Politically correct hiring Will Destroy higher education

Aaron Wildavsky, a founder and president of the California Association of Scholars, died on September 4, at the much too early age of 63. Professor Wildavsky's life exemplified a total commitment to the university, and his achievements were prodigious. He authored or edited, alone or with colleagues, some three dozen books, and he wrote hundreds of articles. In the thirty years he spent at Berkeley, he was at various times chairman of the Department of Political Science and founding Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy. He also found time to serve as president of the American Political Science Association and the Policy Studies Association, and to be active in myriad other organizations. When Yale, where he had earned his doctorate in 1959, earlier this year made him an honorary Doctor of Social Science, it stated, “You have improved every institution with which you have been associated.” Aaron Wildavsky was profoundly concerned about the future of the university, the institution that he loved so much and served so well. At the Fourth National Conference of the NAS, held in San Francisco this past April, he expressed his fears about the effect of politically correct faculty hiring practices on the long-range future of education. Academic Questions here reproduces his remarks in the hope—one that, in fact, he shared—that for once his predictions will be proved wrong.     

Teaching-for-Learning (TFL): A Model for Faculty to Advance Student Learning

In light of the widespread recognition of the enduring challenge of enhancing the learning of all students—including a growing number of students representing diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds—there has been an explosion of literature on teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education. Notwithstanding scores of promising new ideas, individual faculty in higher education need a dynamic and inclusive model to help them engage in a systematic and continuous process of exploring and testing various teaching and assessment practices to ensure the learning of their students. This paper introduces a model—Teaching-for-Learning (TFL)—developed to meet this need. Clifton F. Conrad received his bachelor’s degree in History and his master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Michigan. He is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and his research focus is on college and university curricula with particular emphases on program quality, liberal education, and teaching and learning. Jason Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in Comparative History of Ideas and his master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington. He is nearing completion of his Ph.D. and working as a Teaching Assistant in Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his research focuses on rhetoric in higher education. Divya Malik Gupta received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Human Development and Family Studies from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Gujarat, India. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.     

The correlates of consultation: American academics in “the real world”

More than one-third of American academics perform consulting services for fees. Academics who consult have been criticized by persons who believe that they become less effective members of the academy, and that their consulting activity is generally detrimental to the health of the academic community. This paper begins to address that issue by analyzing data collected through a sample survey of American college and university teachers. The extent to which American academics consult, the types of consulting in which they are engaged, and the characteristics of the academics who consult are described. The paid consultant tends to be an academic who is active in a variety of areas. He is a person who publishes more books and articles, who teaches graduate students rather than undergraduate students, and who is both younger and higher in rank than his colleagues.Mr. Marver is a doctoral candidate in the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Patton is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois, Urbana.     

Radicals reflect: The first twenty years of the caucus for a new political science

B. Nelson Ong is Assistant Professor Political Science at the College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, NY 10805. He is also the Secretary of the National Association of Scholars.     

An experiment in environmental education for citizen advocates

The paper describes a prototype of a college level adult-centered environmental education program. The target population is comprised of citizens who serve as volunteers in local planning boards, conservation commissions and environmental organizations. The educational model embodies the concept of the double flow. Citizens with extensive community experience are enrolled in university courses while graduate students are brought into community organizations as interns. Program effectiveness is evaluated with regard to course content, mixing of citizens with regular university students, and motivational factors related to the issuance of academic credit.Dr. Sheldon Krimsky is currently Associate Director in the Program in Urban Social and Environmental Policy at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155. Dr. Judith deNeufville, who worked on the project while an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Tufts University, is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkley 94720.The environmental education project was funded through grant No. G00-75-02105 from the Special Community Services and Continuing Education Project of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare Office, and implemented jointly by Tufts University's Graduate Program in Urban Social and Environmental Policy and the Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affiars.     

加州大学科尔校长的办学理念及治校举措

大学的改革和发展与大学校长的办学理念密切相关。科尔作为加州大学伯克利分校的首任校长和加州大学总校的第12任校长,其办学理念对加州大学的发展起着深远的影响。作者以加州大学为个案,探讨了科尔在任加州大学伯克利分校校长和任加州大学校长过程中对大学发展产生的影响,以期对中国一流大学建设提供相应的参照,并对我国大学校长办学理念的构建具有一定的启示作用。     

On the Hypothetico-Deductive Nature of Science—Darwin’s Finches

Allchin (2006) has misinterpreted a classic case of hypothetico-deductive (HD) science in terms of his preferred ‘let’s-gather-some-data-and-see-what-emerges’ view. The misrepresentation concerns the research program of Peter and Rosemary Grant on Darwin’s finches. The present essay argues that the Grants’ research is HD in nature and includes a statement by Peter Grant to that effect.

