Current Wisdom

“It was almost stereotypical of Vietnam decision makers to assume that what they could not do simply could not be done.”
—Hollins University political science professor Edward A. Lynch in his book, The Cold War’s Last Battlefield: Reagan, the Soviets, and Central America.

“Tribalism in the Middle East is not only alive and kicking, it is alive and killing.”
—Dr. Mordechai Kedar, professor of Arabic at Bar Ilan University, in a forum on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Endowment for Middle East Truth.

“Buried in all the hype about MOOCs is a somewhat surprising admission by some of the world’s leading universities—that their teaching methods may not be very good.”—Jeffrey Young, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 15, 2013.

“Why does environmentalism tend to be so pious and self-serious?”—From Princeton catalogue description of course entitled “The Environment Can Be Funny”

“We put way too much emphasis on how many years of school students have rather than what they’re learning.”
— Isabel V. Sawhill, Brookings Institution economist in remarks there on September 12, 2013.

“As summer becomes fall, we commence the 100th anniversary of that most glorious of all the violations of the United States Constitution, the Federal Reserve.” Seth Lipsky, The American Spectator, September 2013.

“Increasingly, the Sunni-Shia divide is becoming more important in the Middle East than the Israeli-Arab conflict.”—Peter Hitchens, The American Spectator, September 2013.

“The abiding belief that we can plant democracy anywhere, and that it will then flourish in harmony and love thereafter, is never cured by facts or upset by anomalies.”—Peter Hitchens, The American Spectator, September 2013.

“One of the reasons that we’re losing the culture war right now is that indoctrination begins in pre-school and by the time you get to college you’re way out on the fringe.” —Dr. Ben Carson

“Campuses: Islands of intolerance in a sea of freedom.” –Christina Hoff Sommers

“What we do is we encourage people to go to college promiscuously.”— Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association @ the bloggers’ briefing at the Heritage Foundation.

“In an Unexpected Finding, Parents’ Education Level Is Weak Predictor of Students’ Learning Habits” —The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 3, 2013