The hottest Higher Ed Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Education Topics

Michael D. Smith's False Prophecy for Higher Education

The Recovering Academic • 554 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Higher education is facing challenges of scarcity in access, instruction, and credentials, leading to market power exploitation by institutions.
  2. The proposed shift towards digital education may widen the class divide in higher education rather than solving existing problems.
  3. The current trend in education, as proposed by Michael D. Smith, risks devaluing PhDs and academic jobs, leading to a potential collapse of the system.

Conformity and Education

In My Tribe • 516 implied HN points • 16 Jul 25
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Many parents actually prefer a conforming and safe school environment for their kids rather than a strict focus on academic excellence.
  2. Colleges often fail to teach effectively because they don't measure or reward good teaching, focusing instead on research credentials.
  3. Active learning is known to be more effective, but many colleges still stick to old lecture methods because most people value conformity over true learning.

CROSSPOST: DAVID DEMING: Using generative AI to learn is like Odysseus untying himself from the mast

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 38 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Generative AI frees learners to explore ideas actively, like Odysseus untying himself from the mast. It lets people test, iterate, and learn by doing instead of just passively consuming information.
  2. Real progress in economic history comes when we stop treating the past as isolated anecdotes and instead treat it as a measurable, modelable system. Measuring, modeling, and running counterfactuals reveals how historical forces worked and why outcomes happened.
  3. Combining generative AI with system-focused methods promises new ways to analyze and experiment with historical and economic questions. That mix could let researchers and learners poke at counterfactuals and build richer, testable theories.

Announcing the "No BS Political Science Newsletter"

Never Met a Science • 66 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. A new monthly newsletter will gather political science announcements, calls, publications, and job openings from microblog platforms so scholars can spot opportunities they might otherwise miss.
  2. Microblogging concentrates attention and creates networked inequality and parasocial weirdness, so scholars should use more transportable, resilient communication channels like email lists, newsletters, and self‑hosted tools.
  3. Open, scrapeable platforms made this digest possible but relying on for‑profit closed platforms is risky; the academic community should build and maintain its own infrastructure and language models for long‑term independence.

Assorted Links

In My Tribe • 470 implied HN points • 10 Jun 25
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Colleges, especially elite ones like Harvard, have been criticized for not being open to conservative ideas and for having a biased hiring process. Many believe they aren't likely to change on their own.
  2. There's a call for breaking up large universities into smaller entities to focus on research and education more effectively. This might help reduce their political activism and improve academic standards.
  3. New societal trends are shifting the way people view knowledge and expertise, often valuing common sense over traditional authority. This can create a space for new types of knowledge systems to emerge.
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Who Needs a Professor?

UnfairNation by Ehsan Zaffar • 6 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. AI can answer many questions, so traditional lectures and the professor-as-knowledge-delivery model are becoming obsolete. Teachers now need to change how they assess and teach.
  2. AI democratizes access to tutoring and expertise, giving students without elite resources personalized, always-available help.
  3. Humans still matter for mentoring: teachers can push students, model changing your mind, and evaluate real understanding in ways AI can't. That makes mentoring, judgment, and assessment design the new core roles for educators.

University and State

In My Tribe • 1093 implied HN points • 28 Nov 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Government involvement in higher education often leads to a focus on pleasing officials rather than genuinely educating students. This can create a cycle that stifles diverse ideas.
  2. There are too many people going to college instead of exploring other options like trade schools or apprenticeships. We need to rethink and expand our education paths.
  3. Instead of just making universities hire more conservative professors, we should consider cutting funding for traditional higher education altogether, and instead support alternative educational models.

Free Speech on College Campuses

The Future of Education • 495 implied HN points • 02 Jan 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. In the dialogue on college campuses, there is a need to broaden perspectives and engage in deeper conversations to foster resilience.
  2. University leaders should maintain neutrality on controversial issues, creating an environment for open debate without imposing specific viewpoints.
  3. Higher education institutions should focus on developing students' abilities to engage with complexity, debate ideas, and build humility for better societal cohesion.

