July 5th, 2010
Edublogger Review
A "mash-up" of postings from nine engaging educational
and e-learning bloggers.
Taxi Medallions and
Midwestern Zombies
By Dean Dad on July 5th, 2010
Credit where credit is due: this story suggests that the Higher
Learning Commission of the North Central Association -- the
regional accreditor of record for much of the middle of the
country -- is finally righting a longstanding wrong.
As this story from IHE notes, several for-profit companies
have built a wildly lucrative business model on treating
regional accreditation as a taxi medallion. I don’t know if the
taxi system still works this way, but for a long time New York
City rationed the number of taxis, requiring a medallion issued
by the City as a condition of operation. Medallions could be
openly traded, and often went for six figures. The City didn’t
especially care who had them; it only cared about the overall
number. In that setting, the system made a degree of sense.
(One could always argue about the morality of limiting the
overall number, but that’s a separate issue.)
For reasons I won’t pretend to understand, some regional
accreditors have chosen to treat accreditation the same way.
When a tiny, struggling, traditional college gets bought by an
entrepreneur and immediately transmogrified into an online
behemoth, it gets to carry over the accreditation as if nothing
happened. An accreditation saying that it had resources and
processes sufficient for 350 students on a nonprofit basis gets
used to educate 30,000 students on the internet for profit, as
if it were still the same thing.
The incentive for the investors is that getting a new
accreditation for a new institution is time-consuming and
expensive. Buying a ‘used’ one is much faster and cheaper,
and gets you immediate access to Federal (and usually state)
financial aid. That gives you the operating income for rapid
expansion and double-digit profits.
If the only purpose of accreditation were to limit the
overall number of colleges, the outright sale of accreditation
medallions could make sense. But to the extent that
accreditation is supposed to attest to a certain level of quality,
their outright sale is absurd. It would be like me selling my
Ph.D.
Several commenters to the IHE story raised the spectre of
some struggling colleges dying, and of the rationality of a
college changing its strategy when its current one doesn’t work
anymore. But those both miss the point.
Published by: philosophyandrew
Under the rule change, colleges can still change strategies, and
they can still sell themselves to for-profits. The only change
is that sale to a new owner will trigger a new review of the
accreditation. If they pass the new review, they’re good to
go. Nobody is blocked from making changes; they just don’t
get a rubber stamp saying they’re still the same institution
afterwards.
Of course, having to prove that the new college is worthy of
accreditation would take time and money, and would therefore
reduce the economic appeal of struggling colleges to investors.
But that strikes me as reasonable. Their economic appeal now
is based on what amounts to fraud.
Will some colleges die on the vine? Yes. Frankly, there’s no way
around that. If anything, I think there’s a perfectly reasonable
argument for letting some die, rather than letting them walk
among us as bloated, hollow, undead shells of their former
selves, wielding unearned stamps of approval as talismans
against sunlight. I say kill the zombies, and make room for the
new kids.
Bravo, North Central. I hope the other regional accreditors do
the same thing.
Role Shift
By Harold Jarche on July 5th, 2010
The last time I looked at roles in education I was inspired by
Anil Mammen to create a table based on his definitions. I think
some of the descriptions can be used in a prescriptive way of
getting out of our industrial, hierarchical mindset and moving
to an enterprise 2.0 or wirearchical culture. In networks,
learning is the work, so a critical part of this culture shift is
viewing learning as quite different from traditional training.
The objective is to become a wirearchy:
a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority
based on information, knowledge, trust and
credibility, enabled by interconnected people and
technology
Though incremental change may not always work, it might
be easier for established organizations to move to a transition
zone in getting there:
Hierarchical Getting There Wirearchical
Training –
Learning &
Development –
Organizational
Development
– HR
1
July 5th, 2010 Published by: philosophyandrew

Representative of Guide Peer in learning. highlight a sentence) and it's stored in your repository, and the
the establishment. paragraph meanwhile earns a +1 in some database somewhere
(and if read with that turned on, appears as slightly larger print
Responsible Knows what to Continuously than the rest). Tony Hirst , OUseful Info , July 2, 2010 7:49
for imparting teach, when & learn & unlearn. p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Learning Object Repositories ] [ Previous
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Bingo for Books
By Dean Dad on July 5th, 2010
France Considers Diversifying Last night TW and I took the kids to the local library for Bingo
Its Universities for Books. (It doubled as an excuse to return a pile of books we
all had finished, and to get some new piles.)
