Blog 3 Columns

Does Work Make Mothers Happy?0
- Culture
- January 19, 2018
Last October, New York psychoanalyst and author Erica Komisar arrived for an interview on the ABC network’s Good Morning America talk show to discuss her new book, Being There: Why Prioritising Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters. Just before the camera went live the interviewer told her: “I don’t believe in the premise of
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How Today’s Students Can Become Great Writers by Using Thomas Jefferson’s Methods 3
- Education
- January 18, 2018
During my high school years, a number of my friends were homeschooled kids who belonged to a particular accrediting organization. This organization required each student to write an annual research paper, the length of which corresponded to their grade (i.e. a 10th grade student was required to turn in 10 pages). Over the years, I
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How the Great Books Are Revolutionizing College Admissions Tests 0
- Culture
- January 18, 2018
You may remember taking the SAT or the ACT. Hours and hours of memorizing techniques and tricks, all to get that perfect score to unlock your college dreams. These tests have monopolized the college entrance process, and in recent years—in the case of the SAT in particular—have been tied to the controversial Common Core standards.
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Fear and Mass Surveillance: Our Constitutionally Toxic Political Cocktail 0
- January 18, 2018
At 12:51pm on January 18, 2018–just a day before it was set to expire–the Senate followed the House’s lead and reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (FAA) Section 702 mass surveillance program for another six years by a vote of 65-34. Writing for JustSecurity.org in October 2017, I made this prediction about the then-looming
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Did the Catholic Church Invent Propaganda?0
- History
- January 18, 2018
“The Church created propaganda.” This is the charge leveled by French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul in his 1964 book The Technological Society, which now has the infamous distinction of being Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s favorite book. Is the charge true? Yes and no. As you might expect, propaganda has been used in one form or another
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Patrick Deneen: Why Liberalism Has Failed 0
- Culture
- January 17, 2018
Patrick Deneen’s thoughtful book poses a challenge to libertarians. Deneen, a political theorist who teaches at Notre Dame, has with great force identified a fundamental tendency of our times. Destruction of traditional attachments to family, local institutions, culture, and virtuous behavior isolates individuals and makes them dependent on an all-powerful government. In arguing in this
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Master’s Degrees in Janitorial Science?0
- Economics
- January 17, 2018
There has been mounting evidence that the financial payoff from the traditional bachelor’s degree is declining, particularly for men. For example, Census Bureau data suggest that, from 2005 to 2016, the average earnings differential for male workers holding bachelor’s degrees compared with those holding high school diplomas fell from $39,440 to $37,653 (in 2016 dollars)—at
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California Has the Highest Poverty Rate in America. Why?0
- Economics
- January 17, 2018
Can you guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the U.S.? Many people would say Mississippi. That’s how I would have responded if you had asked me this morning, and I would have been right in a sense. There are two different ways to measure poverty, you see. One accounts for cost-of-living in
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7 Timeless Life Lessons from Marcus Aurelius 0
- Education
- January 17, 2018
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.), the last of Rome’s Five Great Emperors, was a study of contrasts. In many ways he was the paradigm of Plato’s philosopher king, yet his reign—which began in 161 A.D. following the death of his adopted father, Antonius Pius—was marred by war and revolt. He was heavily influenced by the thinking
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Does Work Make Mothers Happy?0