Private thread: Are Profpreneurs Good for Students?

The Recovering Academic • 197 implied HN points • 23 Feb 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Professors in higher education may allocate teaching resources in a way that doesn't prioritize student demand, which can impact the quality of education.
  2. There can be a disconnect between faculty expertise and student interest in niche subjects, leading to limited access for students.
  3. The current system may not provide enough incentives for professors to focus on delivering a quality education to their students.

University administrators have forgotten what leadership is

The Recovering Academic • 415 implied HN points • 13 Oct 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. University administrators are being criticized for forgetting what true leadership entails, especially in the field of academia.
  2. Leaders in higher education should prioritize trust, respect, and shared risk with faculty and staff for effective leadership.
  3. Lessons from military history, like trusting and respecting subordinates, can offer valuable insights into effective leadership practices in academia.

2025 Update - Part 2

Devansh’s Newsletter • 15 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. A shorter-than-planned trip focused on Madison turned into a productive, restorative break where library work let course creation progress and daily golf and swimming felt energizing.
  2. A promising large university contract fell through, which was disappointing but proved such collaborations are possible and prompted a pivot to rebrand as Human Insight Academy and directly reach out to universities.
  3. A four-day silence retreat at an ashram was unexpectedly impactful and acted as a reset, while continued teaching and talks helped balance personal growth with ongoing work commitments.

Fixing Higher Ed: The Bailey-Caplan Convo

Bet On It • 105 implied HN points • 22 Aug 25
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. There's concern about the increasing politicization of universities, which some liken to past political eras like McCarthyism. This raises questions about how knowledge and education are being influenced by ideology.
  2. Many feel that government funding for higher education may actually be contributing to wasted time for students. It's important to think about how much funding should be given and how it should be used.
  3. The debate about what to save in higher education includes discussions on faculty hiring and the importance of ideological diversity. Ensuring a range of viewpoints can help foster a more open inquiry in academic settings.

We should remove electives from higher education

The Novelleist • 912 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Some universities are considering removing electives from bachelor degrees to reduce tuition cost and completion time.
  2. The traditional liberal arts education model is being challenged, advocating for more vocational-focused education.
  3. Online and asynchronous degree programs are making education more accessible and affordable for students worldwide.

Welcome to The Recovering Academic

The Recovering Academic • 217 implied HN points • 13 Sep 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The Recovering Academic newsletter offers exclusive interviews, essays, poetry, and resources for writers.
  2. Paying subscribers get access to behind-the-scenes interviews, thought pieces on higher ed, personal essays, and craft resources.
  3. Joshua Dolezal, the writer behind the newsletter, has 20 years of experience, has published a memoir, and co-produced a podcast.

Younger Faculty Are Leaning Out. Is That a Bad Thing?

The Recovering Academic • 178 implied HN points • 19 May 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Young faculty members, like Sarah Trocchio, are facing challenges with work-life balance and feeling undervalued in academia, leading some to consider leaving the field.
  2. Sarah Trocchio's experience highlights the importance of aligning personal values with professional standards in academia to prevent burnout and disengagement.
  3. The future of higher education may depend on early-career faculty like Sarah Trocchio advocating for clearer work/life boundaries and self-care to prevent exploitation and burnout.

You Get Out of it What You Put Into it

We're Gonna Get Those Bastards • 7 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Hard work and focused, sustained practice determine how much you really learn and how good you become; doing the minimum produces shallow results.
  2. Short-term shortcuts or outsourcing thinking (for example to AI) can avoid work now but leave you without real skills like writing and critical thinking later on.
  3. Most meaningful achievements require large time investments and trade-offs, so decide what matters to you and be willing to put in the reps.

Universities need to deal with trainee compensation

Science Forever • 159 implied HN points • 19 May 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Universities are facing challenges regarding the compensation of their trainees, leading to unionization efforts.
  2. Graduate students are advocating for fair compensation as they contribute significantly to research efforts and are considered full-time employees.
  3. The financial strain on universities due to demands for better compensation for graduate students is a significant issue in higher education.

