 A Non-Solution to a Non-Problem
A call for more higher education to solve the “wage gap” wouldn’t work even if there was a serious problem.
By George Leef
Statistical gaps between groups of people are a constant preoccupation of certain individuals, mostly liberal egalitarians. Two Harvard professors, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz have focused their attention on one of those gaps, namely the gap in earnings between those who have college degrees and those who don’t. They have a new book out, The Race Between Education and Technology and they discuss their views in this Chronicle Review article.
The main question that interests the authors is why the wage gap has grown so much. Around 1970, the average college graduate earned around 45 percent more than a high-school graduate, but today it’s 84 percent. Their explanation is that the gap is caused by the nation’s failure to keep pace educationally. That is, we aren’t putting enough young people through college. Those who do go through college get a very large premium for their superior skills, but those who don’t lag far behind in earnings.
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Legal Education in North Carolina
A new report from the Pope Center recommends ways to increase the availability of low-cost legal education in North Carolina. It discusses the state’s law schools in detail, using available data about student outcomes such as student debt load and salaries upon graduation.
“Legal Education in North Carolina,” by Andrew P. Morriss and William D. Henderson, reveals that North Carolina has a “substantial unmet demand for legal education.” Signs of this unmet demand are the fact that its law schools are more selective than most law schools in other states and the state has fewer private-sector lawyers per capita than any other state (758/1).
UNC Education Schools: Helping or Hindering Potential Teachers?
This paper from the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy takes a critical look at what is being taught at University of North Carolina teacher education schools. It reveals the overemphasis on so-called “student-centered learning,” also known as “progressivism” and “constructivism.”
“UNC Education Schools: Helping or Hindering Potential Teachers?” by George K. Cunningham, a former professor in educational and counseling psychology at the University of Louisville, concludes that UNC's education schools have major weaknesses when it comes to teaching teachers.
Student Activity Fees: Who Gets What and Who Decides?
Only a small percentage of student activity fees at University of North Carolina campuses are distributed by students to campus organizations, says a new study. The majority of student activity fees are allocated by university administrators for purposes ranging from repairs to a student center to an undergraduate teaching award.
At N.C. State, only $8.85 out of the $363.50 collected per student for activities is distributed by students. At UNC-Chapel Hill, $39 of the $291.30 students must pay each year is given to student government to disburse to student organizations. “Contrary to the general impression, students are almost entirely excluded from the process of disbursing the student activity fee,” says Jenna Ashley Robinson, author of the study, “Student Activity Fees: Who Gets What and Who Decides?”
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Higher Education Headlines
North Carolina
Dean Named B-school Dean
James Dean, a professor of organizational behavior and strategy, has been named the new dean at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. In the Durham Herald-Sun. Free Speech Flap at NC State
N.C. State Univ.'s school newspaper, The Technician, weighs in on a controversy surrounding a teacher whose controversial comments got her uninvited to return. Zero Tolerance for Guliani Jr.
Andrew Giuliani, son of the former N.Y. City mayor, has filed suit against Duke Univ. after getting thrown off of the school's golf team. In the Charlotte Observer. National
Political Correctness Exists
A new study suggests that university faculties tilt to toward the left, but that it causes little harm. On insidehighered.com. Teaching Non-Majors
The author of a new book for teaching students in subjects not in their major program is interviewed by insidehighered.com. Baylor Bounces President
Baylor Univ., a large Baptist school in Texas, has fired two presidents in the last four years. On insidehighered.com.
Opinion
No Bias in Science
A New York Times article discusses a study that found women get just as much attention and advancement as men in science departments. Confronting Indoctrination
John Leo of Minding the Campus writes about the new buzzword for a campus political indoctrination technique: "intergroup dialogue." Mistrust of Military Mars Minerva
A Foreign Policy article calls for Project Minerva, which has social scientists and liberal arts academics provide insight into foreign policy, to be made a cililian project.
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