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010

France is embarking on a grand experiment — how to
diversify the overwhelmingly white “grandes écoles,” the elite
universities that have produced French leaders in every walk
of life — and Rizane el-Yazidi is one of the pioneers. Because
entrance to the best grandes écoles effectively guarantees top
jobs for life, the government is prodding the schools to set a
goal of increasing the percentage of scholarship students to 30
percent. The current system, critics say, is a self-perpetuating
elite of the wealthy and white, who provide their own children
the social skills, financial support and cultural knowledge to
pass the entrance exams. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/world/
europe/01ecoles.html?_r=1
On the way into the library, we ran into a family whose younger
daughter is in TB’s class. When she saw TB, she immediately
hid behind her older sister. Her sister shoved her out in front,
and she smiled at TB. It was a classic embarrassed-to-see-my-
crush move. TW and I decided that his charm comes from
double recessive genes.
We got there early to comb through the stacks. The Boy
found a series of adventure novels, and The Girl found a
book about wild animals in Africa. (TW found several novels,
and I found a characteristically nerdy nonfiction piece about
political economy.) Then we filed into the Community Activity
room for Bingo.

Anyone who has kids knows the drill. It’s a rectangular

Signaling Important Document
Paragraphs in WriteToReply –
And a Possible Mobile Theme?
July 5th, 2010
Tony Hirst discusses another first-rate idea: signalling the
importance of each paragraph. It's one of these things that
might catch on or might not - I think it would have to be based
in something pragmatic, like say, you select a paragraph (or
multipurpose room with long rectangular folding tables and
stackable plastic chairs. The kids found their friends, and TW
and I sidled in alongside.
Each kid got three sheets of paper with a bingo grid on it.
Each square had the title of a children’s book or a well-known
children’s author in it. As kids got Bingo, they’d go up front
and get to choose a book as a prize.

2
July 5th, 2010
Watching the kids with their friends was worth the time. TB
and the girl with the secret crush sat facing each other, making
faces and making each other laugh. They haven’t figured
out self-consciousness yet, so their interaction was sweetly
unguarded. Crush Girl referred to her sister at one point as
“Butthead,” eliciting approving laughter from TB.
TG, meanwhile, sat across from Crush Girl’s younger brother.
As TW put it, the younger brother looked like he belonged in
a creek, jeans rolled up, triumphantly holding up a giant frog
he had just caught. He was squirmy and silly and incredibly
animated; TG tolerated him, but proved mostly immune to his
wiggly charms.
Every kid won something. TB picked My Side of the
Mountain , which struck me as an unusual choice, and TG
picked a Cam Jansen mystery. Crush Girl picked The Other
Side of the Mountain , the sequel, and told TB they’d have
to swap after they were done. He agreed, suspecting nothing.
I just smiled.
In a cruel trick on the parents, the events concluded with a
panoply of sugary snacks. Sugar ‘em up and send ‘em home.
What could possibly go wrong?
As we walked out to the car, Crush Girl’s younger brother
yelled “bye, TG!” with surprising poignancy; TB suggested that
he was thinking “goodbye, my future wife!” TG let it slide.
It was a small evening in the scheme of things, but as a parent,
it was a real win. We’re such frequent customers at the library
that the children’s librarians greet the kids by name. The kids
already know their favorite shelves. They were excited to go,
and excited to start reading their latest acquisitions when they
got home. They enjoyed the activity, behaved well, and had
fun with their friends. They’re growing up, but they haven’t hit
the self-conscious “shut the parents out” stage yet. It’s all just
there. It all just worked.
I just wanted to capture that in writing before it fades.
Connecting the dots
By Harold Jarche on July 5th, 2010
Here are some of the things I learned via Twitter this past
week:
@Louisvancuijk – “Knowledge is only a rumour until it is in
the muscles.”