The Update

The Discourse Lounge • 987 implied HN points • 06 Jun 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The author is finishing university and will soon graduate with a bachelor's in Computer Science.
  2. There will be a shift to weekly publication of 1-2 articles after graduation, focusing on housing, transit, and census data updates.
  3. Exclusive content will be available for subscribers, so it's a good time to subscribe for those interested.

Self-Hating Signaling

Bet On It • 654 implied HN points • 02 Jan 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The primary purpose of education is signaling to potential employers.
  2. Elite schools are sacrificing their elitist signaling mission for a secondary mission of charity, diluting the value of their degrees.
  3. U.S. News and World Report's revised ranking formula is obfuscating the trade-off between merit and philanthropy, redefining philanthropy as merit.

The Work of MrBeast University

Oliver Bateman Does the Work • 137 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The article discusses the concept of MrBeast University as a possible future for higher education.
  2. The publication is an investment in critical thought and nuanced discourse about the world of work.
  3. Paid subscribers empower and sustain the publication by actively supporting it.

Links to Consider, 10/29/2024

In My Tribe • 227 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The Socratic Experience aims to change education by focusing on personal growth and happiness instead of just curriculum. The goal is to reach millions of students by 2050, which shows it’s about making a positive impact rather than just profit.
  2. Since 2020, the U.S. has seen a big rise in debt, especially government debt, compared to its economic growth. This raises concerns about the sustainability of such debt levels.
  3. The UAE offers greater freedom for work and living compared to many Western countries. Its approach to immigration is different and aims to invite all people for better opportunities.

I Have Hired A "Disabled" Columnist Who Will Probably Never Write a Column

I Might Be Wrong • 13 implied HN points • 04 Dec 25
😂 Humor Higher Ed
  1. A newly hired columnist claims a long list of disabilities and requests extreme accommodations that would make it practically impossible for them to meet regular newsroom deadlines.
  2. Elite universities have seen big jumps in students registering disabilities—38% at Stanford and sharp increases at Chicago and Berkeley—prompting concerns about overdiagnosis and lightly‑scrutinized accommodations for conditions like ADHD, anxiety, and depression.
  3. The employer is stuck between legal and ethical duties to accommodate disabilities and the practical need for reliable work, which has led to legal threats, potential financial strain, and regret for not vetting the hire more carefully.

Books: The Credential Society

Bullfish Hole • 98 implied HN points • 20 Apr 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. College degrees may not necessarily provide concrete career training but are more about certifying desirable traits.
  2. Credential inflation drives the value of degrees down and leads to competition for higher credentials.
  3. Education has become a form of pseudoethnicity defining social class, and the future may see a contraction in higher education due to changing dynamics.

Spurring Student Success

The Future of Education • 59 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Student success efforts in college campuses are crucial, especially with concerns about completion rates and student retention.
  2. Engaging learners post-pandemic involves innovation in high school education, such as dual enrollment and integrating internships.
  3. Institutions need to focus on providing tangible value to students, addressing cost structures, and prioritizing student success in a changing higher education landscape.

So you want to be a yenching scholar

ChinaTalk • 44 implied HN points • 24 Jul 25
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Yenching Academy and Schwarzman Scholars are programs in China for international students aimed at fostering understanding and leadership. Yenching is a two-year program, while Schwarzman is one year.
  2. The application process for Yenching focuses on your interest in China and relevant experience, including language skills. Each program has different academic demands, with Yenching offering more accessible courses.
  3. Campus life at Yenching is diverse and encourages integration with local students, while Schwarzman tends to create a more Westernized environment. Networking opportunities and career services also vary significantly between the two programs.

The Inauguration of Laura Rosenbury

Imperfect Information • 39 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Higher Ed
  1. Laura Rosenbury was inaugurated as the ninth president of Barnard College after already being on the job for seven months.
  2. The past few months on campus have been tumultuous with protests, changes in policies, and reactions from various organizations.
  3. President Rosenbury faces challenges in leading the institution due to pressures from different groups, but her commitment to her role and the community is evident.

