Month October 2011

Hi there. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was born into a Catholic family and when I was a young, defenseless, trusting child needing lots of love, attention, and positive regard, I had to listen to…

I come to teaching with all of my being. My devotion to you is complete. For me, teaching is about something you are, something you embody. Thus I have no techniques, no strategies, no skills, no drills, no exercises that…

In truth, Bill Gates probably isn’t an idiot. He did build one of the most successful software companies in the world after all. At the same time however his ability to prognosticate on post-secondary education seems questionable at best. The…

February 15, 2011 By Russell K. Nieli. Reprinted with permission from the National Association of Scholars This is the cultural dilemma of capitalist society: it must now acknowledge the triumph (albeit tempered) of an adversary “ideology,” the emergence of a…

TextBooks John D. Carl. THINK Social Problems. Boston: Pearson. 2011. 342 pp. $71.33. James W. Coleman and Harold R. Kerbo. Social Problems. 10th ed. Boston: Pearson. 2009. 525 pp. $86.60. Corey Dolgon and Chris Baker. Social Problems: A Service Learning…

War!? What is it good for? Taking stuff from others. Say it again. Oh, ah. Well, enough with the homage to Frankie who was in Hollywood in the 80s. War is another one of those ideological hot buttons, like greed,…

Power, control, and secrecy in higher education Over the past few years, the Colorado State University Board of Governors has become increasingly secretive. During the spring of 2009, the BOG’s stealth maneuvers became so extreme that several Colorado legislators introduced…

A comparison of “socialized” versus private health care According to some critics, Barrack Obama’s efforts to work out a federal solution to the health care crisis implies that he is a socialist. Indeed, free market logic tends to assert that…

Canada has a well-known history of telecommunications innovation. What many Canadians don’t know  is that Ericsson does as well, with new ideas flowing from our research and development centres for over 100 years. That’s why Ericsson is funding the Centre…

Functionalism is an American sociological concept created by an American-Talcott Parsons. As a young Ph.D Parsons joined the Sociology faculty at Harvard University.  At Harvard during the McCarty era he was erroneously reported to be a member of the Communist…