The West and the Rest?

Niall Ferguson is something of a “bad boy” economic historian from England known for his controversial stances. He’s also become something of a PBS celebrity. Here’s the summary version of his new book and his new PBS series.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/30/niall-ferguson-how-american-civilization-can-avoid-collapse.html

Sexual Relationships in the 21st Century

Combine these two Atlantic articles, and you have a whole new cultural world that our kids are coming out of. What’s also interesting to me as an historian, however, is that we seem to have a “whole new world” every century or so. Such a dramatic shift in cultural norms isn’t unprecedented, in other words, but it sure is making our lives more complicated.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/11/all-the-single-ladies/8654/

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/

The University of Wherever

Another "change in higher education" article, this one focused on the discussions at Stanford.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/opinion/the-university-of-wherever.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion

California AND Bust

Michael Lewis is a fun writer, one of my favorites, so even though this isn't an education story, I'm posting the link. I particularly enjoyed page 6 of this article, the story of the fat pheasant.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/11/michael-lewis-201111

"Badges" instead of bachelors

While I’m in the midst of visiting with academic groups about possible changes in higher education, I’ll keep sending around the occasional article that seems to touch on these subjects. The other day it was an article about Straighterline. Today’s interesting thought piece comes from the government’s recent endorsement of an alternative credentialing system called “badges.” The question is, what might happen to higher education if businesses look less and less to a bachelor’s degree as the “signal” of quality, and universities like ours thereby lose our corner on the “credentialing” market?

http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2011/09/22/think-different-not-in-higher-ed/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

The secret to success is failure?

An interesting (but long) article on pedagogical theory, character education, and the secrets to success. As Christians, we won't be at all surprised that "character education" is central to these discussions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html?_r=3&ref=education

Another "wave of the future" essay

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/online-education-is-everywhere-whats-the-next-big-thing/32898?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

This "Western Governor's" model is so much in the air right now, but I don't yet see it affecting numbers at most of our educational instutions, at least not with the people I engage with. 20 years from now, however? Who knows.

Here's another summary version of some of these "wave of the future" essays.

http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/tenuredradical/2011/11/on-the-nature-of-change-in-higher-ed-part-ii-education-and-the-new-economy/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en