At Harvard University, here is the reading list for the 2012 entering freshman class: * A More Perfect Union — Barack Obama, 2008. President Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, addressing race and inequality in the United States. * Every Asian American I Know Is Smart — Frank H. Wu (Professor of Law […]
Harvard versus Rockford: what freshmen read Read More »
Philosophers are noted for their stylish prose as well as their profound insights. Or, to put that point in another, perhaps more felicitous, formulation, they are justly celebrated for their abilities in the words-putting-togetherness department. Earlier I presented some 100-plus word monster sentences from philosophers — Mill, Kant, Aristotle, Locke. But now, via Stuart Hayashi,
Philosophy’s longest sentences — Bentham edition Read More »
John Merrow on “Rebirth: New Orleans,” a documentary about the transformation of schools in New Orleans after the hurricane, mostly by means of charter schools. “In 2004, not even one-third of 8th graders in New Orleans could pass a state reading test. In some schools, the number was lower — just 4 percent. “Since then
New Orleans schools rebuild after Katrina Read More »
How true is the following diagnosis of contemporary higher education? “During the past twenty years the leading universities of the country have changed markedly in form and function … All tend to suffer from similar and unexampled difficulties. They spend huge sums and are desperately poor; their students attack them; the neighbors hate them; their
Criticizing American universities — plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose Read More »
I recommend Charles Millick’s The Challenges for Leadership, Values, and Happiness. Millick is a business professor at Wheeling Jesuit University, where he relocated after decades of real-life business experience at General Electric and other blue-chip corporations, as an entrepreneur, and as a management consultant. In this new book, Millick collects and condenses decades of leadership
Millick’s *The Challenges for Leadership, Values, and Happiness* Read More »
Following up on “Are we declining from our decline?” and “The constant decline of civilization?”, here is one of my favorites historians, Sallust (86– c. 35 BCE), on how his generation of Romans is so much worse morally than the preceding ones. In The War with Catiline, he writes: “Since the occasion has arisen to
More on the decline of civilization: Sallust Read More »
The ten-point list from The Communist Manifesto, with my rough quantification: 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. [Partial check: property taxes, zoning laws, the federal government alone owns 30% of all land in the USA. .6 points.] 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Marx’s 10-point plan 50% realized in USA Read More »
Below is the text of an open letter published in The Huffington Post on September 19, 2012 by Thor Halvorssen, Founder of the Human Rights Foundation. The letter is useful for Business Ethics courses in discussions of marketing and advertising using popular political figures, especially political figures with a record like Guevara’s. An Open Letter
Marketing ethics and Che Guevara Read More »