A Letter to a Young Scholar
A professor provides guidance for a bright student who wants to become a professor himself.
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Inequality Courses: Some More Equal Than Others
Social inequality could be studied objectively, but most courses are overloaded with leftist beliefs.
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Is Education the Answer?
During this tough year for the American economy, President Obama repeatedly has declared “If we want more good news on the jobs front then we’ve got to make more investments in education.” While others have challenged the federal role in education and debated the issue of tuition vouchers versus public schools, there has been little […]
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Toward Greater Diversity in Educational Excellence
Bozeman has excellent schools. Bozeman High often ranks among the top 6 percent of America’s government run schools with over a dozen AP classes. It has terrific music and athletic programs. A national organization, Great Schools, gives BHS a perfect 10. More impressive, a few years ago a small group of students wanted a course […]
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Doctors as Engineers
FREE recently hosted a conference, “Personal Health Care Choices and Public Policy,” for Federal Judges, State Supreme Court Justices, and Law Professors. This is an area fraught with supply and access problems, competing values, and political opportunism. Economics offers some important insights when considering them. John Goodman, Ph.D., is one of FREE’s senior fellows. John […]
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Farm Fields Best Suited for Housing
MSU has recently made significant progress in advancing its research and reputation. In 1970, it had few nationally recognized programs and subsequently missed many opportunities to promote or retain excellence. A generation ago political intrusions on academic quality afflicted Montana Hall, but leadership, entrepreneurship, location, and technology now trump. Today MSU is far more alert […]
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Try Applying an Ecological Perspective to School Equity
Why do well-intended people so often propose counterproductive policy solutions, the outcomes of which thwart their stated goals? What’s wrong? Let’s employ an ecological perspective to help understand this paradox. Human systems, like ecological ones, are inherently complex. When intervening it’s nearly impossible to do only one thing. The distinguished ecologist Garrett Hardin offered the […]
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Intellectual Entrepreneurship at the University of the Yellowstone?
Montana State University is poised to become a nationally recognized school of excellence. Success is highly probable if MSU leaders capitalize on becoming the University of the Yellowstone. Such advancement would reflect the diffusion of quality throughout American higher education. (The U of M enjoys a similar opportunity, but success will be more difficult there.) […]
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Jock Niche Redux
Gallatin Gateway, MT, July 3rd. Late last night Ramona and I returned from academic conferences in Europe. I had lectured on land resources at the University Cezanne in Aix en Provence, France. Folks from eleven nations attended and I identified myself as a Montanan and Ramona as an MSU professor emeritus. I was asked about […]
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MSU, University of the Yellowstone
Here’s new evidence MSU is prospering. First the Carnegie Endowment just ranked MSU among the top 96 research universities in the U.S. No other school in our region made the cut. Second, on March 6th, Sikorsky Aircraft announced a new Bozeman design center to begin operation this July. Mark Miller, vice president of research and […]
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