John William Pope Center Guest Editorial
The university system in the United States has accomplished a great deal of good, but we believe that higher education in the United States, including North Carolina, has strayed from its chief goals of scholarly inquiry and responsible teaching.
All too often, universities allow teaching to become shallow and trendy, failing to challenge students intellectually and disparaging traditional principles of justice, ethics, and liberal education. Students know little about the history of their country or the institutions that led to this nation’s prosperity and liberty. Students can get by without taking rigorous courses, and non-academic activities overshadow scholarship. As a result, many college graduates have poor skills in computation, communication, and logical analysis. Faculty are allowed excessive latitude in what they teach and often get away with little teaching at all, because research is emphasized. Taxpayers as well as students and their families pay hefty prices to support a system that often appears to provide little educational value.
To address these and other problems, the Pope Center conducts studies in areas such as governance, curriculum, financing, access, accountability, faculty research, and administrative policies. We explore ways to increase the accountability of trustees, administrators, faculty, and students. And we engage in the broader dialogue about how to improve higher education around the nation.
In these endeavors, we are motivated by the principles that have traditionally guided public policy in the United States: limits on government; freedom to pursue goals through voluntary means, both for-profit and nonprofit; accountability through private property rights; and the belief that competition is an excellent regulating force.
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At last week's First Amendment Day celebration at UNC-Chapel Hill, Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), presented some alarming findings
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At last week's First Amendment Day celebration at UNC-Chapel Hill, Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), presented some alarming findings
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A persistent question about American higher education is what explains the apparent increase in demand for workers who have college credentials. It could be due to rising skill requirements for jobs, implying that the economy needs a larger number of people who have been through college...
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A persistent question about American higher education is what explains the apparent increase in demand for workers who have college credentials. It could be due to rising skill requirements for jobs, implying that the economy needs a larger number of people who have been through college...
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In the 1980s, facing complaints from business leaders that college graduates couldn’t think, K-16 education responded with the “critical thinking movement.” After 35 years, how successful has that movement been?
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In the 1980s, facing complaints from business leaders that college graduates couldn’t think, K-16 education responded with the “critical thinking movement.” After 35 years, how successful has that movement been?
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Federal student aid programs abound in examples that demonstrate a point economists often make: government policies almost always have undesirable consequences that weren't anticipated, or if they were didn't matter much to the politicians.
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Federal student aid programs abound in examples that demonstrate a point economists often make: government policies almost always have undesirable consequences that weren't anticipated, or if they were didn't matter much to the politicians.
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The 1971 law reorganizing the University of North Carolina declared that the UNC system should "encourage an economical use of the state's resources" to further the state's constitutional mission of providing public higher education.
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The 1971 law reorganizing the University of North Carolina declared that the UNC system should "encourage an economical use of the state's resources" to further the state's constitutional mission of providing public higher education.
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When the Common Core state standards for K-12 were rolled out in 2009, few foresaw the impact on higher education. Alarms about the takeover of the entire educational system with the new national standards and tests in math and English language arts were often dismissed.
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When the Common Core state standards for K-12 were rolled out in 2009, few foresaw the impact on higher education. Alarms about the takeover of the entire educational system with the new national standards and tests in math and English language arts were often dismissed.
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The school motto of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is fiat lux, Latin for "let there be light." That is a fine motto for a university, which, after all, is supposed to be dedicated to the pursuit of truth. You can't very well do that in darkness.
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The school motto of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is fiat lux, Latin for "let there be light." That is a fine motto for a university, which, after all, is supposed to be dedicated to the pursuit of truth. You can't very well do that in darkness.
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Have a look at this “Financial Aid Offer” from a public university in the West
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Have a look at this “Financial Aid Offer” from a public university in the West
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Are college students more likely to listen to a lecture about education policy if an adult film actress is behind the podium? They certainly filled the room for Belle Knox, whose real name is Miriam Weeks, a 19-year-old Duke student. She came to UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday to talk about the high cost
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Are college students more likely to listen to a lecture about education policy if an adult film actress is behind the podium? They certainly filled the room for Belle Knox, whose real name is Miriam Weeks, a 19-year-old Duke student. She came to UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday to talk about the high cost
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Filmmaker Andrew Rossi is fascinated by creative destruction—a concept that sheds light on how new and innovative technology can disrupt and even topple an entire industry (e.g., Ford's Model T vs. horse-and-buggy manufacturers).
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Filmmaker Andrew Rossi is fascinated by creative destruction—a concept that sheds light on how new and innovative technology can disrupt and even topple an entire industry (e.g., Ford's Model T vs. horse-and-buggy manufacturers).
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As the academic year begins, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, now with a new chairman, John Fennebresque, must make some choices.
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As the academic year begins, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, now with a new chairman, John Fennebresque, must make some choices.
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I have been part of seemingly countless curriculum committees over the past six years, and I have read hundreds of course syllabi. It seems there are two competing trends in academia when it comes to syllabi.
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I have been part of seemingly countless curriculum committees over the past six years, and I have read hundreds of course syllabi. It seems there are two competing trends in academia when it comes to syllabi.
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When legislators and officials of the University of North Carolina and legislators consider costs, they prefer to focus on minor operational functions - such as heating bills. But that is mere nibbling around the edges.
