Jim Rokakis stands in front of a house scheduled to be demolished later in the day. We are the Cleveland suburb of Cleveland Heights. Rokakis, the Cuyahoga County treasurer from 1997 through 2011, is being interviewed by a reporter from Canada’s CBC. “So, you are the guy who saw all this coming?” the reporter asks. He shrugs. Rokakis has been a main actor in the sub-prime mortgage story since 2000, when he went to the Federal Reserve with his concern about securitized loans. In March 2001, he sponsored a conference on predatory lending in Ohio. No one paid him any mind. “The ... Read More
‘Wither’ the Liberal Arts College?
September 27, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
In Liberal Arts at the Brink, Victor E. Ferrall Jr., former president of Beloit College, bluntly and convincingly argues that liberal arts colleges, from famous leafy schools like Swarthmore and Bowdoin to lesser-known regional schools like Bethel and Hiram, are in trouble. The increasing career orientation of students entering higher education has led many of these schools to add vocational majors such as nursing, education and leisure studies, watering down their historic missions. While listed tuitions remain high, in part to ensure prestige, colleges compete for the few top students, ... Read More
Handwriting Is History
December 17, 2009 • By • 45 Comments
At 11 p.m. on Dec. 27, I checked my inbox out of habit. I had 581 new e-mails. All had been sent between 8 and 11 p.m. The days between Christmas and New Year's are not usually a busy time for e-mailing. What was going on? It turns out that the home page for MSN.com had linked to a short article I had published a year earlier. In the article, I argue that we should stop teaching cursive in primary schools and provide some background on the history of handwriting to back up my claims. The comments on my piece were hostile, insulting and vehemently opposed to my argument. The onslaught ... Read More
