W.J. Astore A strong trend in higher education today is to sell education as workforce development. I saw this at the college where I used to teach, which was unsurprising given that the college started as a technical institute in a conservative area. My college proudly advertised itself as valuing partnerships with business and industry,…
W.J. Astore A New York Times editorial back in February caught two trends in higher education today: the proliferation of underpaid adjunct professors as well as the expansion of administrative positions within America’s colleges and universities. These trends are unsurprising. America’s colleges and universities are becoming more and more like businesses every day, with a…
By Anonymous Everyone knows that one has to go to school to receive a formal education and formal credentials. But schools are also social institutions. As institutions, schools often stand in the way of education. A competitive education driven by credentials is often responsible for lowering the self-esteem of both students and teachers as a…
W.J. Astore As a college professor, I’m in the education business, a word that repels me but which nowadays is undeniably true. One of the marketing slogans where I teach is “A degree is measured by its success in the workplace.” In other words, if a college degree leads to a decent salary in the…
The Contrary Perspective 