Nicholas Handler, is a junior at Yale University majoring in history. Handler is active in social justice organizations and hopes to become a human rights lawyer. I never expected to gain any new insight into the nature of my generation, or the changing landscape of American colleges, in Lit Theory. Lit Theory is supposed to  Read More →

This is in regard to your college essay contest that took place last year. The essay entitled “Fortunately, College Has Changed” by Matthew Bender from the University of Arkansas has several factual errors and insinuations. Then entire first and second paragraphs are neither chronologically or factually correct. How do I know that there are  Read More →

Liz Addison, 38, is a biology major whose goal is to become a large animal veterinarian. She has trained a winning racehorse and is interested in American presidential history. Oh, the hand wringing. “College as America used to understand it is coming to an end,” bemoans Rick Perlstein and his beatnik friend of fallen face. Those  Read More →

Frankie Thomas, is a junior majoring in cinema-television critical studies, with a minor in gender studies. Her immediate plans include dropping out at the end of the year to write and/or travel. She is a film maker and a blogger, with interests ranging from the social history of the Victorian era to birdwatching to the  Read More →

Max Lance, 23, is a freshman at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, majoring in writing for film and television. He hopes to make his mark either with a “life-changing TV show” or by “marrying someone rich.” When I dropped out of college three years ago I would have completely agreed that college isn’t the cultural experience  Read More →

Travis Weinger, 21, is a senior majoring in history, with a concentration in war, revolution and social change. His minor is political science. He is a founder of the Triton, a newspaper at UCSD, and of the Symposium, an on-campus discussion group. Rick Perlstein’s article, boiled down, is simply an extended version of the bitching that  Read More →

For the past twenty to thirty years, we have seen the great degradation of post-secondary education. Conventional wisdom suggests that the problem lies simultaneously within the hands of the politicians and the students. This narrative does not account for the history of college. Throughout the modern age, the role college played in the national debate  Read More →

Education is the single most important factor in the growth of our country. Specifically, higher education paves a future and provides opportunity for students that attend college and gives them a shot at a career. 50 years ago, college was strictly for the elite, high class Americans. Now, it seems that every common household has  Read More →

Young adults are fed by change. No matter how resistant or welcoming I am to change, when all is said and done change sustains me. Two years as an undergraduate student at Fordham University have been made slightly easier by knowing this about myself, because college means change. Even with the still shrinking cyber community  Read More →

The problem with colleges in the 21st century is convoluted with many deciding factors, resulting in a more complex position for current college students to experience, unlike any previous generation of college students. In my opinion, being a college graduate student and one who has been involved in my school, I can honestly say that  Read More →

Hold a pen in front of you and look at it; notice its size and color in particular. Now, slowly move it away until you have your arm fully extended. Notice anything different? Probably not, and that is how it should be. If we remember back to middle school science class, color is partially dependent  Read More →

I suppose I should begin by saying that I don’t go to a real college. I mean, I don’t feel like I go to a real college. I don’t take real classes. I don’t live on a real campus. I’m a music major and attend the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Peabody is an established  Read More →

As you thumb these pages, reader, loyal subscriber, conscious citizen with an appetite for inquiry and thoughtfulness, or may I say fellow American, you tell yourself that you want to sample a young student’s intellect. Certainly I do believe that my own college experience has been important, even critical, to my life and to my  Read More →

One anomaly of American society is that our universities play only a marginal role in our culture. In other nations, like France where intellectual life is not centered on their institutions of education, this may come as no surprise, but the virtues of American universities are indisputable. Academics wonder why they are allowed to be  Read More →