Introspection Before Any Possible Course Correction

Heterodox STEM • 291 implied HN points • 03 Mar 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Listening to the Congressional testimony on free speech exposed a lack of consistent application of concepts at universities.
  2. Public trust in higher education has significantly declined based on surveys due to real or perceived failures of universities.
  3. Universities facing public backlash have responded defensively rather than engaging in introspection, potentially leading to further erosion of trust.

Why Universities and Professors Won’t Go Away Anytime Soon

Mimir's Well • 78 implied HN points • 31 Jul 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Generative AI will disrupt education by impacting the value of university degrees and increasing alternative credentialing options.
  2. Professors bring irreplaceable value to students through curriculum design, domain knowledge, pedagogy, mentoring, and career guidance.
  3. Universities offer unique value like the college experience, credentialing, career training, alumni networks, and extracurricular activities that AI cannot replicate.

Higher Ed and the American Dream?

The Future of Education • 59 implied HN points • 15 Dec 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The importance of making higher education accessible to everyone, not just the privileged few
  2. The need for a shift in the grading system to focus more on mastery-based learning
  3. Concerns and potential changes regarding regulations in higher education and outside partnerships

STEM teaching deserves recognition

Science Forever • 39 implied HN points • 17 Mar 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Recognizing STEM teaching as a distinct workforce is important for addressing issues like racism, sexism, misconduct, and underrepresentation in the science field.
  2. Institutions struggle to balance the value of research and teaching, often favoring research in resource allocation and decision-making.
  3. Defining undergraduate teaching staff as a separate workforce could improve governance, professional development opportunities, and evaluation criteria, ultimately benefiting both educators and institutions in the long run.

Out-of-State Tuition Is Out of this World

Bet On It • 130 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. About 75% of American college students attend public schools, yet out-of-state tuition is significantly higher than in-state tuition, with an average ratio of 3:1.
  2. The significant price gap between in-state and out-of-state tuition is primarily due to massive subsidies by state governments for in-state students, making out-of-state tuition competitive rather than monopolistic.
  3. Despite concerns about high college costs, state governments contribute about two-thirds of the total cost for public colleges through various subsidies, making higher education more socialist than commonly perceived.

Goff on the Cost Disease

Bet On It • 140 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Prices and expenditures in medical care need to account for quality and income levels
  2. Healthcare services have improved in quality over the years, impacting prices
  3. Education has evolved into a consumption-driven industry with a demand for the 'college experience'

Demise of the Pac-12, Campus Spending, and DeSantis at Yale

The Future of Education • 19 implied HN points • 14 Sep 23
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Colleges are facing financial challenges as federal funding decreases and there's pressure to bring in more revenue, even impacting athletic programs like the Pac-12.
  2. Many colleges are criticized for excessive spending that doesn't align with providing value to students, contributing to the overall cost crisis in higher education.
  3. It's important to rethink incentives and challenge the idea that spending more equates to delivering a better education at colleges.

The crisis of higher education is worse than you think

White Hot Harlots • 3 HN points • 23 Apr 24
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. The poor state of students' mental health and academic achievement in higher education is not primarily due to identity issues or campus protests, but rather stems from decades of mismanagement.
  2. Higher education institutions are facing severe challenges such as overwhelming class sizes, underpaid contingent faculty, and a shift towards standardized, impersonal tech-driven teaching methods.
  3. Students are grappling with a lack of basic computer skills due to the appification of technology, lack of access to computer labs, and centralization of teaching methods leading to a decline in understanding fundamental concepts.

Social Justice Discourse Notwithstanding, Universities Run on Disposable Scholars

Symbolic Capital(ism) • 59 implied HN points • 01 May 20
🚌 Education Higher Ed
  1. Universities rely on overproducing PhD candidates to cover undesirable teaching tasks, which leads to exploitation of contingent faculty.
  2. There is a lack of job opportunities for recent PhD graduates, creating a pool of desperate academics reliant on low pay and unstable positions.
  3. Reducing PhD admissions could improve placement rates and bargaining power for academics, but would require faculty to teach more basic courses and do additional work themselves.