U.S. / Canada

13 04, 2016

Scholars bulldozing history (George Will, Washington Post)

By |2016-11-02T11:52:13-04:00April 13th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, History, News, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Scholars bulldozing history. How Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study will demolish an important site of the American Revolution: the Battle of Princeton. From the article: In today’s academia there are many scholars against scholarship, including historians hostile to history — postmodernists who think the past is merely a social construct reflecting the present’s preoccupations, or [...]

3 04, 2016

A classics major adds value for engineering and STEM (Forbes)

By |2016-04-08T08:38:27-04:00April 3rd, 2016|2016, April, Economics, Employment, Everything Else, Language, Literature, News, Philosophy, STEM, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

A classics major adds value for engineering and STEM: a profile of Tim O'Reilly, who brings classical ethics and eloquence to the world of technology. From the article: O’Reilly has a deep understanding of how knowledge should disseminate in a society, and how best to make that happen.... Building a knowledge community is an art, [...]

23 03, 2016

In Canada, the liberal arts are still relevant (iPolitics)

By |2016-03-23T08:53:15-04:00March 23rd, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Economics, Employment, Everything Else, History, March, News, STEM, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

In Canada, the liberal arts are still relevant, for their relationship with STEM fields fosters innovation and enterprise. From the post: A March 2016 report from The Business Council of Canada surveyed 90 Canadian employers who said when hiring entry-level employees, skills in teamwork, communication, problem-solving and collaboration were more sought-after than technical expertise. (with thanks to [...]

22 03, 2016

What employers want from college graduates (AAC&U)

By |2016-03-19T16:57:12-04:00March 22nd, 2016|2016, Academia, Economics, Employment, Everything Else, March, News, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

What employers want: employees with liberal arts and humanities sensibilities. What employees lack: these sensibilities .... The article states: that "employers overwhelmingly endorse broad learning and cross-cutting skills as the best preparation for long-term career success. However, employers also give students very low grades on nearly all of the 17 learning outcomes explored in the study, including [...]

19 03, 2016

Edna St. Vincent Millay on human fallibility

By |2016-03-22T20:00:10-04:00March 19th, 2016|Academia, Europe, Everything Else, Literature, March, Philosophy, Quotes, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Her sonnet meditates on human degradation, and self-degradation, in the new Iron Age. From "Epitaph on the Race of Man" Here lies, and none to mourn him but the sea, That falls incessant on the empty shore, Most various Man, cut down to spring no more; Before his prime, even in his infancy Cut down, [...]

17 03, 2016

Better scientists with liberal arts (Loretta Jackson-Hayes, Washington Post)

By |2016-03-17T17:37:38-04:00March 17th, 2016|2016, Academia, Everything Else, March, News, STEM, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

We become better scientists, the more we value the liberal arts. The author recounts how the liberal arts "unlocked" for her the true value of education, and her students in turn became more adroit at their science and their ability to communicate their ideas to others. She writes: Our culture has drawn an artificial line between art [...]

8 03, 2016

Obsessing about STEM (Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post)

By |2016-03-06T15:46:58-05:00March 8th, 2016|2016, Academia, Arts, Debate / dialogue, Employment, Europe, Everything Else, History, Language, Medicine, News, Philosophy, Politics, science, STEM, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

Obsessing about STEM: America seems entranced by STEM education, at the expense of our future, which requires more agile ways of thinkings that the humanities and liberal arts provide. "The United States has led the world in economic dynamism, innovation and entrepreneurship thanks to exactly the kind of teaching we are now told to defenestrate. A [...]

27 02, 2016

Math and science are liberal arts (Cecilia Gaposchkin, The Conversation)

By |2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00February 27th, 2016|2016, Academia, Debate / dialogue, Employment, Everything Else, February, News, Philosophy, STEM, Technology, U.S. / Canada|0 Comments

The liberal arts include the sciences, and the sciences make use of the approaches the humanities bring to observation and inquiry.  The author writes: The idea that STEM is something separate and different than the liberal arts is damaging to both the sciences and their sister disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The value of a liberal [...]

19 02, 2016

History and nemesis, the natural and moral sciences

By |2016-11-02T11:52:15-04:00February 19th, 2016|2016, Debate / dialogue, Everything Else, February, History, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, U.S. / Canada, Writing|0 Comments

Thoughts of Frederick Douglass on finding the trajectory of moral and social justice in the course of history. There is, in the world's government, a force which has in all ages been recognized, sometimes as Nemesis, sometimes as the judgment of God and sometimes as retributive justice; but under whatever name, all history attests the [...]

Go to Top