Blog 3 Columns

Prominent Scientist: “Public Science is Broken”0
- Science
- February 29, 2016
In the wake of the well-publicized Flint, MI, water crisis, a prominent scientist who had worked on such matters before has gone so far as to claim that “public science is broken.” In painful detail, Prof. Marc Edwards of Virginia Teach describes the unconscionable oversights that led to the crisis—namely, state scientists ignoring the warning
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Here’s the Best Predictor of Support for Donald Trump 0
- Politics
- February 29, 2016
What’s the best predictor of those likely to support Donald Trump? According to this Vox piece by political-science researcher Matthew MacWilliams, it’s not “income, education, or age.” In fact, the only “statistically significant” predictors of support for Trump were “[a]uthoritarianism and a hybrid variable that links authoritarianism with a personal fear of terrorism…” That’s an
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Diversity vs. Academic Excellence 0
- Culture
- February 29, 2016
Recently, I took a call from a reporter looking for comments on the possibility of the University of Minnesota either disposing of the ACT as a standard of admission or diminishing its role dramatically. To be honest, I hadn’t been following any of the internal debate on the issue at the University or amongst its
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Can Religion Help Rejuvenate the Black Community?0
- Culture
- February 29, 2016
A while back, Intellectual Takeout wrote a piece on the black on black crime rate in Chicago. Tragically, nearly three-quarters of Chicago murder victims AND the perpetrators are black. Combined with the depressing number of out-of-wedlock births, incarcerations, and other problematic trends, statistics like these can seem insurmountable. But new research highlighted in The Atlantic
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The Average American Today Is Richer than John D. Rockefeller 0
- Culture
- February 26, 2016
This Atlantic story reveals how Americans lived 100 years ago. By the standards of a middle-class American today, that lifestyle was poor, inconvenient, dreary, and dangerous. (Only a few years later — in 1924 — the 16-year-old son of a sitting US president would die of an infected blister that the boy got on his toe while playing
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The 5 Essentials of a Good Teacher 0
- Education
- February 26, 2016
The famous Vergara vs. California case, which held “that several key job protections for teachers are so harmful to students that they deprive children of their constitutional right to an education,” is back in court. Unhappy with the original decision, the teachers unions brought their case to the appellate court yesterday, hoping to gain back
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New Study: Private School Students Ahead of Their Public School Peers by Two Years 0
- Education
- February 26, 2016
Last year a report from the Friedman Foundation found that only 9% of parents send their child to a private school. However, if given the means and opportunity to send their child to the school of their choice, 41% of parents would pick a private school. Those numbers seem especially important with the release of
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Is the Supreme Court Today More Powerful Than the Founders Intended?0
- Culture
- February 26, 2016
With the high-profile coverage of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death earlier this month, a number of Americans have turned their attention toward the appointment of his replacement. A recent Pew Research poll found that 55% of Americans believe the Senate should move forward with the confirmation process when President Obama appoints his nominee. Pew also released
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Colleges Are Planning on Coddling Freshmen (More Than They Already Do)0
- Education
- February 26, 2016
Apparently, colleges are having a hard time keeping students and graduating them. As NPR reports, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, colleges across the country are struggling to get students through to graduation: “In 2015, only a little more than half of students who enrolled in college in 2009 made it to graduation, with the
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Prominent Scientist: “Public Science is Broken”0