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When legislators and officials of the University of North Carolina and legislators consider costs, they prefer to focus on minor operational functions - such as heating bills. But that is mere nibbling around the edges.
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It is easy to portray Steven Salaita, whose job offer was rescinded by the University of Illinois, as the victim of a witch hunt resulting from his outspoken, ill-tempered anti-Zionist rants.
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It is easy to portray Steven Salaita, whose job offer was rescinded by the University of Illinois, as the victim of a witch hunt resulting from his outspoken, ill-tempered anti-Zionist rants.
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I have had the advantage of having degrees in both biology and English. I know how each is taught, and the requirements of each.
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I have had the advantage of having degrees in both biology and English. I know how each is taught, and the requirements of each.
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One of the hottest academic controversies of the year involves the decision by the University of Illinois to "unhire" Professor Steven Salaita.
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One of the hottest academic controversies of the year involves the decision by the University of Illinois to "unhire" Professor Steven Salaita.
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Left-liberals may dominate universities in the United States, but another kind of liberal—the classical liberal—is finding its way into the fray.
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Left-liberals may dominate universities in the United States, but another kind of liberal—the classical liberal—is finding its way into the fray.
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In Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's marvelous book Thinking, Fast and Slow, he distinguishes between what he calls our brain's "System 1" and "System 2."
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In Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's marvelous book Thinking, Fast and Slow, he distinguishes between what he calls our brain's "System 1" and "System 2."
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Universities might not be as safe as they seem. John William Pope Center researches the on-going issue.
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Universities might not be as safe as they seem. John William Pope Center researches the on-going issue.
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Social media is ubiquitous in the lives of the millennial generation, and its use is still evolving.
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Social media is ubiquitous in the lives of the millennial generation, and its use is still evolving.
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Professor George Ehrhardt has written a thoughtful riposte to my recently published argument that group work is a waste of time.
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Professor George Ehrhardt has written a thoughtful riposte to my recently published argument that group work is a waste of time.
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Is group work a useful teaching tool? A recent commentary by Bruce Gans insists otherwise, claiming that group work “accomplishes little beyond giving faculty time off from the hard work of instructing.”
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Is group work a useful teaching tool? A recent commentary by Bruce Gans insists otherwise, claiming that group work “accomplishes little beyond giving faculty time off from the hard work of instructing.”
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For decades, admissions policy at nearly all our top colleges and universities has been to meet enrollment targets for students who fit into a few racial and ethnic groups.
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For decades, admissions policy at nearly all our top colleges and universities has been to meet enrollment targets for students who fit into a few racial and ethnic groups.
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Ever since the obstreperous Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011, Americans have been getting an earful about the alleged crisis of student loan debt.
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Ever since the obstreperous Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011, Americans have been getting an earful about the alleged crisis of student loan debt.
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North Carolina’s state budget tug-of-war concluded August 1 when the General Assembly passed a $21 billion appropriations bill for fiscal year 2014-15.
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North Carolina’s state budget tug-of-war concluded August 1 when the General Assembly passed a $21 billion appropriations bill for fiscal year 2014-15.
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Too often, American college students face a one-question test, one based not on facts, but on ideology. The test: "Are you a liberal, or conservative?"
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Too often, American college students face a one-question test, one based not on facts, but on ideology. The test: "Are you a liberal, or conservative?"
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Funds from the federal government for college flow liberally, but there are limits.
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Funds from the federal government for college flow liberally, but there are limits.
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For all its power and political connections, America’s higher education establishment can be very thin-skinned.
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For all its power and political connections, America’s higher education establishment can be very thin-skinned.
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Tenure—a contractual arrangement that grants job security to veteran faculty members—has been a feature of American higher education since the late 19th century.
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Tenure—a contractual arrangement that grants job security to veteran faculty members—has been a feature of American higher education since the late 19th century.
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Librarians don’t actually push book-laden carts or memorize the Dewey Decimal System.
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Librarians don’t actually push book-laden carts or memorize the Dewey Decimal System.
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n a recent article for the Pope Center, I looked at the latest academic-athletic scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill in light of athletes’ academic preparation.
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n a recent article for the Pope Center, I looked at the latest academic-athletic scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill in light of athletes’ academic preparation.
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Can a university be so influential and respected in a community that its public image can withstand any kind of onslaught?
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Can a university be so influential and respected in a community that its public image can withstand any kind of onslaught?
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There is a forgotten group of college students. These are the students who start out at a community college, leave it to earn a bachelor's degree, but drop out along the way.
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There is a forgotten group of college students. These are the students who start out at a community college, leave it to earn a bachelor's degree, but drop out along the way.
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Research Phi Beta Cons News Releases Books We Are Reading Issues Links Current Prospective Links North Carolina College Finder North Carolina Alumni Guide Sites of Interest John Locke Foundation Carolina Journal Past Articles 7.16.14 Madness in Madison 7.14.14 Moving into the Limelight 7.11.14 Gr
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Research Phi Beta Cons News Releases Books We Are Reading Issues Links Current Prospective Links North Carolina College Finder North Carolina Alumni Guide Sites of Interest John Locke Foundation Carolina Journal Past Articles 7.16.14 Madness in Madison 7.14.14 Moving into the Limelight 7.11.14 Gr
