National Association of Scholars, a non-profit organization of higher education faculty, administrators, and graduate students

Change font size

Send To A Friend Print this Page

Articles

Most recent posting below. See other articles in the column to the right.

2 comments - Last on 06/20/2008

If I Ran the Zoo III

June 18, 2008 By George Leef

I’ve been thinking a lot that if I ran the zoo

Teachers would spend more time teaching than they do

Research is OK if it’s done on their time

Or if someone else wants it, let him spend the dime.

I’d also say “phooey” to the inflation of grades

And profs who give As out like sweet marmalades

They’d better be tough; they’d better be true

Or else they’ll be feeling the sole of my shoe.

Next I’d say that when you teach a course

Stick to the fairway; stay out of the gorse

Here’s what I mean and I want to be clear

Your political views aren’t what students should hear.

How our students are chosen – I’ll change that up too

We’ll pay no attention to their color or hew

Forget about quotas or “critical masses”
We’re just going to admit sharp kids for our classes!

Lastly – and you might all say that I’m nuts
I plan to do something that really takes guts
The school may get what amounts to a spanking
But we’ll no longer fret about our US News ranking.

What a college we'll have; what a great place of yearning;
For scholars and students to learn what's worth learning
We’ll steer clear of nonsense and the diversity trap
And hear not a word on that sustainability crap.

The professors will teach and the students will study

With mutual respect – not too buddy-buddy

We’ll go after knowledge like a bear after honey

And do it all without federal money.

Add a Comment

No research? No federal money? Sounds like something out of the nineteenth century, if not the seventeenth. (I'm thinking of Galileo and Newton, but close enough).

Nobody with this attitude would ever get hired for a professorial job in my department.

If this is what George Leef thinks, I'm glad we have other people running the zoo.

Michael Kellman

by Michael Kellman Posted on 06/18/2008

As usual, George is insightful, witty, and uncompromising— brutal honesty, delivered with just a bit of a smirk.

by karenyvonp Posted on 06/20/2008

↑ back to the top

Is ‘Good President’ Redundant?
November 20, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Time magazine recently published a list of the 10 best college presidents. But what makes a president "good"? Are there good college presidents, or are they all just silly people in silly jobs?

NAS President’s Report
November 18, 2009 By Peter Wood
President Peter Wood tells what's next for the National Association of Scholars and gives five ways new members can help our work.

What Makes College Worth the Cost?
November 17, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Expected future earnings? A rigorous and complete education?

SustainaReligion
November 16, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Climate change faith has been ruled a protected “philosophical belief” in the UK.

My Degree in Diversity
November 13, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
After completing an online course on how to lead diversity education workshops, guess what I learned?
2 comments - Last on 11/16/2009

Election 2008: The University's Long Shadow
November 12, 2009 By Peter Wood
How the 2008 election illustrates the reigning narratives that guide higher education.

Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones (1922-2009)
November 12, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
The National Association of Scholars mourns the passing of Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones (1922-2009), who served as a member of our Board of Advisors along with his wife Mary Lefkowitz.

Blue Blastoff
November 10, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
A school in lower Manhattan created by the Blue Man Group believes we can't teach kids facts anymore...but we can teach them to "build a harmonious and sustainable world."
1 comment - Last on 11/12/2009

Should Everyone Go?
November 09, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
President Obama's goal - that by 2020 America would have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world - will require a huge expansion of higher education. But is that wise?

The Chico Romance
November 06, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
A sustainability conference at CSU-Chico prompts a concerned letter. NAS spots some good reasons for concern.
1 comment - Last on 11/16/2009

Response to Mitchell
November 06, 2009 By Jonathan Smith
After NAS posted Academic Questions article "Remapping Geography," Don Mitchell offered a response to the authors, Jonathan M. Smith and Jim Norwine. Here Professor Smith responds to Mitchell.
1 comment - Last on 11/09/2009

Message to Ed Schools: Practice What You Teach
November 06, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
Teachers-in-training should learn something before they begin teaching. But they should not learn just anything.

Response to Smith and Norwine on Remapping Geography
November 05, 2009 By Don Mitchell
Dr. Don Mitchell, author of Cultural Geography: A Critical Introduction who was mentioned in Professors Smith and Norwine's Academic Questions article "Remapping Geography," offers a response to their article.
1 comment - Last on 11/09/2009

Academic Freedom Forum
November 05, 2009 By Peter Wood - Minding the Campus
This article, originally posted at MindingtheCampus.com, is a response, added to those of others, to University of Chicago president Robert Zimmer's recent speech on academic freedom.

George Lakoff’s New Happiness: Politics after Rationality
November 04, 2009 By John B. Parrott
This article by John B. Parrott on the ideas and contemporary influence of Berkeley professor George Lakoff will appear in a forthcoming issue of Academic Questions (vol. 22, no. 4).
1 comment - Last on 11/05/2009

LEAPs and Bounds
November 03, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
An initiative spawned of the outcomes assessment movement, Liberal Education & America's Promise (LEAP), sounds boring enough. But what is really going on when the lords of of education go a-LEAP-ing? NAS investigates.
1 comment - Last on 11/09/2009

Remapping Geography
November 02, 2009 By Jonathan M. Smith and Jim Norwine
This article by Jonathan M. Smith and Jim Norwine on the state of academic geography will appear in a forthcoming issue of Academic Questions (vol. 22, no. 4).

"An Unsuccessful Education Can Ruin You"
October 30, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
A CUNY graduate professor teaches education ethics; his students discuss the meaning of academic freedom and the question of university neutrality. Now if only all faculty members and administrators took this course...
2 comments - Last on 11/04/2009

Responding to Weissberg
October 29, 2009 By Peter Wood
NAS president Peter Wood has published a response to Robert Weissberg's "Rescuing the University." His response may be found at Minding the Campus.

Intellectual Diversity or Nonsense?
October 28, 2009 By Ashley Thorne
"Our classroom has become an arena for the free exchange of ideas in which everyone's opinion is welcomed and respected." But should everyone's opinion be welcomed and respected? Is that what intellectual diversity means?
2 comments - Last on 11/04/2009