From The Washington Monthly, Robert Kelchen, the mind behind WaMo's College Guide rankings, takes a comparative look at the U.S. News rankings; and Paul Glastris takes the fight to the pages of U.S. News itself. Rank irrelevance: Peter Campbell and Michael C. Desch on how academia lost its way. College for all, or just for some? Judith Sebesta on how Americans see a college degree as the ultimate insurance policy for success — but we need look to a far wider range of policy and educational tools to help those without a degree. From TNR, granite countertops, flat-screen TVs, fire pits: Inga Saffron on the surprising story of how college dorms got luxe (and more). Catharine B. Hill, president of Vassar College on how higher education’s biggest challenge is income inequality. Design specs for upgrading the communications device formerly known as the sheepskin: LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman on how college diplomas are meaningless — this is how to fix them. Juvenile U: The real danger in MOOCs is that watching a professor on your Ipad becomes confused with education. Gordon Hutner and Feisal G. Mohamed on how the real humanities crisis is happening at public universities. All students — and I mean all — ought to think seriously about majoring in English; becoming an English major means pursuing the most important subject of all — being a human being. Fox, meet hedgehog: A strategic studies program at Yale revives ancient lessons about statecraft, and its popularity is soaring.
