Last week I submitted six letters of recommendation for my students. As I struggle to say just the right thing for my talented students, I wonder if the college admittance process is as efficient as it can be. One professor doesn't think so, and he has an interesting proposal for fixing the process.
There is a better way for colleges to gather comprehensive information about candidates. It’s called an assessment center, and it’s been in use for more than half a century to screen candidates for business, government and military positions.Read his full proposal here.
Hiding from scary ideas
There was a time when college campuses were fierce protectors of free speech--when students could count on being exposed to all kinds of ideas, and could determine for themselves, through debate and reason, which of those ideas were worthwhile. According to Judith Shulevitz, that's not so true any more.
It’s disconcerting to see students clamor for a kind of intrusive supervision that would have outraged students a few generations ago. But those were hardier souls. Now students’ needs are anticipated by a small army of service professionals — mental health counselors, student-life deans and the like. This new bureaucracy may be exacerbating students’ “self-infantilization,” as Judith Shapiro, the former president of Barnard College, suggested in an essay for Inside Higher Ed.
But why are students so eager to self-infantilize? Their parents should probably share the blame. Eric Posner, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, wrote on Slate last month that although universities cosset students more than they used to, that’s what they have to do, because today’s undergraduates are more puerile than their predecessors. “Perhaps overprogrammed children engineered to the specifications of college admissions offices no longer experience the risks and challenges that breed maturity,” he wrote. But “if college students are children, then they should be protected like children.”Maybe it's time to start treating college students like the adults we hope they become. Read Shulevitz's article here.
Cursed at birth
I started reading a LONG Texas Monthly story this morning, thinking if it didn't hook me in the first few paragraphs, I'd quit reading. I finished the whole thing in one sitting. This is a compelling piece of journalism, and a fascinating story. The summary at the top of the article says it best:
For
almost twenty years, Greg Torti has lived the life of a convicted sex
offender: monitored by the authorities, unable to go near schools or
parks, forced to make his home on the outskirts of a tiny town. It’s
exactly the kind of miserable life a pervert deserves, he would tell
you—if he were one. - See more at:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-strange-tale-of-greg-torti/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=website#sthash.NdwIaSTr.dpuf
For almost twenty years, Greg Torti has lived the life of a convicted sex offender. Monitored by the authorities, unable to go near schools or parks, forced to make his home on the outskirts of a tiny town. Exactly the kind of life a pervert deserves, he would tell you--if he were one.Read the article here.
For
almost twenty years, Greg Torti has lived the life of a convicted sex
offender: monitored by the authorities, unable to go near schools or
parks, forced to make his home on the outskirts of a tiny town. It’s
exactly the kind of miserable life a pervert deserves, he would tell
you—if he were one. - See more at:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-strange-tale-of-greg-torti/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=website#sthash.NdwIaSTr.dpu
For
almost twenty years, Greg Torti has lived the life of a convicted sex
offender: monitored by the authorities, unable to go near schools or
parks, forced to make his home on the outskirts of a tiny town. It’s
exactly the kind of miserable life a pervert deserves, he would tell
you—if he were one. - See more at:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-strange-tale-of-greg-torti/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=website#sthash.NdwIaSTr.dpuf
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