Connected, a declaration of interdependence by
@tiffanyshlain
Combining powerful visuals, humor, animation,
irony, and serious messages, Connected explores
the visible and invisible connections between the
major issues of our time — the environment,
population growth, technology, human rights, and
the global economy – demonstrating how they
are all interdependent. Following the filmmaker’s
exploration of her own place in the world during
Published by: philosophyandrew
a transformative set of circumstances in her life,
Connected exposes the importance of personal
connectedness in relation to understanding global
conditions, ultimately showing how all of humanity is
invested in today’s crucial issues.
Online Communities are Changing my World – by @edavidove
#1 – I was organizing a conference in London
UK for a client. I researched the internet (blogs,
discussion threads, social networks, etc.) and found
2 very interesting speakers to participate. One was
from Finland and one was from the USA. The first
time we met in person was at the conference. We
continue to network and collaborate to this day. One
of the speakers connected me to an incredible career
opportunity.
Birthing; midwives; knowledge management; organizations &
structures – by @johnt
What I got out of it is that midwives are facilitators in
uncertain situations.
No two births are alike, and nearly all births don’t fall
on the planned date.
Every “mother to be” is different and the midwives
both have to deal with people and their situation.
They don’t know what to expect as they have not
seen the “mother to be” going through a birth, either
has the “mother to be” if it’s their first (even if it
was the second or third baby, not every birth is the
same anyway, so not even the “mother to be” knows
how she will react to new circumstances, especially in
different environments).
Performance Consulting: finding the best solution from the
training, informal learning, performance support mix – by
@c4lpt
When confronted with a learning or performance
problem, the normal and traditional response from
L&D is to create a training solution, probably in
the form of an all-singing, all-dancing content-rich
e-learning course. For a long while I’ve compared
this approach with using a hammer to crack the
proverbial nut!
Steve Denning: HBR: Rushing to the 20th Century – via
@RossDawson
Want to kill your firm quickly? Then study the
current issue of Harvard Business Review. Imbibe its
philosophy, its attitudes and its values. Implement
everything it says. In so doing, you will be well on the
way to turning your organization into a fully-fledged
20th Century organization, with a life expectancy of
around 5-10 years.
Competition is overrated: Startups are primarly competing
against indifference, lack of awareness, and lack of
understanding — not other startups – via @sebpaquet
1) Almost every good idea has already been built.
Sometimes new ideas are just ahead of their time.
There were probably 50 companies that tried to do
viral video sharing before YouTube. Before 2005,
3
July 5th, 2010
when YouTube was founded, relatively few users had
broadband and video cameras. YouTube also took
advantage of the latest version of Flash that could
play videos seamlessly.
Oklahoma State U Will Be
Testing Out iPads This Fall
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
The iPad is coming to a classroom near you this fall. OSU has
announced that it will be running a trial program with the
Apple-made tablet computers with about 125 students in five
classes during the fall semester. OSU President Burns Hargis
said he sees the iPad being a useful tool moving forward. “I
really think they’ll be the future,” Hargis said. The iPad also
had the potential to save students some money on textbooks.
According to the press release, students in one of the trial
classes offered this fall can save more than $100 on the
textbook for that class by purchasing the electronic version
instead of the physical copy. Read more at:
http://www.ocolly.com/ipad-invades-osu-1.1495519
What HBR hasn't noticed: four
reasons why management
needs radical change
July 5th, 2010
That sputtering and disguised cursing you hear is me reading
Harvard Business Review. Every day I am finding stuff from
that site that to me is so far off base I don't even know where to
begin my criticisms. But this article is a good start. The author
argues that HBS writers simply haven't noticed that the world
has changed. That could be. In particular, HBS writers seem
not to have noticed the following:
- workers are no longer semi-skilled and cannot simply be
supervised and cannot simply be told what to do
- you need a committed workforce; you cannot expect sullen
or resentful, morose or angry to do brain surgery or draw up
legal documents
- customers are no longer willing to accept just anything; they
expect quality products and customer service
- you can't just think of the workplace as a system any more;
the 'parts' have feelings, the 'outputs' have social goods (or
harms)
There's a lot more, in my book, but this is a good starting point.
