Category: Education (higher ed)
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Sorry, Lefties, But Racists Don’t Invest In Black Enterprise
by James A. Bacon The broadsides against Bert Ellis are going national. Inside Higher Education, the higher-ed trade publication, has published an article highlighting the growing controversy over Ellis’ appointment to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors. The article quotes Eva Surovell, editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily, whose articles sparked the furor, as saying…
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A Lie Is Born
by James A. Bacon It is horrifying to watch in real time how the media generates falsehoods and then spreads them without correction. About two weeks ago The Cavalier Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Virginia, published an article about a 47-year-old controversy in which Bert Ellis, who then was a tri-chairman of…
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Woke Limbo: How Low Can You Go?
by James A. Bacon The bar for triggering Virginia Democrats gets lower by the day. The latest limbo contortion is a call by the Democratic Party of Virginia and the University Democrats at the University of Virginia for the resignation of Bert Ellis, a recently appointed member of the UVa Board of Visitors, who has…
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Virginia’s Self-Perpetuating Schools of Education
by James C. Sherlock We are in the midst of a series of articles examining Virginia’s system of schools of education. In this one we will look at how the rules for licensure of teachers and other school staff have changed and impacted teacher education. Those answers are found in the laws of Virginia and in the…
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As Anti-Jefferson Rhetoric Swells, Ryan Stands Silent
by James A. Bacon Here is what passes for logic at The Cavalier Daily, the student newspaper of the University of Virginia, a university once reputed for the excellence of its education: We reject how the University’s physical environment — one that glorifies racists, slaveholders and eugenicists with statues and buildings named in their honor…
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I Agree with DEI… This Much
by Dr. A. Schuhart The foundational warrant of “Progressive” DEI educators to transform American Education is that the education system is fundamentally a racist construction, and we need to dismantle it. This warrant is the only part of the DEI argument that I accept as true. And it is a damningly ironic truth for DEI…
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The Newest Entitlement for a Morally Bankrupt Nation
by James A. Bacon This is it: the final straw. I’ve had it. I’m ready to (figuratively) burn the place down. President Joe Biden has moved to cancel student-loan debt for 43 million borrowers in an initiative that the Wharton School of Business estimates could cost taxpayers $300 billion over the next ten years. Students…
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Virginia’s Teacher Shortages – Alternatives in Teacher Preparation and Recruitment
by James C. Sherlock There is much discussion of Virginia’s teacher shortages. They are traceable to lack of productivity in some combination of Virginia’s recruitment of its high school students to careers in teaching and its teacher preparation programs. Teacher recruitment starts with recruiting high schoolers to go into teaching. Virginia’s program for that is…
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Why the Enrollment Decline at VMI? Look to White Males for an Explanation.
by James A. Bacon When the Virginia Military Institute re-opened for its fall semester Monday with its usual parade-ground pageantry, it counted only 375 cadets in the 1st-year class. That’s down 24% from 494 the previous year. “We believe there are a number of contributing factors,” says VMI spokesman Bill Wyatt. “Schools throughout the commonwealth…
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Why So Few Cadets on VMI Matriculation Day?
by Carmen Villani On August 20, 2022, Virginia Military Institute’s Superintendent Major General Cedric Wins announced that a total of 372 matriculants (or “Rats” by tradition) had signed in, officially beginning their four-year journey through the trials, tribulations, traditions, and triumphs of the Institute. But this year’s incoming class was considerably smaller than the school’s…
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Division Ends Today at the Virginia Military Institute
by The Cadet Editorial Staff To the families of matriculants: This is a difficult day for you. As you leave your daughters and sons to face the struggles and challenges that they are about to meet, take heart in the fact that you, too, are about to become a part of the VMI family. Today…
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Bhattacharya Case Dismissed
by James A. Bacon A federal judge has dismissed a case against the University of Virginia by a medical student who charged that university officials had retaliated against him for disputing the speaker’s logic in a panel discussion about microaggressions. The plaintiff, Kieren Bhattacharya, “has nothing more than speculation to support his claim,” wrote Judge…
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Free Speech Discredited Racism Better Than Cancel Culture Ever Could
by James A. Bacon The attacks on Bert Ellis, newly appointed member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, continue without letup. The Cavalier Daily, the UVa student newspaper, has published an article resurrecting an event from the 1974-75 academic year in which Ellis, who led the University Union at the time, invited IQ…
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Denial’s Role in Opposing Teaching Credential Reforms
by James C. Sherlock Teaching is an honorable and irreplaceable profession. We have a major shortage of teachers. One of the ways to deal with that long term is to open up the pathways to teaching. One of the programs that has been around forever in Virginia is Troops to Teachers. Bringing people with voluntary,…
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A Sneak Peak at VMI’s Diversity Training
by James A. Bacon Virginia Military Institute cadets will return to class in a week or so. At some point during the semester, they will undergo a round of “Inclusive Excellence” training. In June VMI’s chief diversity officer, Jamica Love, briefed the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion subcommittee of the Board of Visitors on what that…