Category: Higher Education

Schooling the Meritocracy

by David Labaree, posted in Credentialing, Featured, Higher Education, Meritocracy, Schooling

This is an essay about the historical construction of the American meritocracy, which is to say the new American aristocracy based on academic credentials.  This essay is included in my new book, The Ironies of Schooling.  Here’s a link to the original, which was published 2020 in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal of the Historiography of Education.  An overview … Continue reading Schooling the Meritocracy

Sara Weissman — More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, Human capital, Meritocracy, Social mobility

This post is an essay by Sara Weissman that appeared recently in Inside Higher Ed.  Here's a link to the original. The title tells the story:  More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed.  That means they are in jobs that don't require a college degree.   More than half of recent four-year college graduates, 52 percent, … Continue reading Sara Weissman — More than Half of 4-Year College Grads Are Underemployed

Matthew Levey — Get Rid of the College Admissions Essay

by David Labaree, posted in Admissions, Diversity, Higher Education, History

This post is an essay by Matthew Levey about why we should eliminate the college admissions essay, which was published in The 74.  Here's a link to the original. He recounts the sordid backstory of the admissions essay, which first arose in order to keep Jews out of Harvard and other elite schools.  It's still serving … Continue reading Matthew Levey — Get Rid of the College Admissions Essay

David Deming: The Worst Way to Do College Admissions

by David Labaree, posted in Educational policy, Higher Education, Inequality, Social mobility

This post is a recent essay by David Deming, an economist at the Harvard Kennedy Center and Education School, about the use of SAT and ACT scores in college admission.  It appeared in Atlantic.  Here's a link to the original.   He says data show that using these scores benefit some disadvantaged students, who have a chance … Continue reading David Deming: The Worst Way to Do College Admissions

Being a Scholar

by David Labaree, posted in Academic Life, Academic writing, Faculty, Graduate school, Higher Education, Research

This post is an overview of the book I published last spring.  It’s available on Amazon both as an e-book and a paperback.  The title is Being a Scholar: Reflections on Doctoral Study, Scholarly Writing, and Academic Life.   Below is the book’s introduction, which provides the rationale for the book and summarizes the eleven pieces that you will … Continue reading Being a Scholar

Len Gutkin — The Hyperbolic Style in American Academe

by David Labaree, posted in Academic Life, Higher Education, Language, Rhetoric, Wokeness

This post is an essay by Len Gutkin that was recently published in the Chronicle Review.  Here's a link to the original. The essay does a great job of capturing the essence of a new form of discourse on American university campuses he calls the "hyperbolic style" -- which he characterizes as "breathless, declaratory, at … Continue reading Len Gutkin — The Hyperbolic Style in American Academe

Caitlin Flanagan — Colleges Aren’t Teaching Students How to Think

by David Labaree, posted in Academic Life, Faculty, Higher Education, Liberalism, Students

This blog post is an essay by Caitlin Flanagan recently published in Atlantic.  Here's a link to the original.  If colleges were in fact teaching students how to think, she says, then they would be encouraging students to consider the best arguments on the other side of the issue they are most ardent about. Colleges … Continue reading Caitlin Flanagan — Colleges Aren’t Teaching Students How to Think

The High Cost of Playing the Status Game in Elite Higher Education

by David Labaree, posted in Higher Education, Inequality, Private good, Social status

This post is an essay by Scott Carlson about the high cost of staying competitive at the top of the higher education pyramid, which recently appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Here's a link to the original. Status is everything for universities at the very pinnacle of the highly stratified system of US higher … Continue reading The High Cost of Playing the Status Game in Elite Higher Education

Luck and Pluck — Alternative Stories of Life in the Meritocracy

by David Labaree, posted in Featured, Higher Education, Luck, Meritocracy

This post is a piece I published five years ago in Aeon.  Here’s the link to the original.  I wrote this after years of futile efforts to get Stanford students to think critically about how they got to their current location at the top of the meritocracy.  It was nearly impossible to get students to consider … Continue reading Luck and Pluck — Alternative Stories of Life in the Meritocracy