Joe Moran: How to Write a Sentence, Pt. 2

This post is a continuation of my tribute to Joe Moran's lovely book, First You Write a Sentence.  It's part of my ongoing series of posts about issues in writing and books on writing.  What I like so much about Moran's take on the subject is that he not only gives cogent advice for how …

Cartoons about Academic Research

This post is a collection of some favorite cartoons about the nature of academic research.  All of them are from the website PhD, which stands for Piled Higher and Deeper.  The author is Jorge Cham, who got his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford and then taught at Cal Tech. Enjoy!

Doctoral Proseminar: An Introduction to Big Issues in the Field of Education

This post contains all of the material for the doctoral proseminar — Introduction to Big Issues in the Field of Education — that I taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Education for the last four years of my time there. The aim of this class is to give first-year doctoral students in education a …

Graeme Wood — The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse

This post is a piece by Graeme Wood from the December Atlantic.  Here's a link to the original.   It's a profile of Peter Turchin, a population ecologist who decided to turn his skills in mathematical modeling toward big history -- looking for patterns across long expanses of time that help explain the rise and fall …

Joe Moran: First You Write a Sentence, Pt. 1

This post is a tribute to Joe Moran's lovely book, First You Write a Sentence.  It's part of my ongoing series of posts about issues in writing and books on writing.  What I like so much about Moran's take on the subject is that he not only gives cogent advice for how to write better, …

Class on History of Higher Education in the US

This post contains all of the material for the class on the History of Higher Education in the US that I taught for at the Stanford Graduate School of Education for the last 15 years.  In retirement I wanted to make the course available on the internet to anyone who is interested.  If you are …

Harris — The Key to Trump’s Appeal

This post is a transcription of a piece by Sam Harris, published in his podcast Making Sense on the day before the election.  It's the most stunning analysis I have seen about the key to Trump's appeal.  I've seen some good things about the way he has tapped into the resentments of middle and working …

An Unlovely Legacy: The Disabling Impact of the Market on American Teacher Education

What with huge problems hanging in the balance right now, like the future of American democracy and the world order, this might be a good time to focus on a little problem, one mostly of academic interest.  The issue for today is -- wait for it -- the trouble with American ed schools.  Sounds a …

Kroger — In Praise of American Higher Education

Every now and then in these difficult times, it's nice to consider some of the institutions that are working pretty well.  One of these is the US system of higher education.  Yes, it's fraught with some problems right now: Covid cutbacks and Zoom fatigue, high student debt loads, the increasing size of the contingent faculty, …