Latest news with #HillsdaleCollege
Hindustan Times
21-05-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
College Students Ride the AI Cheating Wave
Editor's note: In this Future View, students discuss artificial intelligence and cheating. Next we'll ask: 'Have you noticed DEI programs being canceled or scaled back at school? Is this good or bad?' Students should click here to submit opinions of fewer than 250 words by May 26. The best responses will be published Tuesday night. Writing an undergraduate paper isn't about the actual paper. As an English major, I write to understand what I have read. Using artificial intelligence to write a term paper for my Shakespeare class wouldn't only be dishonest, it would rob me of my education. The odds of my saying something novel about 'To be or not to be' are about zero, and I know academia isn't hurting for the musings of a 20-year-old student fueled by energy drinks in the library at 2 a.m. I write not because anyone else needs to read my thoughts, but because I need to write them. Delivering a finished paper takes hours of reading, rereading, outlining, drafting and editing. Even then, as one of my professors said, papers are never really finished, they are only due. Writing may be draining, never perfect, but it's always rewarding. Slaving over term papers every semester for three years has made me a more careful reader, insightful thinker and articulate writer. When my professor grades my work, he judges the merit of my thought and engagement with the text. The page must reflect me, then, not the output of a chatbot. AI has its merits. The chatbot Grok can do a deep search faster than I can find someone on LinkedIn, and ChatGPT wrote me a better workout program than my personal trainer did. The technology may well improve the quality of work in many spheres, but the classroom isn't one of them. —Moira Gleason, Hillsdale College, English AI isn't cheating—it's preparation. As a medical student, I have found that success isn't measured by memorization but by the ability to make informed decisions that save lives. Increasingly, that means working alongside AI. Tools including ChatGPT, Gemini and Open Evidence are already helping clinicians navigate complex cases on hospital wards—whether it's by narrowing treatment options or summarizing the latest research on a rare disease. Research published in Nature has shown that a doctor using AI chatbots can often make better clinical decisions than a doctor working alone. Students cross an ethical line only when they use AI to avoid learning. A medical professional needs to know enough to use AI properly and safely. If a model 'hallucinates' and a doctor doesn't realize it, mistakes can slip by. That's dangerous in the classroom and the clinic. But there's a clear difference between outsourcing thinking and using AI to enhance it. Medical schools shouldn't only allow AI—they have a duty to teach how to use it responsibly. Generative AI can simulate patient scenarios, break down difficult concepts or offer alternative ways of thinking. The next generation of physicians must know how to collaborate with AI, critically question its output and integrate it safely into patient care. That isn't cheating. That's learning that prepares students for the future of medicine. —Dhruva Gupta, Harvard University, medicine Students in college have begun unloading their coursework completely onto AI. It has become an excuse not to attend class at all; a chatbot already knows all it needs to complete your coursework. Using AI to write an essay or complete an assignment negates the entire point of education—all while disadvantaging students who actually put time and effort into earning their degrees. The widespread use of AI pushes students to rely on chatbots to keep up with their peers. AI is valuable when it isn't used to complete assignments for students. Its ability to compile information quickly to create study guides or explain course material can assist a student's learning. Unfortunately, the majority of students aren't using AI with such intentions. —Patryk Zielinski, University of Connecticut, economics As generative AI tools become more sophisticated, our definition of academic dishonesty and cheating must evolve. Using AI to help review, write or structure essays and problem sets isn't inherently dishonest. Cheating implies an unfair advantage; that you used prohibited means not available to others. But AI tools are becoming as ubiquitous as calculators. What matters is how educators design assignments, and how teachers shift their focus from assessing rote knowledge to assessing critical skills. These new tools should prompt a re-evaluation of our educational goals. If a chatbot can produce a coherent response to a question instantly, perhaps that question no longer reflects meaningful understanding. Rather than testing easily searchable facts, teachers should design assessments that demand analytical thinking, synthesis and original insight—the skills AI can't fully replicate. In a world in which AI is universally accessible, the abilities students need to cultivate are different. Schools need to adapt to that reality. Rather than lowering standards, AI can raise them, redefining what it means to learn. —Shira Shturman, Reichman University, law Click here to submit a response to next week's Future View. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Historians alarmed as Trump seeks to rewrite US story for 250th anniversary
Donald Trump, it could be said, takes a breezy, Sam Cooke style approach to history. Like the legendary 'king of soul' in his 1960 hit Wonderful World, the US president has admitted to not knowing much about historical events or figures of the past – even when faced with authorities on the subject. Recalling a conversation at Mar-a-Lago shortly after Trump's 2016 election victory, the American historian Douglas Brinkley recently recounted his shock when Trump – who has mused about having his name carved on Mount Rushmore alongside the nation's most celebrated presidents – told him he had never read a book about Abraham Lincoln. 'He was thinking about what he would do for his inaugural address, and he said he knew nothing about past history,' Brinkley told a webinar organized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 'It startled me, because when you talk to politicians, they even make up books. They pretend they read a lot. He just kind of shrugged it off and told me that he was a visual guy. That translated as his sense of history in a true sense began with John F Kennedy.' Ignorance, however, appears to be no barrier as Trump seeks to grasp control of the US's historical narrative in the run-up to next year's landmark celebration of the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence, also known as the semiquincentennial. Under an executive order issued in January, the president has started to churn out his own approved version of US history that professional historians fear will resort to the tried and tested authoritarian playbook of airbrushing out inconvenient and inglorious chapters that do not align with his vision of American greatness. 