Are Student Evaluations a Useful Tool? Last week I read an article about why student evaluations of college instructors are not reliable and should no longer be used in performance evaluation decisions. The author claims, based on research, that student evaluations may be associated with the gender of the instructor.... Read more →

Should Colleges Drop the “D” Grade? Perhaps you’ve heard that a North Carolina Community College -- Stanly Community College – has decided to drop the “D” grade. Students will either be given a “C” grade,” which is most likely to happen, or given a “F” grade for the course. The... Read more →

The Case Against Caplan's Thesis: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money What is the value of a college education? Is it largely a waste of time as George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan contends? Or, is there more to getting a college education than increasing... Read more →

What's Up with UC’s National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement? The University of California’s recent decision to establish The National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement in Washington, D.C. illustrates all that is wrong with academe today. The typical answer of a university to a perceived problem,... Read more →

Bourgeois Norms: The New Mantra of Higher Education Last week I blogged about the increasing popularity of including material related to equity, diversity and inclusion into college curricula. Now, to the list of forbidden ideas on American college campuses, add “bourgeois norms”—It’s become politically incorrect to suggest that the values... Read more →

How Best to Teach Cross-cultural Communication and Multicultural Studies The hot topic on college campuses is whether issues surrounding equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) should be included in the college curriculum and, if so, how should it be incorporated into the curriculum. These issues have grown in importance because of... Read more →

Instilling a Moral Purpose in Education Increasingly, college students encounter ethical dilemmas on the job because of workplace conflicts, social media challenges, and pressures from superiors to deviate from ethical norms. Students need a framework to help them reason through these situations so that they focus on what's most important... Read more →

What is the Role of Higher Education? Today, I begin the third of my blogs, Higher Ed Ethics Watch. Some of you have read my ethics sage blog that addresses a variety of ethical issues facing society. Others are readers of workplace ethics advice that deals with business ethics in... Read more →