March 27, 2012
The anthologies used in many freshman composition courses tell students what to think, not how to write.
August 12, 2011
If you're the proud parent of an entering freshman this Fall semester, FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley has some advice that you may not have heard from your school's orientation team lead......
February 1, 2011
The current CHE features some survey data about the attitudes of last Fall's incoming college freshman class. In the first place, they think that they're pretty smart.
December 10, 2010
Here's an essay about a composition course at UNC that was a waste of time. No student, who wanted to improve his writing, would buy a course like this in a stand-alone, free market transa......
September 13, 2010
That is the question Professor Robert V. Young of North Carolina State answers in this Pope Center piece we released last week. Back when he taught the course in the 1970s, it was like boot camp for c......
August 6, 2010
Looking for awkward moments at freshman orientation this fall? Pick an identity: “The 60s Rabble Rouser,” “The Tolerance Enforcer,” “The Eco-Enthusiast,” &ldqu......
August 2, 2010
We hear a lot of chatter about how it's so vital that we get more young Americans through college because college teaches them the "higher skills" that the globalized "knowledge economy" demands......
July 12, 2010
Most good teachers had a model. Robert Pinsky had Francis Ferguson; Mark Edmundson had Frank Lears. I was lucky; I had two. My Freshman Comp. teacher was Dr. Idelle Sullens, a Stanford-trained me......
June 18, 2010
In today's Pope Center article, Jenna Robinson delves into the sad history of freshman summer reading programs. Unfortunately, the books that schools usually choose are either feel-good fluff or......
