Current Wisdom 2012, Part Deux
People are still saying wise things, although usually off campus. In collecting the wisdom from the past year, that’s where we found most of the sagacious sayings.
Here is Accuracy in Academia’s compendium of current wisdom for 2012 in two parts. Yes, we found that much:
May 3, 2012
“There is a myth that low-skilled immigration is good for the economy and yet in areas where there are no low-skilled workers, their lawns get mowed and the dishes in their restaurants get cleaned.”—Barry Chiswick, George Washington University economist at the Cato Institute on April 26, 2012
May 2, 2012
“The value of an industry is inversely proportional to the number of awards it gives itself”— humorist and blogger David Burge
April 30, 2012
“If our students are burdened with oppressive loans, why do so many university rec centers look like five-star spas?”—Victor Davis Hansen
April 12, 2012
“If parents abdicate all responsibility to liberal professors, there’s a good chance the graduate will come home spouting liberal claptrap and looking forward to his or her next Occupy Wall Street rally.”—Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute.
April 6, 2012
“In every documentary, the lessons are always what we want it to be.”—CNN’s Soledad O’Brien in an interview published in the May 2012 issue of the American School Board Journal
March 26, 2012
“The dramatic increase in college president salaries has not produced better leaders.”—John K. Wilson of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
March 12, 2012
“Is Western Civilization on the road to its own funeral because of the birth dearth?”—Veteran journalist Wes Vernon in a column for the Fitzgerald-Griffen Foundation
March 5, 2012
Everyone who is honest about academe knows that colleges and universities tend to be wasteful and plagued by expensive redundancies.— Andrew Delbanco, professor of humanities and director of American studies at Columbia University.
February 23, 2012
“Strategy is actually a fraud perpetrated by those who covet power and are intent on concealing from the plain folk the fact that the people in charge are flying blind.”— Andrew J. Bacevich is professor of history and international relations at Boston University.
Anthropologists Sink Own Careers
February 3, 2012
“When the leadership in a field threatens careers if one does anything to help the U. S. Army better understand cultures and peoples in order to conduct the most precise, effective, and moral warfare it is no wonder that few anthropologists find the fortitude to cross the party line.”—Dan G. Cox, associate professor of political science at the School of Advanced Military Studies.
January 14, 2012
“Were the EU a term paper, a lenient professor would likely give it a D+.”— Jakub Grygiel, the George H.W. Bush Senior Associate Professor of International Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org.
Malcolm A. Kline
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail contact@academia.org.
