Blog 3 Columns

The Diversity Staff at the University of Michigan Is Nearly 100 Full-Time Employees 0
- Education
- May 30, 2018
Year after year, media note and sometimes bemoan the ballooning cost of higher education. There is no doubt that the human costs of this rise are severe: Some 44 million Americans currently carry nearly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, and the delinquency rate is 11 percent. There are various reasons for surging costs,
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Psychologist: Rejecting Values and Responsibility Was a Big Mistake 1
- Culture
- May 30, 2018
In May 2017 LifeWay Research released an interesting survey. It found that 80 percent of Americans were concerned “about declining moral behavior in our nation.” As the survey went on to report, such concern was not unfounded. While 63 percent of the 65+ crowd agreed that right and wrong was objective, or does not change,
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How Complaining Makes Us More Miserable, Ineffectual, and Insecure 0
- Philosophy
- May 30, 2018
The Harvard Business Review reports “a majority of employees spend 10 or more hours per month complaining — or listening to others complain — about their bosses or upper management. Even more amazing, almost a third spend 20 hours or more per month doing so.” Only voiced complaints were measured and reported in the study.
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California Parents Pull Their Children, Stage Rally Over Controversial Sex-Ed Curriculum 0
- Education
- May 30, 2018
San Diego parents pulled their kids from school and rallied outside the district’s headquarters Tuesday, expressing anger and frustration over a sex-ed curriculum they allege is completely inappropriate for their young children. The sixth grade curriculum includes lessons on gender identity, birth control, the stages of sex, STDs, HIV, and pregnancy. Parents are calling the material “too much,
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As Traditional Religion Declines, Superstition—Not Atheism—Is the Big Winner 0
- Culture
- May 30, 2018
Psychologist Stuart Vyse raised an interesting question recently at the Skeptical Inquirer website, “Why Are Millennials Turning to Astrology?” He also examines the related question of why astrology has a stronger appeal for liberals/progressives than it does for conservatives. He describes interest in astrology as “surging at the moment” — although my own records trace
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Why the U.S. is Consistently the Most Generous Nation in the World 0
- Culture
- May 29, 2018
Years ago, an MBA student of mine had immigrated from Albania after growing up under Communism. She shared with her classmates what she observed to be the most unexpected mindset difference between Americans and Albanians. She got emotional as she explained how in Albania, charity was rare—caring for anyone other than yourself and your family
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Political Ideology Is Not the Culprit in Skepticism of Science, Research Shows 0
- Education
- May 29, 2018
Today, there is a crisis of trust in science. Many people – including politicians and, yes, even presidents – publicly express doubts about the validity of scientific findings. Meanwhile, scientific institutions and journals express their concerns about the public’s increasing distrust in science. How is it possible that science, the products of which permeate our
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Jacques Barzun Observations on Culture and Decline 0
- Culture
- May 29, 2018
Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) was one of the preeminent historians of the 20th century. Valedictorian of the 1920 class at Columbia, where he also received his Ph.D., Barzun wrote extensively on culture and education while serving in professorial and leadership roles at Cambridge and Columbia. His magnum opus, From Dawn to Decadence (2000), which traces the
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How the Church of Climate Change Resembles a (Deadly) Cult 0
- Science
- May 29, 2018
Climate change can kill. Not just furnace-like summer heat with its killer bushfires, not killer floods sweeping away livestock, houses and motorists, not killer cyclones lifting roofs, toppling trees, and smashing power lines. But also felo de se, self-slaughter, shuffling off this mortal coil. Remember 104-year-old David Goodall, the Australian academic who travelled to Switzerland
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The Diversity Staff at the University of Michigan Is Nearly 100 Full-Time Employees 0