The Other 85 Percent

The premise of this blog is that the prevailing view about who attends college, and how they engage, is way off the mark.  The general assumption is that students go directly to college after high school, live on a campus, and study full time. That view drives public policy decisions even though it addresses a [...]

This opinion piece from the New York Times seems to use overstatement in its headline.  But, the piece makes some very interesting points.
Basically, Mark C. Taylor argues that the “dirty little secret” is that graduate students are underpaid for the work they do in helping teach and run laboratories for undergraduate students.  Taylor’s argument [...]

This is a perfectly silly piece. To assert that a study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities demonstrates that assessment of learning outcomes is widespread but students don’t know about it is really more than silly.  What is the purpose of assessment if students don’t know it is happening, what the results are, [...]

Over the last few months, various public colleges and universities have announced that they are restricting enrollment due to financial reasons.  One example is the University of California institutions.  See this LA Times article for a story about how it is more difficult to get into the UC institutions this fall.  And, the more restrictive [...]