Alex Chediak

Helping young adults thrive at college and beyond

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Culture

College is Not a Commodity

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Fantastic article in the Washington Post by Hunter Rawlings, president of the Association of American Universities and a former president of Cornell University and the University of Iowa. When we talk about the value of college, it's easy to compare schools based on metrics (graduation rates, student earnings, default rates, etc.) and forget that it's the effort from individual students that makes the difference. Excerpt: Unlike a car, college requires the “buyer” to do most of the work to obtain its value. The value of a degree depends more on the student’s input than on the college’s … [Read more...] about College is Not a Commodity

Student Turns Down Every Ivy League School for U of Alabama

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Ronnie Nelson (left) turned down all eight Ivy League universities to attend the University of Alabama this fall. Nelson also declined offers from Stanford, Johns Hopkins, New York University, Vanderbilt, and Washington University in St. Louis. Why? Alabama offered him a full-ride scholarship and accepted him into their Honors Program. The Ivy's don't offer merit scholarships, nor do several other prestigious universities, such as Stanford. What about need-based aid? The Ivy's offer to meet "100 percent of a student's demonstrated financial need," but they take a comprehensive look at a … [Read more...] about Student Turns Down Every Ivy League School for U of Alabama

Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways From Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey

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Ed Stetzer offers an insightful break down of the latest Pew Religious Landscape Report (summarized here). The short version is this: Nominal Christianity is on the decline (with the majority of those raised in Mainline denominations defecting to an "unaffiliated" status), but within the larger category of "Christian," there is a shift towards evangelical faith. Here are a few nuggets: … [Read more...] about Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways From Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey

What’s the Point of a Professor?

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Mark Bauerlein is a professor at Emory University and the author of an outstanding book entitled The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30 (see commentary here). In a recent NYT article, Bauerlein laments wants happened to the role of the professor when students are more instead in a credential than an education (and more anxious about grading than eager for learning): When college is more about career than ideas, when paycheck matters more than wisdom, the role of professors changes. We may be … [Read more...] about What’s the Point of a Professor?

Correcting Six Mistakes from the Same-Sex Marriage Oral Arguments Last Week

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Did you miss the two and a half hours of oral arguments on same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court last week? James Phillips, visiting assistant professor of law at Brigham Young University, does a great job correcting six mistakes that were made (in some cases by the Supreme Court Justices themselves). Error Number One: Massachusetts Marriage Rates Have Stayed the Same Error Number Two: Because Some Men Leave Their Wives and Children, Marriage Does Not Help Keep Fathers Around Error Number Three: The Purpose of States’ Recognizing and Regulating Marriage is to Bestow Dignity on … [Read more...] about Correcting Six Mistakes from the Same-Sex Marriage Oral Arguments Last Week