Editor’s Note: The following is a response to Jared Gould’s recent piece, “Welcome to the Unemployment Line, Graduate.” The author—a retired scientist and former recruiter for engineering and research roles in the U.S., Europe, and China—offers a critical perspective on the current higher education model and shares a more optimistic view of how young people […]
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I imagine that many instructors experiment with artificial intelligence (AI). Perhaps to create or modify a syllabus. Perhaps to create writing assignments. Tests. Collaborative assignments that are part student, part AI. Other instructors are still in the resistance. All told, we find ourselves in a transitional period with this new stage of AI’s development and […]
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In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education essay, philosopher Megan Fritts offered a stark meditation on her experience serving on a university artificial intelligence (AI) committee: “If this robot can write these books better than we can,” she writes, “then what are we doing here?” The question lingers not only for humanities professors defending their […]
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This year marks my ninth year coaching students on their college essays. It also marks my first year coaching ChatGPT. Passionate about the transformative power of writing, I signed up to teach three high school students how to outline and draft their college essays back in 2017. After studying countless Ivy League college application files […]
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It’s just too easy. “Here’s a picture of my homework, what are the answers?” “Write me a 500-word essay on Catcher in the Rye that sounds like me (I’m in 8th grade).” As humans, we build things that allow us to take the path of least resistance. From the wheel to the printing press, we […]
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It is undeniable that universities across America have resisted the burgeoning trend of artificial intelligence (AI). The mere thought of unbridled access to resources like ChatGPT, which makes academic dishonesty difficult to detect, has produced tremors of resistance in professors and administrators alike. It seems that just over the last year, the boundaries of AI […]
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For years, it has been common knowledge that a humanities degree will screw you over. Compare, for instance, the median earnings of a Computer Science (CS) major from five years after graduating from Columbia University ($204,000) to that of an English major graduating from the same school ($74,000). Enrollment statistics paint a similar picture, with […]
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We couldn’t find the exit to the parking structure. We were also afraid to arrive late to a conference on Exodus 2. I spotted a young woman who appeared to be a student. She was more than helpful in leading us out of the parking structure. On the way, I asked her what her major […]
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Editor’s Note: A version of this article was originally published on the author’s Substack on June 6, 2025. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. A new era is here. With ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok now widely available, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are starting to reshape how […]
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As artificial intelligence (AI) models continue to expand their capabilities and their usage spreads, more cases of bias are emerging. It is essential to determine whether its biases are valid or have been introduced by human interference, whether deliberate or accidental. Once we know the source of the bias, we can hopefully find remedies. AI […]
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The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) on campus has engendered a chorus of doom and gloom among conservative commentators. Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, citing a survey from the Guardian showing a sharp rise in AI cheating, said recently that “AI has killed what was left of the education system. It’s over.” But is that […]
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For millennia, man has wondered whether he is alone in the universe. Organizations such as the SETI Institute (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), founded in 1984, once employed more than 100 scientists, educators, and support staff in their quest to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.” To […]
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest major development in the field of education, and it has the potential to either improve educational quality or significantly devalue it. It all depends on how it is used. In composition courses, using AI to produce outlines, take notes, or write, revise, or translate student writing undermines learning by […]
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Joseph Aoun advocates for revising higher education to adapt to artificial intelligence (AI) challenges. I have also advocated for this revision. Aoun presents a rationale and a buffet of possibilities. Here, I will extract a core recommendation to explore how combining disciplines with AI might work. Aoun writes: Since AI has extended its tendrils into […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal on May 13, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. Universities are continuing to navigate the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial-intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT. While many are wary of its power and capacity to enable student cheating, others point […]
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What are the important topics that make a university education valuable? And even while the student traverses the various courses? Or in the future, when the student takes his or her place in society? I attended Columbia College in the 1960s. I took the foundational classes in Western Civilization and Humanities, but I failed to […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Law & Liberty on March 1, 2024 and is crossposted here with permission. Over the past year, artificial intelligence has become a subject of widespread public interest and concern. This is mainly thanks to new Generative AI models, such as ChatGPT and Bard, which have brought AI unprecedented attention and […]
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On July 15/16, the Wall Street Journal had an ominous story on the advancing influence of a few technology companies on every aspect of our lives. The main focus fell on the extraordinary growth of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, a colossal quintet that makes the old days of the Robber Barons look minor […]
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