Steve Denning , The Leader's Guide to Radical Management
, July 2, 2010 7:27 p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Quality ] [ Previous ]
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Higher Ed's Caste System
Makes Adjuncts The
Untouchables
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
American universities and colleges are riddled with a caste
system that violates our societal sense of fairness, justice,
and decency. Adjunct or contingent faculty, who are neither
tenured nor on a tenure track, comprise nearly 80% of all
college teachers. The 540,000 adjuncts who work part-time
receive low wages, no benefits, no administrative support
and no academic rights. Contingent teachers, as adjuncts are
officially called, are the "untouchables" of our college system.
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pablo-eisenberg/the-
untouchables-of-ameri_b_629815.html
What China Can Teach Writing
Teachers
July 5th, 2010
The key think the 'common core' people get wrong is that there
are other ways to see the world. This is drawn out evocatively
by Clay Burell as he describes some recent work in Chinese
literary theory. He writes, "Nisbett's whole point in this book
of 'cultural psychology' is to show that modes of thought differ
from culture to culture, that Enlightenment universalism is
belied by the evidence, etc, etc. The point of the passage itself is
to illustrate how unlike our abstract and essentialist Greek way
of thinking is the Chinese, which resists hard categories and
prefers, as Nisbett puts it, 'expressive, metaphoric language.'"
Clay Burrell , Beyond School , July 2, 2010 7:19 p.m.. [ Link ]
[Tags: Books , Ontologies , China ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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Government Declares That
Any Reading Gadgets Must
Accommodate The Visually
Impaired
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
Federal officials are requiring colleges that use Kindles and
other electronic book readers in the classroom to make
sure the gadgets have accommodations for blind and vision-
impaired students. The U.S. Departments of Justice and
Education sent a letter to college and university presidents
Tuesday instructing them to find alternatives for blind
students if the devices are required in the classroom. Not doing
so would be a violation of federal law. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/
articles/2010/06/29/
feds_colleges_must_have_blind_friendly_gadgets/
Sakai Conference: Kamenetz
Keynote
July 5th, 2010
I haven't watched this yet, but Anya Kamenetz's keynote at
the Sakai conference is an odd enough mix to be intriguing.
Michael Feldstein gives the talk (which starts about 23 minutes
into the video) a polite, almost enthusiastic, write-up. "The
keynote," he writes, "provides a significantly evolved and
refined version of her argument." In order to grow DIY U
("which I'm increasingly inclined to think of as simply a
trendier and more provocative name for open education," he
writes) we need to pay attention to content, socialization,
and accreditation. Or, as George Siemens has said more
clearly, we are creating open learning in three phases: open
content, open classes, open assessment. Feldstein finishes
with what I would consider the starting point of the personal
learning environment project: "it's worth asking ourselves how
technology can help scaffold learning experiences to foster a
sense of autonomy, increasing mastery, and greater purpose."
Michael Feldstein , e-Literate , July 2, 2010 7:15 p.m.. [
Link ] [Tags: Assessment , Connectivism , Open Content ,
Experience , Project Based Learning ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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College Presidents Need To
Rethink Corporate Board
Participation
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
As much as higher education and corporate America
would like to be engaged, college presidents are struggling
to reconcile the demands and values of academia with
shareholder skepticism about their boardroom commitments.
Companies recruit college presidents to add independent
voices on boards dominated by corporate officers.
Shareholders question the college leaders’ availability for
board tasks. Campus critics say chancellors, provosts and
presidents should be focusing on budget cuts and shrunken
endowments, and are tainted by the behavior of companies
they serve. Read more at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-30/bp-to-
goldman-boards-becoming-hot-seats-for-conflicted-college-
presidents.html
It's every bastard for himself,
the last century hasn't ended
yet
July 5th, 2010
It's not simply because my photo is on page 9 that I think
this issue of Today's Campus is worth a look. Because though
the issue is set from the premise of edupunk, as Groom
notes, "I marvel at how quickly the narrative of change in
higher education is sucked into the seemingly irrefutable and
naturalized logic of business innovation." Agreed. Maybe they
weren't there, but the magazine authors - and Anya Kamanetz
- fail to see is that edupunk is about counter-culture, not selling
out. There are good reasons for that. As Tony Hirst says, "The
disaster that happens when democracy is for sale is nothing
when compared to what will happen when learning is for sale."
Jim Groom , bavatuesdays , July 2, 2010 7:03 p.m.. [ Link ]
[Tags: Edupunk ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
5
July 5th, 2010
Comments
Maximise, July 3, 2010 4:42 a.m.
