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The Ugly Grade of F in Schools and Colleges

September 10, 2021

Many schools and colleges have done away with the F grade as too demeaning and demoralizing for students. I don’t know what the rules are today since I retired from teaching almost ten years ago, but I do remember that UA got rid of Fs for introductory English courses, and other discipline entry-level courses did […]

How to Teach Successfully in Today’s Educational Battlegrounds

July 27, 2021

Okay, here’s a lesson we all need to hear. As so many things that pop into this column, I borrowed it from someone else, this time from a bright and imaginative person who teaches at Duke in Durham, N. C. and surprised me just about totally. Duke is heads over heels into the woke frame […]

Academic Freedom

March 29, 2021

Since we live in a university and college town, from the University of Alabama to Stillman College with Shelton State Community College tucked in for good measure, I thought readers would be interested in the state of academic freedom in the U. S. It comes from a piece by Eric Kaufman, “Academic Freedom is Withering” […]

The Research Dimension of Higher Education

December 27, 2020

As we enter a new year and chase out the tens of thousands Chinese spies inhabiting the halls (and labs) of Ivy and Kudzu across the nation, it may be a good time to take stock of why even the colleges and universities exist. They were established in the Middle Ages–places like Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, […]

Christians in America

October 25, 2020

Not too long ago I read an article, “After the Culture War,” by Barton Swain in his column on “Politics” in the WSJ, October 3-4. When I see the words “culture” and “wars” these days, or someone who actually calls himself a political something-or-another, or in this case a political writer, I usually turn to […]

Rat Poison at UA, and How to Get Rid of It

October 31, 2019

By now every Crimson Tide football fan knows that Coach Nick Saban thinks bragging on winning as “rat poison” among the team. He cultivates a winning spirit, one acquired by immense disciple and devotion to hard training and preparation, but he is also afraid that pride and bragging and feeling good about being No. 1 […]

Experiencing Capitalism

October 15, 2019

Don’t worry, this is not a piece about capitalists and socialists. You are bombarded enough with those pieces by both politicians and journalists who all claim to have the final say on the truth. I have been an academic, a professor all my working life, except for a couple of years in the Navy which […]

Moses in Exile

October 15, 2019

Not too long ago I read two pieces in the WSJ that struck some familiar chords with me. But it wasn’t so much what was in the columns, it was what was not. Stick with me. This is a puzzle of sorts and perhaps you can help me solve it. Both had to do with […]

Welcome to College, 2019 Style

May 26, 2019

Welcome to College, 2019 Style As I periodically review life inside of colleges and universities today, I’m not sure whether to cry or laugh hysterically. An article in the WSJ, “College Wouldn’t Cost So Much If Students and Faculty Worked Harder” (April 11, 2019) caught my attention. The author, Richard Vedder, wondered why colleges cost […]

The Diversity Delusion