An interesting article written by a student who underwent a Great Books degree. I've always been interested in the idea of Great Books degrees, but I find them often far too Western-centered. 

What's of interest to me, however, was the attitude displayed by the author when he realized what it would actually take to benefit from a Great Books curriculum. Obviously, a Great Books curriculum is a about as far from an instrumentalist degree that can be possible. One doesn't learn a vocation, but, in my opinion  they lean what many, many of my students haven't--he learned what it means to really learn.

Article here:

http://www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2841

An interesting article about the problematic relationship between cheap student loans and student performance...
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2012/05/cheaper_student_loansa_bad_idea_whose_time_has_come.html 

One of the best speeches... ever

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061137286 


At my high school graduation, Nobel Laureate Thomas Cech was the commencement speaker. What he told us was similar--"You haven't done anything yet. You're simply at the start..." Of course, that made little sense to the hundreds of students who thought that going to parties, being popular, working a job, and having a car was "something." Dr. Cech's speech validated what my Asian-American upbringing had stressed--that it's ok to start at the bottom; it's ok to try harder; it's ok to assume you don't know everything..