Hi, Stephen,
I'm very grateful for your regular contributions, (even if a bit
uncomfortable with the b******* word). Tony Hirst raises an
intriguing idea that learning might ever have been free. Or is
he trying to force a divide between 'education' and 'learning'?
I agree that 'the last century hasn't ended yet', particularly in
our FE/HE institutions. In mainstream education, well here
in the UK anyway, many teachers ARE beginning to adopt
Web2.0 approaches to teaching and learning. However, the
bottom line is that it still costs. Training sessions for practising
teachers at £250-£350 per day or state taxes to pay for 'free
education' does not sound like 'free' to me. Surely, even the OU
in the UK is not really 'free'?
Your strapline of 'Free Learning' has multiple ambiguities -
perhaps on purpose?
Best Wishes,
Ray Tolley FEIDCT, NAACE Fellow, ACQI, MBILD
ICT Education Consultant
Maximise ICT Ltd
P: http://raytolley.v2efolioworld.mnscu.edu/
B: http://www.efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/
W: http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/eFolio-01.htm
Winner of the IMS 'Leadership Regional Award 2009'
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Students Will Get Textbook
Information When They
Register
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
When college students sit down to plan their semester course
schedules this fall, they will have a better idea of just how much
they can expect to be paying for their textbooks. A federal
law, part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)
passed by Congress in 2008, will require institutions of higher
education that receive federal financial assistance to provide
students with accurate textbook information including retail
price at the time a student registers for the course. The law will
go into effect July 1. Read more at:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/campuschatter/2010/06/new-
federal-law-textbook-prices-provided-registration.html
Internet Archive Sets Fair-
Use Bait With Open Library
Lending
July 5th, 2010
Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle has thrown down
the gauntlet with his internet library. This is a service that
provides online loans of in-copyright works. The small set of
books he is loaning to start the service is designed to challenge.
It includes works by open content advocates, 1998 computer
books, orphan works, and so on. Eric Hellman , Go To
Hellman , July 2, 2010 6:29 p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Open Content
, Copyrights , Patents ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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6
July 5th, 2010
Why For-Profits Are Facing
Tougher Federal Regulation
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
Congress last instituted reforms in the for-profit education
sector two decades ago, but federal aid to students at for-
profit schools has rapidly increased, approaching $24 billion
last year. Senator Tom Harkin found that up to 90% of for-
profit schools' revenue comes from Washington and that for-
profit students are graduating with more debt than students
at public or private nonprofit universities. With 96% of
proprietary students taking out loans, and nearly half of
them defaulting, taxpayers foot the bill. The refrain is usually
the same: after being lured by aggressive recruitment and
advertising strategies, low-income students leave proprietary
schools unemployed and trapped in debt.
Read more at: http://www.time.com/time/business/
article/0,8599,2000160,00.html#ixzz0sKgG6B9m
The educational significance
of social media – a critical
perspective
July 5th, 2010
Is social media part of the future of education? I guess it
depends on who you ask. Neil Selwyn argues, "Outside of
the narrow 'Ed-Tech bubble' very few people are engaging
with these discussions. We therefore need to move beyond
self-referential self-congratulation and stimulate a new phase
of discussion, dialogue and conversation about what social
media is – and what social media could be – with everyone
involved in education." Perhaps. Or it could be that people
outside the narrow 'Ed-Tech bubble' aren't informed, don't
know about the new technologies, and won't be a significant
part of the future of education. This is especially the case is,
contra Selwyn, the future of education means something other
than fixed curricula and traditional methods. Neil Selwyn ,
Scribd , July 2, 2010 1:24 p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Online Learning
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Bringing Back The Bell Tower
Tradition
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
Each day, as University of Florida students wander their
Gainesville campus, texting away on cellphones and pondering
their collective futures, the afternoons are punctuated by the
echoing sounds of a relic from the past. From the 11th floor
of UF's Century Tower, the 500-year-old art of playing the
carillon endures. What does all that bell-ringing have to do
with higher education? Increasingly, a lot, as schools across
Florida and the country are turning to bell towers -- or
cheaper electronic imitations -- as a way of fostering tradition,
reflection, and perhaps even little bit of promptness among the
perpetually late student body. Read more
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/29/1705565/
tradition-rings-on-across-campuses.html#ixzz0sKhUT1De
Stephen Downes – The Role of
Open Educational Resources
in Personal Learning
July 5th, 2010
"OERs are the words that people use in a dialog or a
conversation that constitute personal learning." This is the
short one-slide version of my talk last year at the the VI
International Seminar on Open Social Learning of the UOC
UNESCO Chair in e-Learning . This page offers videos of both
my talk and an interview I gave after. Various Authors ,
UNESCO Chair in E-Learning , July 1, 2010 2:56 p.m.. [ Link
] [Tags: UNESCO , Portals , Video , Open Educational
Resources ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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7
July 5th, 2010
Friendly TV News Explanation
Of How StraighterLine.Com
Works
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
A local television newscast provides an overview of how
StraightLine.com works. They do point out it's more
appropriate for just the first year intro courses most freshmen
take.
