David Horowitz is an idiot. Granted, anyone with any sense has known this for a good while now, but now we can prove it with SCIENCE!!! Well, political science– Inside Higher Ed reports on a study of student political views that finds that liberal faculty make no real difference: One of the key arguments made… Continue reading So Much for Faculty Indoctrination
Category: Politics
You’ve Got to Have Money to Learn Math
EurekAlert provides the latest dispatch from the class war, the the form of a release headlined ” Family wealth may explain differences in test scores in school-age children“: The researchers found a marked disparity in family wealth between Black and White families with young children, with White families owning more than 10 times as many… Continue reading You’ve Got to Have Money to Learn Math
Uncomfortable Questions: Spitzer
Eric Lund asks: Do you have any comments on the Eliot Spitzer scandal/resignation? Nothing original, which is why I haven’t commented. I had the same “what he said” reaction as most people who linked to August J. Pollak, but I didn’t think that was worth a post.
Headline Mismatch
We live in a short-attention-span age. I have a huge array of feeds spewing information at me like the proverbial firehose, so I often don’t do more than look at the headline and RSS excerpt, and I don’t think I’m alone. Given that, it’s more important than ever that the headlines given to articles actually,… Continue reading Headline Mismatch
Score One for Physics
Physics comes through at the ballot box: Stunning many who considered the district west of Chicago reliably Republican territory, Bill Foster, a physicist and Democrat, won a special election on Saturday to fill the Congressional seat that J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House, held for two decades. […]Mr. Foster defeated James D.… Continue reading Score One for Physics
Earlier Alcohol Prevention?
EurekAlert tossed up a press release from the University of Minnesota yesterday with the provocative title: “U of Minn researchers find primary alcohol prevention programs are needed for ‘tweens’” and the even more eye-popping subtitle “Study recommends that prevention programs occur as early as third grade.” What, you may ask, is the problem this is… Continue reading Earlier Alcohol Prevention?
Buckley
William F. Buckley is dead, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden is glad to see him go. I can’t say I’m all that broken up, either. I saw Buckley speak once, when I was in college. I remember very little about the context– not even what year it was– but he came to campus at the invitation… Continue reading Buckley
Notes for a Discussion of Physics and Politics
The local fraternities and sororities hold occasional dinners/ discussions with faculty, to demonstrate that they’re engaged with the intellectual life of the college. One of my students invited me to dinner at the Change in Kinetic Energy fraternity tomorrow night, and I agreed to do a discussion of physics and politics. That’s a vague topic,… Continue reading Notes for a Discussion of Physics and Politics
Class Is Not a Footnote
On the subject of silly things said about academia, Matt Yglesias does a quick pass over “assessment,”, and in the process recommends Alan Kruger’s research that claims the benefits of elite colleges are all from selection effects. He links a Newsweek article on the topic, which contains this paragraph: Dale and Krueger then compared graduates… Continue reading Class Is Not a Footnote
Science Debate Update
Chris and Sheril have been working tirelessly to make a Presidential Science Debate happen, and there’s been real progress: ScienceDebate2008 is now co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies, and the Council on Competitiveness. We were looking at venues, and finally settled on an offer from the Philadelphia-based Franklin… Continue reading Science Debate Update