Tuition hikes at colleges and universities tend to provoke backlashes from students, parents, and education advocates, as one would expect. Among others likely to suffer their own economic fallout downstream of such policy decisions, however, the reaction is often muted. In today’s increasingly interconnected economy, though, hardship in one sector seldom fails to darken others…. Read more »
Commencement speakers commonly extol the value of lifelong learning beyond the classroom. In his 1994 commencement address at Howard University, for instance, Colin Powell advised graduates that they were “entering a life of continuous study and struggle” to achieve their goals and discover their talents and interests. What does this mean in the near term… Read more »
The year 1962 seems almost impossibly distant today. For those old enough to remember it, the period was literally the better part of a lifetime ago. The rest of us know it only from history books and newsreels.
Nineteen sixty-two was the year of …
Most Americans view the nation’s system of colleges and universities as a kind of invulnerable redoubt. That is, they believe it is generally impervious to erosive social forces by virtue of its central – many would say indispensable – role as an eco…
Last month marked the 49th anniversary of Title IX’s passage by Congress. Though widely mischaracterized as a sports-equity law, Title IX in fact bars all forms of sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding. One potent data point adduced by the statute’s proponents during congressional deliberations was the underrepresentation of women on college… Read more »
The U.S. economy is rebounding sharply from its lockdown-induced malaise, but it may be years before some sectors fully recover, if at all. Among those that survive, some will emerge from the pandemic fundamentally changed. The nation’s postsecondary…
Much of the news out of our nation’s colleges and universities has been less than encouraging of late, especially as it relates to the fortunes and experiences of undergraduates and would-be undergraduates. Enrollment is down, freshmen increasingly report feelings of alienation, and financial aid submissions have fallen sharply. The latter may signal a sustained erosion… Read more »
The coronavirus pandemic has had a surprisingly pernicious effect on community college enrollment, and as is often the case in times of social disruption, the fallout threatens underserved populations disproportionately. How we respond to this crisis…
The nation’s vast postsecondary education system exists in large part to supply the workforce necessary to sustain economic growth and create broad-based prosperity. What happens when a key component of that system is abruptly scaled back or eliminat…
The widespread adoption of online instruction has exposed our nation’s glaring digital divide. Closing this divide is critical if we are to achieve substantive educational progress in the coming decade and beyond.
The words digital divide denote t…
