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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 […]

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” […]

Teaching with James

March 12, 2021

In earlier columns we dealt with different aspects of research and teaching. We examined teaching in general as one of the three principal missions of a modern university—teaching, research, and service. We also explored the “Socratic method” of teaching. Today let’s consider another approach, in this instance by one of my favorite Biblical teachers, James, […]

Excellence and Equality

March 4, 2021

I promised myself not to write any more about politics this year. Everyone with a computer, tablet or cell phone is writing, all the way from Twitter to the New York Times, and most of it is just political importuning from the Left or Right in American politics. The heretofore “objective” role of journalists is […]

Commission for the 21st Century

January 19, 2021

As we move into the third decade of the 21st century I think we need to do some planning. I suggested a few weeks ago on a way for UA to renew itself with vigor and imagination. Establish a Commission for the 21st Century to study where we’ve come from, where we are, and what […]

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 […]

Integrating Alabama as Prelude to Diversity

June 21, 2020

This is the second piece in a series of Op-eds devoted to the subjects of integration, diversity, equity, and inclusion within the University communities of the nation but with particular emphasis on the University of Alabama. This is largely, obviously, since we are here, not in someplace like Boston, Seattle, or Miami. Much of what […]

What you pay for higher education

June 8, 2020

I am going to make some suggestions on how UA, and many universities for that matter, can meet the financial and medical crises produced by the Corona virus pandemic and accompanying crashes all along the economic scale, from the Stock Market’s erratic behavior or perhaps to the forced bankruptcy of your local hair dresser. I […]

Do you know what our teachers are being taught about American history?

April 1, 2020

Did you know that “that slavery and racism are the foundations of American history?” How can that be? What happened to “all men are created equal” with liberty and justice for all? Democracy? The Vote? Liberty? Free Enterprise? Naw, forget all that claptrap. Here’s what our children need to be taught. In 2019 The […]

Mr. Booth’s Cure for Laziness, and Other Societal Ills

February 23, 2020

Mr. Booth was my Latin teacher from the seventh grade at The Pingry School in Hillside, N. J. My seventh-grade experience was about 1955, so Mr. Booth is long gone, but not forgotten. I remember Mr. Booth’s class as the first year of Latin we all had to take at a private, all boys prep […]