When I read about today’s college students and their gastronomical penchant, I couldn’t help but get nostalgic and hungry. From the Associated Press article:

“The culinary literacy of college students is increasing,” said Tom Post, president of campus dining for Sodexo, a food service and facilities management company that works with 600 campuses in North America. “Students today grew up watching celebrity chefs on TV, eating organic food, enjoying authentic world cuisine and valuing good nutrition.”

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A recent study shows that twenty percent fewer Americans think science is our nation’s greatest achievement (47 percent in 1999, 27 percent in 2009). For 2009, Civil Rights/Equal Rights tied with Other with 17 percent. War and Peace clocked in at 7 percent, and Economy brought up the rear with 3 percent–no real surprise there (except that anyone at all gave it a thumbs up lately). Perhaps the most telling part of the survey, though, was that 33 percent cast a vote for Nothing/Don’t Know. (more…)

Why’d you get out of bed this morning? It’s a tough question, especially when you’re in the act itself. What it’s really getting at is two fold:

• What drives you?
• If you can’t answer the first part, then why are you bothering to get out of bed?

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With goals as lofty and abstract as providing “an occasion for key stakeholders to make a new commitment to the development of higher education and agree on action-oriented recommendations which will enable higher education and research to better respond to changing labour market needs and to the growing and multiple demands of society”, the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education in Paris this month promises to be as ambitious as it is nebulously directed. (more…)