In a recent New York Times piece, Robert H. Frank attempts to explain the dynamics behind the continued growth in college tuition in the United States. Using elegant analogies, Frank points to rising costs for universities, such as increasing salaries for professors and technological degrees.[1] Responding to the President’s recent call to tie subsidies to … Continue reading
Author Archives: Alex Hildebrandt
At the Fulcrum of Change
At the Fulcrum of Change Last week Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum came under fire for comments he made about higher education in the United States. “President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob.”[1] In the heat of a campaign, his comments unfortunately were entirely of a … Continue reading
How NCLB Waivers Make a Bad Situation Worse
With the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on the horizon, the Obama administration has complicated the issue by creating a process by where states may apply for waivers for the restrictions implemented by this law. While the standards implemented by NCLB are counterproductive, the way the waivers are distributed may end up doing … Continue reading
STEM Cannot Support Top-Down Policy
STEM Cannot Support Top Down Policy In 2008, over 61% of advanced degrees in engineering from American universities were awarded to non-U.S. citizens. For mathematics, 50% of advanced degrees went to foreigners. But foreigners only composed 8% of those who received education degrees.[1] This trend is alarming for two reasons. First, it shows that the … Continue reading
Diversity of Thought and NCLB
Later today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will be launching an initiative to secure $5 billion “to transform the teacher profession from top to bottom.” [1] While there is quite a bit of political maneuvering surrounding this announcement, it truly represents the worst of the flawed ideology that has seriously damaged education in America. Perhaps … Continue reading
Why Education Will be a Top Issue for the 2012 Election
In 2011, education emerged indirectly as a hot button issue during the public sector collective bargaining battles in states across the country. The bitter pill offered by Republican governors has still left a bad taste in the mouths of voters and has resulted in the recall of lawmakers and the repeal of legislation. Unfortunately for … Continue reading
Return of the Merit Pay Debate
With major American cities such as New York and Chicago toying with the idea of installing (and in some cases reinstalling) merit based payment for teachers, the many “failures” of merit pay experiemnts will no doubt be brought to the forefront of the debate once again. Proponents of merit pay trumpet the importance of incentives, … Continue reading
Policy Interns 