Professors
Six Questions to Ask a State University
Despite all the hype about Ivy League schools and other elite private colleges, most teenagers end up attending public universities in their own states.
Too many teenagers, however, pick state schools on a whim. I rarely find teens who ask meaningful questions and instead they select schools for these sorts of lame reasons:
I love the football […]
31Aug2009 | Lynn | 0 comments | ContinuedWhy College Professors Are Failing Students
Are professors spending too much time publishing and not enough time teaching?
Absolutely!
What I want to share with you today is an research paper that argues that professors are neglecting students because they are so busying writing papers and books that hardly anybody cares to read.
The reason for the fixation on scholarly research is simple, according […]
Getting the Most Out of A College Tour
How do you get the most out of a college tour?
Here’s how: talk with professors. As I mentioned in my last post, this is what my son has been doing this week as we tour liberal arts colleges in the Pacific Northwest. Since Ben is interested in physics and a possible 3-2 engineering program, he […]
The Best Way to Visit Colleges
I’m halfway through a scorching college tour with my son Ben. I love visiting colleges, but the relentless weather in Oregon — the temperature reached 105 in Portland today — is insane. I’m thrilled — and I think everybody else is too — when each tour guide herds us all back to the air-conditioned admissions […]
28Jul2009 | Lynn | 3 comments | ContinuedWeekend College Blog Round
I wanted to share with you three college posts that I wrote this week for my other college blog at CBSMoneyWatch. Hope you enjoy them!
Is Your College Professor Autistic?
It never occurred to me that a college professor could be autistic. But an economist at George Mason University wrote a convincing commentary in The Chronicle of […]
Rating College Professors
On a lark, I decided to attend a conference being held this week in San Diego that is focused on improving the lives of professors. Understandably this is not a subject that worries families, who are too freaked out about paying for college.
The conference, which was sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, […]
Why Colleges Are in Trouble
The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a fascinating story today that attempted to explain why colleges and universities are mired in a financial crisis.
Of course there are the obvious culprits — a recession and stock market meltdown — but the crisis goes far beyond that. Here are a few of the reasons:
1. Yale copycats. David […]
Runaway GPAs
Earlier this month I wrote a blog post that shared a wild story about my son’s precalculus teacher.
When the teacher said no late assignments, he meant it. A cancer patient who was taking his class nearly died from the wrong dose of chemotherapy, but the teacher still wouldn’t accept her late paper.
I think there are […]
Ditching Lecture Halls at MIT
Underclassmen have been attending classes at universities the same way for generations.
Students plunk down in a large lecture hall and listen (sometimes) to the professor droning up on a stage.
The difference for today’s students is that increasingly it’s difficult to fall asleep during these lectures because the halls are often so jammed that stragglers have […]
How Colleges & Universities Should Cut Back
I’ve talked to lots of parents who are wondering how they are going to foot the college tab with their investments in tatters.
Hey, I’m right in there with everybody else with a sophomore attending a private college and a junior in high school.
While parents like me are grappling with how to compensate for college account […]
