If one was to believe the reporting on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrations, especially the reporting in Hong Kong, one could be mistaken for believing that it was all but over. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. There is no doubt that the numbers in Hong Kong Central have diminished, especially during the day, […] … learn more→

I’m finishing up a quick look at a book, Community Colleges and the Access Affect, which details how most all community colleges operation in open violation of Federal law, since they sell coursework below the 9th grade level. The book tries really, really, hard not to pin the blame on the lawlessness and corruption of […] … learn more→

When students pay companies to write essays for them, the work they receive in return is often of poor quality. That’s the main finding of new research released by schools exam regulator Ofqual into companies that write essays for students. The research, conducted on behalf of Ofqual by London Economics, saw the company purchase bespoke […] … learn more→

Facebook is no stranger to controversy, but last month the company found itself in a public scrap with its fiercest opponents yet. The cause? Facebook’s decision to delete the accounts of several San Francisco drag queens, enforcing a longstanding policy that users go by their real names on the site. Here in San Francisco, the […] … learn more→

Moody’s issued a report last week pointing to a basic discrepancy in how we view college admissions that underscores the collapse of the college tuition-dependent finance model. In its report, Moody’s noted that applications to private colleges rose 70 percent from 2004 to last year but the annual total of new high school graduates rose […] … learn more→

My colleague, Lolita Paff, has been exploring student attitudes and beliefs about participation. Most of her beginning economics and accounting students describe themselves as “limited” or “non-participants.” They say they don’t participate because they don’t want to look foolish in front of their peers or they learn better by listening. At this point, she has […] … learn more→

Earl Cheit got it right. His 1971 book, The New Depression in Higher Education, relied on good data to deliver the bad news that many American colleges were in financial trouble. The message was disconcerting, because most colleges had had a decade of full enrollments and major construction, combined with generous support from donors and […] … learn more→

Last time around, I discussed that the Federal student loan scam program only allows for funds to be spent on college coursework, or, at absolute worst, on remedial coursework no lower than the 9th grade. All community colleges regularly sell coursework below that level, in straight up violation of the law … as anyone, anyone, […] … learn more→

Have you had your “mid-PhD crisis” yet? Maybe you’ve had a few of them?! I think I just had mine. I spent the whole of 2013 running three experimental studies (I’m doing a PhD in organisational behaviour) only to find – along with some odd results – that the issue I thought I’d been researching […] … learn more→

Too bad we can’t put to work the delicious usage data gathered by libraries. Research libraries may not know as much as click-obsessed Amazon does about how people interact with their books. What they do know, however, reflects the behavior of a community of scholars, and it’s unpolluted by commercial imperatives. But privacy concerns have […] … learn more→