Outside the Beltway

Is the college curriculum too heavy in humanities and social sciences and too light on science and mathematics?

Is Peter Diamond qualified to be a Fed governor?

A profile of George Mason economist and blogger Tyler Cowen offers this amusing description: “Cowen, 49, has round features, a hesitant posture, and an unconcerned haircut.”

Newt Gingrich says the coming presidential election will be the most important since the Civil War.

Most good government jobs require a college degree–but they don’t care much whether it’s a real one.

While elite schools confer many advantages on their graduates, they also wall them off from normal people and create an entitled, out-of-touch elite.

An increasing number of bright observers are questioning the notion that everyone needs to go to college.

David Petraeus’ 1987 PhD dissertation:After all, if a country with relatively few public opinion concerns or moral compunctions about its tactics cannot beat a bunch of ill-equipped Afghan tribesmen, what does that say about the ability of the United States — with its domestic constraints, statutory limitations, moral inhibition, and zealous investigative reporters — to carry out a successful action against a guerrilla force?

The experiences of two well-known academics denied tenure at Chicago provide some clues.

Newt Gingrich on Libya: “This is as badly executed, I think, as any policy we’ve seen since WWII, and it will become a case study for how not to engage in this type of activity.”

79% do not think Ivy League students make better workers. 18% are undecided.

James Franco is a film director, screenwriter, painter, author, performance artist and actor. And working on a PhD at Yale.

Several “correct” answers on the American citizenship test are technically incorrect.

Should public schoolteachers make more money than the people paying their salaries?

While most Americans consider themselves “conservatives,” some conservatives exclude most Americans from the definition.

We’re producing more PhDs and JDs than there are full time openings for professors and lawyers.

The American military personnel system works against keeping the best and brightest officers in the service.

The institutions charged with solving our Information Age social problems are stuck in the Industrial Age.

While the University of Oregon’s athletic programs are flourishing in a seas of green, its academic programs are woefully underfunded.

The folks who gave us “So You Want to be a Lawyer?” follows up with “So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities?”

Charles Murray argues that the Tea Party is right to complain about out-of-touch elites.

There’s a trend toward using metrics to identify ways to stem the skyrocketing cost of higher education. The likeliest result is to devalue the “education” component.

Paul Krugman argues that recent economic crises demonstrate that America has failed at corporate governance, banking, and the rule of law.

Career fields dominated by women tend to pay less than those dominated by men. But gender discrimination isn’t the main reason.

An essay claiming that the TED talks are “the new Harvard” is gaining some traction from a lot of people who ought know better.

If lawyers and MBAs don’t understand their mortgage documents, what chance do the rest of us have?

Most academic journal articles are unreadable dreck. So, why are we demanding that more of them be produced?

One can be an elite and not be elitist and vice versa.

Teaching college is a lot more work than outsiders think — although probably not as much work as professors think.

America may be the land of opportunity but it helps to have a head start in the rat race.