college

What Is College For?

by Steven Mintz

Two new books argue for a robust and engaged humanistic study as indispensable to higher education. 

The Only Way to Save Higher Education Is to Make It Free

by Claire Bond Potter

College was already a financial house of cards. Then coronavirus hit.

The Next Great Generation

by Julian Zelizer

The class of 2020 will be remembered for all that it sacrificed.  

Why Colleges Need a Required Class in African American History

by David Barber

The real test for our campus is not how loudly we denounce white supremacy, how “disgusting” we find it, but how steadfastly we commit ourselves to really educating our students in the history of this country, a country born in white supremacy.

How college dorms evolved to fit America’s gender and racial politics

Ever since the 17th century, educators and architects designed university housing with societal mores in mind.

A Look into the First Day of this Professor's History Class

by L.D. Burnett

After going over the syllabus, professor L.D. Burnett wants her students to access the core of historical study.

How the advanced placement program is failing students

by Annie Abrams

A new cookie-cutter website designed by the College Board represents a perversion of the program’s original mission of fostering creative and critical thinking.

Free Speech on Campus Is Doing Just Fine, Thank You

by Lee C. Bollinger

Norms about the First Amendment are evolving—but not in the way President Trump thinks.

Whatever Happened to an Affordable College Education?

by Lawrence Wittner

Over the past 40 years, the average cost of attending a four-year college increased by over 150 percent for both public and private institutions.  

Billionaires can't fix college: Jim Sleeper on the real crisis in higher education

by Jim Sleeper

In this conversation between historian Matthew Frye Jacobson and Professor Jim Sleeper, they discuss how to reclaim college from market ideology

Who’s the snowflake? We tenured professors, that’s who

by Anita Bernstein

Our freedom to say what we want is not only tolerated but celebrated.

Parents, College, Money, and the American Dream

by Janet Golden

At a time when less than 20 percent of Americans completed high school and far fewer went on to higher education, financial institutions told parents to start saving for college.  

Why Tuition-Free College Makes Sense

by Lawrence S. Wittner

We need to remember that until fairly recently, the United States had a free or virtually free system of public higher education.

The Day the Purpose of College Changed

by Dan Berrett

After February 28, 1967, the main reason to go was to get a job

The Roots of Obama’s Ambitious College Plan

The roots of President Obama’s ambitious proposal for free community college can be found in a 2008 book by the economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz called “The Race Between Education and Technology.”

How Did the Federal Government Rate Your College a Century Ago?

For the sake of the U.S. Department of Education, if only it were still this easy.

Why are colleges discriminating against women?

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Colleges routinely reject talented young women in favor of less qualified young men.

Sex Drive Blurs Line Surrounding Assault

by Jonathan Zimmerman

On today’s college campuses, rape is harder to define.

Multitasking: What a Professor Knows That Students Don’t

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Research shows that a distracted mind incurs "switching costs."

Jim Cullen: Review of Jeffrey Selingo's "College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students" (New Harvest, 2013)

Jim Cullen teaches at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York. His last book, Sensing the Past: Hollywood Stars and Historical Visions, was published earlier this year by Oxford University Press. His next book, A Brief History of the Modern Media, will be published next year by Wiley-Blackwell.