The Ideals and Reality of
Participating in a Massive
Open Online Course
July 5th, 2010
We encourage you to attend this online event Organized By:
George Siemens, Jenny Mackness, Sui Fai John Mak, Roy
Williams. When: on Friday, July 2, at 12 Noon Atlantic time,
11:00 am EST in Toronto or 16:00 in the UK.
Where: Elluminate Room - click here to enter . See more
details and RSVP on Connectivism Technology Web 2.0
Education Learning and Research, visit the Connectivism
Ning . The associated paper is available here . Sui Fai John
Mak , Connectivism Ning , July 1, 2010 11:59 a.m.. [ Link
] [Tags: Great Britain , Audio Chat and Conferencing ,
Connectivism , Web 2.0 ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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Transfer From Community
College To Four-Years Needs
Support
By StevenB on July 5th, 2010
That may be the model of the future, as more students start at a
community college, drawn by small classes and a huge savings
on tuition, room and board. Texas universities are stepping up
Published by: philosophyandrew
recruiting at community colleges these days, mainly because
that’s where the students are. But only about 20 percent of
community college students transfer to a four-year university,
a number that must increase if the nation is to reach its
goal of producing more college graduates to meet workforce
needs.Transferring to a public school, however, should soon
be easier. The University of Texas and Texas A&M systems last
year created Transfer 101 to demystify the process. Read more
at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/
metropolitan/7085382.html
The New York Times is Always
Right: A Media Literacy
Lesson
July 5th, 2010
I read Animal Farm years ago and like everyone else thought
of it as an anti-socialist tract. That was, after all, the 'standard
interpretation' of the book. But since reading the Orwell
Diaries I have been introduced to Orwell the socialist. Today's
students fare no better. Clay Burrell says, "If they studied
Animal Farm in the classroom, the depressing odds are they
learned it as a good, all-American attack on socialism....
Teachers and textbooks who frame the issue this way strangle
the baby of inquiry in the cradle, and slip in its place a
plump little bundle of propaganda to comfort the kids by
cooing that they're on the right side of history." It would be
nice to think that we've moved beyond that, but as Burrell
notes here, propaganda has been alive and well in the 2000s,
at least according to this Harvard study on references to
waterboarding. We need media literacy - and critical literacies
in general - more than ever in an information age. See also this
. Clay Burrell , Beyond School , July 1, 2010 11:33 a.m.. [ Link
] [Tags: United States , Marketing ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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8
July 5th, 2010 Published by: philosophyandrew

Generation Meh: Empathy and

College Students Today
July 5th, 2010

Chris Sessums looks at a study that says "college students

today are 40 percent less empathetic than their counterparts
in the 1970s." According to a Times study, "Konrath and
her report co-authors suggest that a mixture of cultural forces
associated with video games, social media, reality TV and
hyper-competition have left the younger generation 'self-
involved, shallow, and unfettered in their individualism and
ambition".'" I have a different explanation. Students haven't
changed, demographics have. In the 1970s universities were
much more egalitarian than they are today. More and more,
you have to be the child of rich parents to be admitted and
to pay tuition. This results in the student body, as a whole,
appearing to have a greater sense of entitlement. Christopher
D. Sessums , csessums.com , July 1, 2010 11:21 a.m.. [ Link ]
[Tags: Video , Tuition and Student Fees ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
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