Keep Computers Out of Class, Prof Argues

And it's followed by Princeton, says Forbes

(NEWSER) - Forbes is out with its annual rankings of the top US colleges, and Williams College of Massachusetts is in the No. 1 spot for the second straight year. At $55,000, "a Williams education is certainly not cheap, but the 2,000 undergraduates here have among the highest four-year graduation rates in the country, win loads of prestigious national awards like Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, and are often rewarded with high-paying careers," writes Michael Noer. More»

Schools worry more about luxe sports fields and pharmaceutical patents

(NEWSER) - It's a hot question these days: Is college worth it? But writing for the Los Angeles Times, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa don't beat the same old "expensive! bad job market!" angle into the ground. Instead they wonder if it's worth it because it's just becoming so darn easy to graduate. Arum and Roksa, sociology professors at NYU and UVa, respectively, tracked thousands of students at more than two dozen schools, and what they found smells pretty academic lite: In an average semester, 32% of kids had no classes that required reading more than 40 pages a week; 36% studied solo for just five hours, or less, a week. And a third—shockingly—showed no substantial gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing ability after their four years. More»

Pysch major not the optimal choice for those seeking riches

(NEWSER) - Debating between engineering and English? Prospective college students may want to factor in a new census-based survey of salaries and careers in USA Today that projects the lifetime earnings of 171 college majors:

• No. 1: Petroleum engineering majors can expect to make $4.8 million over a 40-year career, an average of $120,000 a year.
• Lowest pay, with degree: For counseling/psychology majors, it's $1.16 million ($29,000 a year).
• No college degree: High school grads can figure on lifetime earnings of $770,000.

We invest vast sums in a future that may not exist, says Peter Thiel

(NEWSER) - We’re in the midst of another bubble, and it's not an Internet one, according to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. It's a higher education bubble, and "like the housing bubble, the education bubble is about security and insurance against the future,” writes Sarah Lacy, who sat down to interview Thiel for TechCrunch . Students pay universities big bucks not to teach them, but to guarantee their security, argues Thiel. Questioning the value of education has long been "the absolute taboo," he says—but now more and more kids are graduating ... then moving home, leading many to ask, "Is it worth it?" More»

Web-surfing student complains of finger injury

(NEWSER) - A professor who got fed up with a student surfing the Internet instead of taking notes has been arrested and suspended for closing her laptop. Frank Rybicki, a professor of mass media at Valdosta State University, was arrested for battery after the student complained that her finger had been hurt when he closed the computer. The professor tells Inside Higher Ed that the Georgia university has told him not to discuss the incident, although he stresses that he has never harmed a student. More»