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Gov. Ronald Reagan confronted student protesters in Sacramento weeks before dismissing “intellectual luxuries.”

The Day the Purpose of College Changed

After February 28, 1967, the main reason to go was to get a job.
Empty speech bubbles emanating from people in an old house.

Popular History

What role do we really want history to be playing in our public life? And is the history we have actually doing that work?
Longshoremen on their lunch hour at the San Francisco docks.

Jack London, "Martin Eden" and The Liberal Education in US life

In Jack London’s novel, Martin Eden personifies debates still raging over the role and purpose of education in American life.

What Even Is "Leadership"?

And why won't all the worst people stop talking about it?
Chairs on top of tables in an empty classroom

Are A.P. Classes a Waste of Time?

Advanced Placement courses are no recipe for igniting the intellect beyond high school. They’re a recipe for extinguishing it.
UC Berkeley campus

The Prophet of Academic Doom

Robert Nisbet predicted the managerialism that has brought universities low. But he also saw a way out.
Line graph of history BAs granted, peaking in the 1960s and declining in the 2010s.

The History BA Since the Great Recession

In the wake of the 2008 financial collapse, no undergraduate area of study has fallen off more than history.
19th-century painting: "Talking it Over"

How Prairie Philosophy Democratised Thought in 19th-century America

How two amateur schools pulled a generation of thinkers from the workers and teachers of the 19th-century American Midwest.
Cover page of an AP Psychology exam

Bankrupt Authority

Advanced Placement testing is "a money-making racket that lets states off the hook for underfunding education."
A view of the campus of New College of Florida in Sarasota, Fla,. on Jan. 19, 2023.
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The History Behind the Right's Effort to Take Over Universities

The right has had qualms about universities since the 1930s.
Painting of 19th century British schoolgirls walking in a group

Hearts and Minds

What we fight about when we fight about schools.

Want to Save the Humanities? Make College Free

It's time to shift the social contract of education away from short-term job training toward long-term development.
Line graph of history BAs granted, peaking in the 1960s and declining in the 2010s.

Do We Know What History Students Learn?

It's not enough to say that they pick up critical thinking skills. It's time to offer evidence.

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