Articles

Explore the debate and science of Freshmen.

March 27, 2012

The Terrible Textbooks of Freshman Comp

Mary Grabar

The anthologies used in many freshman composition courses tell students what to think, not how to write.

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August 12, 2011

FIRE VP to Freshman Parents: College Ain't What It Used to Be

Glenn Ricketts

If you're the proud parent of an entering freshman this Fall semester, FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley has some advice that you may not have heard from your school's orientation team lead......

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February 1, 2011

Freshman Profile: Already Liberal

Glenn Ricketts

The current CHE features some survey data about the attitudes of last Fall's incoming college freshman class. In the first place, they think that they're pretty smart.

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December 10, 2010

What's the Value of Freshman Composition Courses?

George Leef

Here's an essay about a composition course at UNC that was a waste of time.  No student, who wanted to improve his writing, would buy a course like this in a stand-alone, free market transa......

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September 13, 2010

What Has Become of Freshman Comp?

George Leef

That is the question Professor Robert V. Young of North Carolina State answers in this Pope Center piece we released last week. Back when he taught the course in the 1970s, it was like boot camp for c......

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August 6, 2010

40 More Awkward Questions

Peter Wood

Looking for awkward moments at freshman orientation this fall? Pick an identity: “The 60s Rabble Rouser,” “The Tolerance Enforcer,” “The Eco-Enthusiast,” &ldqu......

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August 2, 2010

Freshman Comp Ain't What She Used to Be

George Leef

We hear a lot of chatter about how it's so vital that we get more young Americans through college because college teaches them the "higher skills" that the globalized "knowledge economy" demands......

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July 12, 2010

In Memoriam

David Clemens

Most good teachers had a model. Robert Pinsky had Francis Ferguson; Mark Edmundson had Frank Lears. I was lucky; I had two. My Freshman Comp. teacher was Dr. Idelle Sullens, a Stanford-trained me......

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June 18, 2010

Missed Opportunity: Summer Readings for Incoming Freshmen

George Leef

In today's Pope Center article, Jenna Robinson delves into the sad history of freshman summer reading programs. Unfortunately, the books that schools usually choose are either feel-good fluff or......

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August 24, 2009

Welcome Freshmen!

Peter Wood

What you won't learn in freshmen orientation.

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