Notes in the Margins: Blogging, green schools and mandatory retirement

Debt by Degrees There’s a big flaw in the bubble argument: Things may look grim for college graduates, but they’re much grimmer for people without a college degree. (The New Yorker)

Why your school might be greener than you think We’ve all heard about going green, but for many colleges and universities across the country, the commitment to creating a sustainable campus goes far beyond the availability of recycling bins. (USA Today)

The Impact of Blogs Part II Blogging enhances the blogger’s reputation. But, does it influence policy? (LSE/Impact of Social Sciences)

Larry Summers on some of higher education’s ‘bad ideas’ One bad idea, he said, was the movement away from mandatory retirement in higher education. College faculty used to face obligatory retirement. That ended in the 1990s amid changing views toward age discrimination. That policy change, coupled with the powerful protections of faculty tenure, “is deeply toxic,” he said. (The Washington Post)

A semester in the mountains, questioning the plugged-in college lifestyle The program emphasizes a return to a simpler lifestyle and interaction with nature, the semester is not exclusively about hiking trips or ‘living green.’ In fact, the primary focus of the Adirondack Semester is an education of the mind and of the self. The program’s mission statement is: “to enable students to study nature and human relationships with nature through academic classes enriched by direct experience.” (USA Today)

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