Critical thinking is one of the supposed pillars of higher education, lauded in commencement addresses and celebrated on institutional websites. The great crises of our day – climate change, political corruption, economic injustice and corporate surveillance – demand problem-solvers who can apply their critical minds to complex situations, we are told. Critical thinking skills are […] … learn more→

I realised the other day, in the midst of a brutal surge of anxiety about my PhD, that I never fully commit… to… A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G…. UNLESS I am assured it will be successful. Mistakes? Phooey. Perfection. YES! Pleasing and impressing. YES! Life’s Journey in a straight line. YES! I am a recovering perfectionist, as so beautifully […] … learn more→

The College Meltdown recently had a post which basically said what I showed years ago in my book: accreditation is a fraud. Before going on, a quick overview of accreditation: well over a century ago, our institutions of higher education got together and decided to share ideas on how to run their institutions. It was a completely […] … learn more→

I feel like plucking some low-hanging fruit today, and so let’s take a look at Common Core. I’ve written of it before, how it ignores science, how it’s just another excuse to inject more indoctrination into our schools, and how by changing the approach to how mathematics is learned, will further separate the children from […] … learn more→

Some student organizations have endorsed the social media campaign #textbookbroke to draw attention to the burdens placed on students by the high cost of learning materials. A solution to this problem exists: open educational resources. These are textbooks and other teaching materials produced by academics or instructors and distributed free of charge. Such resources could be a greater part […] … learn more→

Around the world there has been a massive increase in demand for doctoral education. This mostly stems from the idea that the “knowledge economy” requires high-level skills. The claim that there’s a correlation between a country’s economic stability and the proportion of its population who have doctorates has led to national targets being set for doctoral graduation. In […] … learn more→

For many undergraduates, working for pay during the academic year is a necessary part of the college experience. If they don’t work while enrolled, they may not have the money needed to pay tuition and other fees, keep a roof over their head or buy things like books and food. But, working – especially working […] … learn more→

There was a time when getting into college wasn’t a slam dunk. Even your local state university still had standards, still requested a prospective student to show that he really was interested in learning. Of course, in those days having a university degree meant something, but with the loss of standards has come the loss […] … learn more→

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that in 36 countries, only 39 per cent of bachelor’s degree students graduate within the expected duration of their program. Another 28 per cent do so in the following three years. According to the World Bank, students abandoning advanced or “tertiary” studies — everything from university to […] … learn more→

Before I came into higher education I had a brief stint as a civil service strategic planner. I got pretty interested in the process of scenario planning – that’s where you develop a narrative about something that could happen in the future. Or better still multiple narratives. The point of scenario planning is to identify ways […] … learn more→