Opinion

It may actually be harder, in the age of social media, to shift gears in your research. But it does't have to be.

The EDUCAUSE 2013 call for proposals just landed in my inbox. Are you planning on proposing a session, panel, point/counterpoint or poster?

I am a huge fan of Consumer Reports and consider them the most objective source of product information available anywhere. Rarely do I ever purchase a product without first checking their evaluation. So when it comes to buying or leasing a car, I look in detail at the ratings of the type of car I am interested in and able to afford. But since I am also a car person, I can’t resist looking at the ratings in general.

The Pew Research Center recently released two different reports that call attention to at least one of the issues in higher education.

Ben handed in his application to the BFA program at his college last week. It was a demanding process, involving writing, arranging, performing and recording three original compositions and performing and recording a classical piece, as well as a written essay and a resume of pertinent experience.

A new collection of essays from The University of Michigan Press's excellent Poets on Poetry Series.

I have to admit finding the “fiscal cliff” debate a little bit silly, given that the “cliff” in question is entirely artificial. But if you start pulling that thread, it’s not clear where it ends. And even if the cliff is a figment of the collective political imagination, the harm that cliff-driven decisions could do is very real. If you swerve your car to avoid the unicorn you’re hallucinating, the tree you crash into isn’t a hallucination, and the damage done is real and potentially terrible.

The current headlong rush to make student debt forgivable does nothing to encourage prudent borrowing and discourage tuition increases, writes Jenna Ashley Robinson. Making some loans dischargeable in bankruptcy would send better signals.