How Sociologists Can Battle COVID Denialism

…The behaviors that usually get thrown into the black box of “irrationality” are sociology’s specialty. And that’s why it’s an especially useful discipline for dealing with the national public-health emergency we face. Insights from sociological theorists like Robert Merton and Erving Goffman can do more than explain the strange pandemic behavior we’ve seen in recent … Continue reading →

Six Ways to Fall in Love With Teaching Again

Issues with the bureaucracy of education, funding, changes in class size, class structure, and mode of instruction, as well as student issues, all contribute to our falling out of love with the teaching profession. Additionally, oftentimes personal obligations and responsibilities add stressors that create burdens and affect our happiness in our personal and work lives, … Continue reading →

A Generation of American Men Give Up on College

Men are abandoning higher education in such numbers that they now trail female college students by record levels. At the close of the 2020-21 academic year, women made up 59.5% of college students, an all-time high, and men 40.5%, according to enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit research group. U.S. colleges and … Continue reading →

Secretary of Education Calls on NEA to Drop Lawsuit that Puts Student Financial Aid in Jeopardy

U.S.Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos called on the National Education Association (NEA) today to drop its politically-motivated lawsuit and stop standing in the way of students working to complete their postsecondary education program. The NEA recently sued the department over its delay in implementing Obama-era rules that govern state standards for online education. The rules … Continue reading →

Why We Shouldn’t Take Peer Review As the ‘Gold Standard’

In July, India’s government dismissed a research paper finding that the country’s economic growth had been overestimated, saying the paper had not been “peer reviewed.” At a conference for plastics engineers, an economist from an industry group dismissed environmental concerns about plastics by claiming that some of the underlying research was “not peer reviewed.” And the Trump … Continue reading →

California’s Community Colleges Can’t Live With Accreditor, Can’t Live Without It

A handful of California’s community colleges may have a problem offering new bachelor’s-degree programs, as planned, by 2017. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, one of the nation’s seven regional accreditors, had asked the U.S. Department of Education to allow it to accredit baccalaureate programs at two-year colleges. The change sought by the … Continue reading →

Three Reasons for Those Hefty College Tuition Bills

What should we do about the high cost of higher education? As we pick the next president, that question should feature prominently in the public debate. The economic prosperity of our children and grandchildren hinges on finding the right answer. Today’s economy leaves little doubt about the value of college. According to the Bureau of … Continue reading →

Community Colleges Becoming Prime Destination for Faculty

A­fter spending nearly 20 years working in corporate America for companies like General Electric and Digital Equipment Corporation (Hewlett Packard), Dr. Winston Maddox wanted to make a difference — so he turned his attention to teaching. “I was a late bloomer and many traditional educators thought I was not college worthy,” says Maddox, who is … Continue reading →