With college tuition and student-loan debt at all-time highs, it’s fashionable to bash “the liberal arts.” The standard complaint, and the point of many jokes, is that majoring in such subjects as literature, philosophy, and history doesn’t develop skills marketable enough to generate a decent “return on investment.” Even President Obama has beaten that drum.
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As an angry young man, back in my native England, I thought that the world could be fixed through the power of politics. As a not very angry and not very young man, now living in the United States, I have long since abandoned the belief that politics can fix the world. With this disillusioned
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In 1920, H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) was becoming one of the more well-known journalists and authors in America. And apparently, like many Americans today, he was disappointed with the choices being offered to the American public in that year’s presidential election. In article published on July 26, 1920, titled “Bayard vs. Lionheart,” Mencken lamented about the
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Should university admissions be purely meritocratic, based on students’ demonstrated academic ability? Or, should students with better academic profiles be passed over for admission in order to fill diversity quotas? These are some of the tough questions that British citizens may be asking themselves after a controversial article in The Telegraph last week. The piece reports that
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In American schools, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is usually read in 8th or 9th grade. As such, because students at that grade level have only had so much life experience, some of its more penetrating social critiques are often missed. The other day I came across one of these critiques. The significance of
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As recent years have seen a rising number of high-stakes tests for children in elementary, middle, and high school, more and more Americans are beginning to question the wisdom of testing. Claims of burnt-out, stressed children permeate the news and have caused many parents to join the growing opt-out movement. Like today’s parents and teachers,
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