Tag Archives: university

Puff-Piece Features about Philosophy Do the World No Good: Isn’t Philosophy about asking Tough Questions?

I’m happy the Professor is getting some recognition, but the interesting issues this piece raises are dropped as soon as they come up. 1. The first issue that this article raises regards the status of public universities: Auburn is a land-grant university: it became one in 1872 under a federal program geared toward helping the …

September 23, 2008 – 7:47 pm | By ashok | Posted in academia, education, philosophy | Tagged | Comments (4)

9/11/2001

The events are real enough. I’m still debating what role 9/11 played in my thought and actions. I had class at Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ early that morning. My dorm two years before had a clear view of the New York skyline; I used to get up in the morning sophomore year and the …

September 2, 2008 – 7:05 am | By ashok | Posted in academia | Tagged , | Comments (6)

General Advice on Picking a College (Also: Should You Consider Academic Department Rankings?)

Disclaimer: Back when I was 17 and knew nothing, I was obsessed with College Rankings, entering SAT scores of freshman classes, school size, and departments and faculty that had a reputation. I don’t regret trying to know, I just wish I had known better. I can safely tell you that there was no one in …

April 4, 2008 – 1:33 am | By ashok | Posted in education | Tagged | Comments (5)

How Should An Academic Regard Religion? On the First Chapter of Buckley’s "God and Man at Yale"

This is only based on the first chapter of God and Man at Yale. I’m using Buckley as a straw man for some other arguments I’ve encountered – “Why can’t a university have a completely Christian faculty?” etc. 1. Perhaps the directness of the argument of God and Man at Yale is most shocking to …

March 9, 2008 – 5:40 pm | By ashok | Posted in education, politics | Tagged | Comments (0)

On Grad School, Collegium Cantorum, and Costa Rica

This is what I’ve been up to from the 20th up till now. Enjoy. 1. Some of you have been asking about grad school, and my participation in choir (Collegium Cantorum) has been a large part of my time there.My graduate school, which I’m very proud of, is the University of Dallas. Most of the …

January 3, 2008 – 12:06 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal | Tagged | Comments (3)

How The Academy Destroyed Itself

What was essential for the humanities was that it preserved the knowledge of the past, and kept students informed of the seriousness of the past, and the questions it posed. To that end, professors had to meet very rigorous demands once upon a time. Note this description of what was expected at Harvard: I remember …

November 2, 2006 – 5:00 pm | By ashok | Posted in academia | Tagged | Comments (8)