Wherein I Spar With an NAS opponent

George Leef

In an article for the Pope Center last week, I wrote about Beyond the University by Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University.

The most interesting part of the book is Roth's discussion of his MOOC experience. Initially, he looked down his nose at the idea of massive online courses, but then he actually designed one himself, got it on Coursera, and found that the results were remarkably good.

The bad part of the book is his hostility towards NAS and other higher ed reformers (including Richard Vedder) and I call him out on that.

Finally, Roth is a proponent of liberal education -- but it needs to be his variety of liberal education. I maintain that in the realm of education, we need to let a thousand flowers bloom. Nobody has THE right approach any more than anybody has the right approach to physical fitness or learning a foreign language or anything else.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

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