiration in that. It's deadening.

Curating is the new pretentious term for picking and choosing things you like or want. I was recently at a restaurant which offered a "Curated selection of organic teas." 

Well, highly-selective colleges now "curate" their admissions. Of course, they always have done so. 80 years ago they wanted to be preppy, WASPy clubs.  Not now.

The top-rated comment on a column titled "Harvard can’t have it all" (about the lawsuit charging discrimination against Asian-American applicants).

I very much doubt that Harvard, for example, is biased against Asians. Selective schools are not purely meritocratic, if grades and SATs are the only measures of merit. They are not, of course. They do want a mix of interesting and talented people who they think can contribute to, and thrive in, their environment, and who will be future successful ornaments to their alma mater They make a bet that you will be special. Plus necessary legacies and donors. And quarterbacks. And bassoonists.

In my view, as long as past performance and IQ (eg SAT) meet some standard, let them "curate" their Freshman classes at will.  Elite schools could fill their classes many times over with kids with perfect grades and perfect SATs, but that would make no sense at all.

Story here. We now understand that the SAT turned out to be basically a proxy for IQ.  It makes sense to me for schools to be interested in IQ.  Of course, there is far more to what a person might have to offer than IQ, but I think they ought to know that when making distinctions between applicants. Especially at a school like Chicago, which, unlike most of higher ed, requires that a graduate actually ends up knowing a lot of basic things which are not easy to learn.

I am just talking about Liberal Arts higher ed, of course.