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…)

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of college funds. I’ve mentioned more then once that I had a college fund before I was born, thanks to my wonderful parents. I can’t imagine how different and debt-ridden my life would be without it. That’s why I was very excited to read today that 52 percent of parents are still–in spite of the economy–saving the same amount or more for their children’s future. (more…)

Times are strange. Don’t take my word for it, though. Let’s have a little education news rundown.

First, the good news: Arne Duncan, who is the Secretary of Education, has just announced an $18.5 million dollar plan to “enhance libraries in 57 low-income school districts across the United States” (from the press release). (more…)

Times are tough for everyone lately. Education, recently one of the only two growing industries–it has since lost this title, leaving health care lonely at the top–is being hit hard by budget cuts, deficits, and general re-allocation of funds. Is this a trickle-down effect, or are there more sinister forces at work here? By sinister forces, I mean, of course, the slow-brewed, new American anti-intellectualism over the last decade. (more…)

Americans are spending less and saving more this year. The savings rate got up to a 14-year high of 5.7 percent of our disposable income in April or this year. This is the sharpest increase in saving since the numbers started being tracked in the early 1950s. It’s also the first year since WWII that Americans spent less than they did the year before. One big expense that’s getting dropped? Dream schools. (more…)

On April 7th, 2009, the journalism school at the University of Missouri made a bold move: they sent out an email to all incoming freshman telling them that, in addition to their other school supplies, they’ll be required to have an iPhone or iPod Touch. The requirement has since been changed to include other Internet-ready, portable gadgets–quashing brand-specific criticisms–but the debate rages on. (more…)

The phrase haunts the halls of academia: publish or perish. It refers to the need for professors to publish work, lest their contracts run out. It’s stressful, and it takes valuable time away from teaching. While the online education world is far too broad to make sweeping generalizations about, it follows that if students seek out online education for its flexible schedule, wouldn’t teaching online free up some time for research? (more…)