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Teaching Physics to In-Service Primary School Teachers in the Context of the History of Science: The Case of Falling Bodies

Our paper presents an in-service primary school teachers’ training program which is based on the idea that the history of science can play a vital role in promoting the learning of physics. This training program has been developed in the context of Comenius 2.1 which is a European Union program. This program that we have developed in the University of Athens is based on socioconstructivist and sociocultural learning principles with the intention of helping teachers to appropriate the basic knowledge on the issue of falling bodies. Moreover, it has the aim to make explicit through the exploitation of authentic historical science events, on the above topic (Aristotle’s, Galileo’s and Newton’s theories on falling bodies) the Nature of Science (NoS), the Nature of Learning (NoL) and the Nature of Teaching (NoT). During the implementation of the program we have used a variety of teaching strategies (e.g. group work, making of posters, making of concept maps, simulations) that utilize historical scientific materials on the issue of falling bodies.

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苏步青高等教育思想略论

杰出的教育家苏步青教授从教70余年，任副校长、校长15年，形成了丰富的高等教育思想，主要有：大学自主办学的观点；要办一流大学的观点；教导学生独立思考和创造的观点；坚持教学与科研相结合的观点；正确处理基础理论和应用科学研究关系的观点；鼓励学生一代超过一代的观点等，为我们留下了宝贵的精神遗产。     

信息化和全球化潮流中大学的创新与发展——访国际高等教育战略思想家詹姆斯·杜德斯达特博士

詹姆斯·杜德斯达特(James Duderstadt)博士,密西根大学荣休校长兼科学与工程校级教授,国际知名的核工程专家和高等教育战略思想家,美国国家工程院院士,曾任美国国家科学委员会主席,1964年毕业于耶鲁大学电子工程专业,以优等生获学士学位,1967年毕业于加州理工学院,获工程科学与物理学博士学位,1968年起在密西根大学执教,先后担任过密西根大学工程学院院长和教务长,1988至1996年间任密西根大学校长。面对信息化和全球化合流的时代大背景,杜德斯达特在执掌密西根大学期间,就公立研究型大学的创新发展进行了卓越的实践探索和深刻的理论总结,在全球高等教育界产生了广泛影响,其知名的高等教育著作包括《21世纪的大学》、《超越十字路口:美国公立大学的未来》、《数字时代的高等教育:美国高等院校的技术议题与战略》、《舵手的视界:在变革时代领导美国大学》等。本刊记者有幸先后两次拜访杜德斯达特博士,得以一睹这位国际知名高等教育战略思想家的风采,在此把访谈内容整理出来以飨读者。全文根据录音整理,有删减。     

Epistemological correctness in English 101

He is the author of a comprehensive analysis of undergraduate curricula in Michigan's state university system, prepared for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Midland, Michigan, to which he serves as an advisor on higher education issues. Please address correspondence toAcademic Questions     

A taste of functional programming — 2

Functional programming has its roots in Alonzo Church’s lambda calculus. In the first part¹ of this article, we explored some basic notions of functional programming using the language Haskell. We now examine some more advanced concepts, including polymorphism, infinite data types and computations, and user-defined data types. Madhavan Mukund has been on the Computer Science faculty at Chennai Mathematical Institute since 1992, where he is currently Professor. His research interests are primarily in formal methods for specifying and verifying computing systems. He is the Secretary of the Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS) and the National Coordinator of the Indian Computing Olympiad.     

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act at Fifty: A Changing Federal Role in American Education

For this first History of Education Quarterly Policy Forum, we invited participants in the special Plenary Session at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society (HES) in St. Louis to publish their remarks on the historical significance of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) at fifty. Organized and introduced by HES vice‐president and program chair Adam R. Nelson, the session consisted of presentations by three expert panelists from the fields of History and African American Studies, American Law and Politics, and Political Science and Public Policy: Crystal Sanders of Penn State University, Doug Reed of Georgetown University, and Susan Moffitt of Brown University, respectively. What follows are the texts of Adam Nelson's introductory remarks—including his introduction of the three panelists—followed by the panelists' remarks.     

