"We must hate our children"

Joan Walsh's "We must hate our children" in Salon.com today offers a scathing criticism of the way Americans have normalized student loan debt -- a particularly trenchant commentary on this day when the federal student loan interest rate officially doubles.  One striking excerpt:

I used to find it endearing when President Obama talked about how he and Michelle finally paid off their student loans after he was elected to the Senate. But in a way, the president’s folksy anecdote helped normalize what should be outrageous: that we expect young people to go deep in debt, well into middle age, to get a good education. Of course, the Obamas’ story should come with an asterisk, since much of their debt was built up paying for Harvard Law School, and clearly, that paid off for them. The assumption that students should borrow money to pay for an undergraduate degree, and that the only debate is over how high their interest rate should be, is seriously crazy.

Read the rest online here.

The Humanities on Decline

Last week's article Humanities Fall from Favor: Far Fewer Harvard Students Express Interest in Field with Weak Job Prospects in The Wall Street Journal has triggered some clucking around the web, but also some rather defensive reactions, such as the questioning of David Silbey in "A Crisis in the Humanities?"  However, it has long been known that Harvard grads are flocking to Finance.  And, as Karen Ho's Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street revealed, even if they major in the Humanities, Harvard grads are likely to at least entertain working for the banks (which increasingly rule the world).

Laptop U

Nathan Heller's "Laptop U: Has the future of college moved online?" (New Yorker, May 20, 2013) does an excellent job of covering the continuing debate over the promise and peril of MOOCs as a way of "saving" higher education -- or at least creating savings for students, or maybe profits for somebody somewhere at some time in the future.  I especially appreciate the coverage it gives to the problems that online teaching presents for the humanities, which are never as easy to translate to the online environment as science or math courses.  Because of all the complex issues it takes on, I think this article is more useful than Amanda Ripley's "College Is Dead.  Long Live College" from TIME Magazine (October 18, 2012) which featured in my class this past term and I will likely use it when I teach the course again in the Fall.

Rice Controversy Opens Window on RU Finance

Kate Zernike's "Pressure Builds on Rutgers President" (NY Times, April 4, 2013) does an excellent job of framing the national controversy surrounding Mike Rice's bullying of his basketball players against the back-drop of ongoing changes at Rutgers.  There is no question that the failure to respond more aggressively to Rice's behavior has damaged the Rutgers brand, and I can only hope that it has not ultimately disabled President Barchi during this critical time for the University.  

Undergraduate Research Writing Conference, April 10th

I just came back from a little tour of the Livingston Student Center where the Writing Program is running an Undergraduate Research Writing Conference on Wednesday, April 10th, 2013, from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.  It's going to be an awesome event. Over 50 students will present their research projects completed in writing courses (most from Research in the Disciplines), so it will be a great opportunity to pick up some presentation tips and ideas.  Registration is free in the main lobby of the student center, not far from the Dunkin' Donuts, and you will get a program directing you to the sessions at 9:00 am, 10:30, and 1:40 pm.  The awards ceremony will be at 3:20, where free snacks and refreshments will be served and raffle prizes awarded to students who attend any of the sessions. 

Bonus: if students from my class attend the conference (getting a stamped record of attendance, with your name on the sign-in sheet) AND write at least a brief blog post about the event on their class blog, they will receive 2 points of extra credit toward the final grade.  

Higher Education Off the Rails: How Students Can Turn the Crisis Around

Historian Claire B. Potter will be presenting a talk titled "Higher Education Off the Rails: How Students Can Turn the Crisis Around" on Thursday, April 4th, starting at 7:30 p.m. in "The Gathering Lounge" at the Livingston Student Center on Livingston Campus.  The title announces quite clearly that this talk will speak directly to issues raised in our class, and I think anyone who is looking for some inspiration on how to address the issues we have raised could find it here.  Potter is the author of The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Tenured Radical" blog, which often assumes a critical stance toward the way things are going in higher education.  Highly recommended.  If you attend, you can get a point extra credit if you write about what she says in your blog.

Son of Citation Machine

Those looking for free help in putting their citations into proper MLA format should check out "Son of Citation Machine," which is a free (ad supported) internet app that guides you through the process and generates MLA format by just having you fill in a few blanks.  It even tells you how to cite the work properly for in-text citation.  So no excuses!