Day: August 18, 2025

The Price We Pay for Performative Progressivism in Higher Education

“On today’s college campuses, students are not maturing — they’re managing. Beneath a facade of progressive slogans and institutional virtue-signaling lies a quiet psychological crisis, driven by the demands of ideological conformity.” Researchers Forest Romm and Kevin Waldman just published a devastating portrait of undergraduate life at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, “Performative […]

Read More

The Math Standards Ready to Trend on TikTok

There’s an entire TikTok category of videos, Why is Common Core Math Bad. If you go to Instagram, there’s a math teacher who’ll tell you, If you’ve ever tried to read the Common Core’s Standards for Mathematical Practices, they’re almost impossible for math teachers to understand … and that means that students, parents, and administrators […]

Read More

Academic Rigor Sticks When Students Feel Seen, Known, and Valued—Men Especially

Editor’s Note: The following is an article originally published on RealClear Education on August 15, 2025. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. When the semester begins, my classroom fills with anticipation and nerves—mine included. Every term offers a chance to start fresh, build habits, and forge relationships […]

Read More

Short Take: Undoing Generational Damage Requires Generational Work

Back in April, in a piece titled “The Horse, My Contributor, Is Dead,” I warned that we at Minding the Campus risked treading water by hammering the same points about “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), wokeness, and campus anti-Semitism. Those truths are vital—but endlessly repeating them without fresh angles or deeper reporting amounts to beating […]

Read More

The Education Department’s Own Guidance Pushes Ideology into Schools. It Needs to Check Itself

The non-regulatory guidance for Title IV, Part A, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provides state and local educational agencies with information on the allowable use of federal funds. It is not legally binding, but it amounts to an unofficial endorsement by the Department of Education (ED)—no matter how much the agency […]

Read More

Long Live the Liberal Arts

Years ago, at an event attended by local political and business leaders, a major real estate developer expressed shock and disbelief that I, a professor who is not a Marxist, worked in academia. He declared to me in front of everyone at the table that “real power is in business,” to which I replied that […]

Read More