A sociocultural perspective on mediated activity in third grade science

This ethnographic study of a third grade classroom examined elementary school science learning as a sociocultural accomplishment. The research focused on how a teacher helped his students acquire psychological tools for learning to think and engage in scientific practices as locally defined. Analyses of classroom discourse examined both how the teacher used mediational strategies to frame disciplinary knowledge in science as well as how students internalized and appropriated ways of knowing in science. The study documented and analyzed how students came to appropriate scientific knowledge as their own in an ongoing manner tied to their identities as student scientists. Implications for sociocultural theory in science education research are discussed. John Reveles is an assistant professor in the Elementary Education Department at California State University, Northridge. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a bilingual elementary school teacher for 3 years. His research focuses on the development of scientific literacy in elementary school settings; sociocultural influences on students' academic identity; equity of access issues in science education; qualitative and quantitative research methods. Within the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, he teaches elementary science curriculum methods courses, graduate science education seminars, and graduate research courses. Gregory Kelly is a professor of science education at Penn State University. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and physics teacher. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1994. His research focuses on classroom discourse, epistemology, and science learning. This work has been supported by grants from Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Education. He teaches courses concerning the uses of history, philosophy, sociology of science in science teaching and teaching and learning science in secondary schools. He is editor of the journal Science Education. Richard Durán is a Professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and publications have been in the areas of literacy and assessment of English Language Learners and Latino students. He has also conducted research on after school computer clubs, technology and learning as part of the international UC Links Network. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, he is implementing and investigating community and family-centered intervention programs serving the educational progress of Latino students in the middle and high school grades.     

Teaching theory and applications together: An exploratory teaching program, in the liberal arts

An exploratory approach to teaching and learning is described. The program incorporates real-world projects as class activities, which dramatically alters the traditional motivational structure of both students and professors. The approach is based on the principle that learning is most effective when the goals of instructors and students are congruent. The literature indicates that the traditional liberal arts classroom format makes such congruence unlikely. In this program, the key element to harmonizing student-teacher goals and objectives involves the inclusion of outside clients. They provide projects to be completed by student teams assisted by their professors and adjunct experts. In the process students gain opportunities to learn by doing and assume greater responsibility for course organization. Professors engage their undergraduate students in a manner more like graduate students and become more focused on educational outcomes than on lecture content. We conclude by discussing the major successes and problems incurred in attempting to integrate such a program into a standard liberal arts curriculum.Professor Wichman received the B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University, Long Beach and his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate School. He was on the founding faculties of Delta College in Michigan and California State University, San Bernardino. Currently he is Professor of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College and Director of the Aerospace Psychology Laboratory. Trained in both social and physiological psychology, he conducts research on the effects of stress on aviators and the performance of astronauts while in orbit. As a Sloan Foundation Fellow he worked on the design of the space station. He is author of the bookHuman Factors in the Design of Spacecraft and is currently designing passenger compartments for a new rocket being developed by McDonnell Aerospace. Dr. Wichman holds commercial pilot and flight instructor rating and teaches flying as an avocation. Professor Teeples is Boswell Professor of Economics at Claremont McKenna College, where he has taught since 1970, serving as department chairperson from 1977–1981 and again from 1992–1995. He holds an M.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from UCLA, both in Economics. At the inception of Claremont McKennas' Practicum Program in 1991, he became its first Director and continues in this position. His published work includesProgram Budgeting for State and Local Government and a variety of econometric studies estimating cost functions for urban water delivery systems and the cost implications of private versus public ownership of water utilities.     

Peer review of teaching: External review of course content

External peer review of course content is described. Content is an important component of courses that most peer review models exclude. General suggestions on the development of models are provided to assist in creating a local model. A detailed content review model developed at the author's institution is included.David J. Malik received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego and both an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a B.S. in Chemistry from California State University at Hayward. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. His research interests are theoretical chemistry and chemical physics. In recent years, he has been actively developing programs in teaching evaluation and improvement and has published work in developing techniques and practices for effective departmental administration.     

A Graduate Programme in Science Education: Experiences and Suggestions

Summaries

English

The article presents an account of the personal experiences of the author during his participation in an American graduate programme in science education. The author describes the Ph.D. programme and the institution administering it i.e. the SESAME Group at the University of California at Berkeley. He outlines the important features of the programme in relation to admission requirements, course work, qualifying examination, and thesis research. This formal characterization is contrasted with his personal impression, and an attempt is made to evaluate the merits of his one‐year participation in the programme. In the final section, the possibilities and desirable modifications for an adequate adaptation of such a graduate programme in FR Germany or Europe are discussed.     

Higher Education Trust, Rank and Race: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis

This study involved an analysis of faculty trust in a large southwestern institution. After reviewing the literature, we identified a valid and reliable instrument, the Higher Education Faculty Trust Inventory, to measure higher education faculty trust in administrators, colleagues, and students. We then used this instrument to gauge various aspects of faculty trust, and we found significant trust differences among professors of varying academic ranks (i.e., adjunct, assistant, associate, and full professor). We found, however, no significant trust differences in regard to race. Finally, we discuss the findings within a context of implications for future research and practice in higher education. Page A. Smith received his B.S. in Education from Wright State University, M.S. in Educational Administration from the University of Dayton, M.A. in Educational Administration from The Ohio State University and his Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership from The Ohio State University. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research pursuits include organizational climate and health, institutional trust, workplace aggression and bullying, and leadership development. Alan R. Shoho received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from California State University at Fullerton, M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and his Ed.D. in Secondary Education from Arizona State University. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests include aspiring principals, high school reform, and organizational trust.