Category: Education (higher ed)
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Ceaser Crosses the Rubicon, Refuses to Give DEI Loyalty Oath
by James A. Bacon Jim Ceaser runs the Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy at the University of Virginia, which provides civic education on American ideas in politics and political economy. The courses are unusual these days in surveying the thought of mostly dead White men: from Aristotle and Montesquieu to Edmund Burke and Alexis de…
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Explaining the Decline in English Majors
by James A. Bacon Once upon a time, the University of Virginia was known for the excellence of its English Department — one of the most highly regarded in the country. Perhaps it still is. But you wouldn’t know it from the decline in the number of students earning B.A. and graduate degrees. The number…
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Time to Bring Back the Blue Books?
by James A. Bacon It’s hard to know how much credence to give to trend data extrapolated from online search queries. But if we imbue the findings of software firm Tiny Wow with any significance, one recent search trend is worrisome indeed. Tiny Wow analyzed Google Trends for the search queries “essay writer,” “essay ai…
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The Bert Ellis Feeding Frenzy
by James A. Bacon Virginia has now entered the feeding frenzy stage of the assault on Bert Ellis’ character. Abandoning all journalistic standards of impartiality and fair play, mainstream media outlets compete with one another to publish anything they can find to compromise Ellis, a member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors appointed…
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For Your Consideration: An Intellectual Freedom Protection Act
by James C. Sherlock I offer for your consideration the text of a draft Intellectual Freedom Protection Act proposed this morning by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). FIRE is the leading American voice supporting academic freedom, free speech and due process. In doing so they defend democracy itself. They are what the ACLU…
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Break out the Smelling Salts. Bert Ellis Called Someone a “Numnut”
by James A. Bacon And the hit jobs just keep on coming! After maligning Virginia Military Institute alumni dissident Matt Daniel two days ago, The Washington Post aims its guns today on Bert Ellis, a conservative alumnus and member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, with the publication of text messages obtained through…
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The Players and the Dispute in the High Level Cage Match at UVa – Can a Racism Charge be Far Behind?
By James C. Sherlock I read yesterday morning on BR “Tragedies in Charlottesville” by UVa professor Loren Lomasky, who wrote: It is reasonable to judge that in either the longer or shorter version of the history of the university, no single individual has done it as grievous a harm as the man who now serves as…
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Tragedies in Charlottesville
by Loren Lomasky Poor University of Virginia, the bad luck just kept coming. In 2014 the campus was rocked by the story of a vicious gang rape perpetrated at one of the fraternities. “Story” is the operative word; it transpired that the Rolling Stone exposé was entirely fabricated. Three years later the alt right came…
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Spirit of VMI Preempts WaPo Hit Job
by James A. Bacon Looks like Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira is loading up the big guns to fire another salvo in his unrelenting war on Virginia Military Institute alumni who are critical of the new leadership’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion policies. This time, instead of attacking traditionalist alumni as a group, he appears to…
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Moral Injury Is Driving Doctor Burnout
by Dr. Scott Armistead Physician burnout is a major issue in the U.S., receiving attention in medical education, medical specialties and at various government levels. Moral injury, in my professional and teaching experience, is a significant and growing challenge to physician wellness. Moral injury happens when one’s personal convictions are unwelcomed and one is pressured…
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School Discipline – Part 5 – How and When Democrats Broke Virginia Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock We read earlier today that the eminent developmental theorist Urie Bronfenbrenner has written: The more we study human development, the more it becomes clear the family is the most powerful, most humane and, by far, the most economical way of making human beings human. That truth, however, does not account for…
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University of Richmond: Don’t Want The Name? Send Back The Loot.
by Kerry Dougherty Most of us didn’t pay attention last September when the University of Richmond Board of Trustees voted to remove the name of T.C. Williams from its law school because the Williams family who endowed the law school were slave owners. After all, U of R is a snooty rich kids’ school. Not…
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School Discipline in Virginia – Part 2 – Positive Options Trumped by a Race Card
by James C. Sherlock I have found both surprise and confusion among some readers when I use the term “valid studies” in discussing the avalanche of doctoral theses and studies produced annually by schools of education. The federal Institute for Educational Sciences established What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) in 2002 to sort the wheat from the…
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Graduates. And Not.
by John Butcher The U.S. Department of Education requires every state to annually report high school graduation rates. Those data, along with students’ performances on state assessments in subjects such as mathematics, English, and science, along with other measures, are also used to determine annual accreditation ratings. The VDOE’s website includes the Superintendent’s Annual Report…
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Lab School Process Underway; Youngkin Oblivious to Overfunding
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin’s Lab School initiative is off to a fairly good start, although it is probably not progressing as quickly as he thought or hoped it would. According to the Department of Education (DOE), the department has received two applications for the establishment of a lab school— from James Madison University and…