'He is not now and never has been a student of history, but is basically a restorationist,' said Jonathan Alter, a historian and biographer of several US presidents, including Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Franklin Roosevelt. Alter described a 'restorationist' as a 'political figure who operates on the politics of nostalgia'. 'He's ignorant of economic history, he's ignorant of political history. And his idea for the 250 is to use it as a way to celebrate him,' Alter added. 'We don't know yet exactly how he'll hijack that event next year, but he will certainly try to do so.' As a first step, Trump's order established himself chair of a White House taskforce 250 and vowed a 'grand celebration' to mark the country's 250th birthday on 4 July 2026 and 'other actions to honor the history of our great nation'. One of those was under way last month when the first of a series of short videos, entitled 'The Story of America', was posted on the White House 250 website. The videos were produced in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian institution in Michigan. In the opening video, the college's president, Larry Arnn – a former research director for Winston's Churchill official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert – drew similarities between Lincoln and Trump, citing the current president's signature slogan 'Make America Great Again'. 'He has a famous slogan that I will not repeat here, but everybody knows what it is, and it ends with the word again,' said Arnn, who did not respond to the Guardian's interview request. 'He wants to do something again, something that's already been done … And it places him somewhere near the politics of Abraham Lincoln.' In another, perhaps unintended, parallel, Arnn, describing the text of the independence document, recounts how the founding fathers justified the declaration by asserting that King George III 'violated his rightful powers by invading the authority of the legislature, which indicates separation of powers would be right, and that he has interfered with representation, our ability to elect our government, which means consent of the governed … and … interfered with the judicial branch'. The videos are being rolled out weeks after Trump, in another executive order, called for a radical makeover in how the country's past is presented in federally funded museums such as the Smithsonian, and national parks. The administration has also unveiled plans for a national garden of American heroes, with the National Endowment for the Humanities offering partial funding for life-size sculptures of 250 notable figures from the country's past. Yet with critics accusing the president of defying court orders, usurping powers normally reserved for Congress and of behaving like a despot, Arnn's narrative inadvertently exposes the political risks to Trump of trying to identify himself with America's revolutionary founders. The problem for Trump, argued Johann Neem, a professor of US history at Western Washington University, is that the revolution was a rebellion 'against tyranny and arbitrary power' of the type that he is now trying to wield. 'Any continuity between the actual political meaning of the revolution and what Trump is doing to our constitution is false,' he said. 'Anybody who teaches about the American revolution knows that the thing the founders feared the most is someone like Donald Trump – someone who would be lawless and and have arbitrary power, that's not limited by the rule of law.' Trump's bid to annex the historical narrative is part of a wider culture war, historians said, fueled in part by leftwing discourses on the central position of race in the national story. Those views were exemplified by the New York Times's 1619 Project, which takes a critical view of some of the most revered figures in the American revolution and their attitudes to slavery. The Pulitzer-winning project drew a splenetic response from Trump, who attacked it as 'totally discredited' and typical of a leftwing critique that 'defiled the American story with deceptions, falsehoods and lies' at a White House history event in 2020. 'This project rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom,' he told the event. In response, he commissioned a 1776 report – released in the final days of his first term – which drew up plans for a 'patriotic education' that would refute teachings on issues like systemic racism and critical race theory. Critics accused the report of distorting the country's history of racism and painting a misleadingly benign picture of some of the revolution's slave-owning founding fathers and misappropriating quotes from Martin Luther King. Neem called Trump's perspective a 'hyper-nationalist overreaction' to what he called 'a post-American approach' adopted by some left-leaning historians who depicted racism as so central to the country's founding principle, that it left ordinary citizens feeling there was little to celebrate. The results, he warned could be a 'saccharine' and simplified version of America's often complex national story that would amount to 'an abuse of history' and serve an 'autocratic playbook.' 'He is speaking for a group of intellectuals and activists that truly believe progressives have corrupted American culture and have stolen their country,' Neem said. 'The critical turn in American history is just one piece of a larger problem and and they see historians, as well as other experts, as a kind of impurity.' Some historians are fighting back against Trump's encroachment onto their territory. Heather Cox Richardson, a professor of history at Boston College and a specialist in the US in the 19th century, is producing a series of 90-second videos called Journey to American Democracy she hopes will eventually be watched in school classrooms. She predicted that Trump's efforts to control history through the taskforce 250 was doomed to fail, because other historians were seeking to project 'grassroots history' to a wider audience online. 'We are looking at the different ways in which our always multicultural society constructed a nation, and that is a story of extraordinary triumph, but also of missteps and tragedy,' said Cox Richardson. 'The idea that we had a perfect past that needs to be recovered is an ideology in service to an authoritarian, strongman, and one of the things you see with the rise of a strongman is the attempt to destroy real history.' 'But if you look around the United States now, you see that the ability to affect culture is slipping away from the president's hands. The more he talks about it being this sanitized work of a few ideologically pure white leaders in the past, the more other people will speak up and say, 'Well, no, not really.''
Wall Street Journal
02-05-2025
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
How Inefficient Is Harvard?
Mark Mishler argues that Hillsdale College is more efficient than Harvard University because it has a higher student-to-employee ratio (Letters, April 30). But teaching is only a small part of what goes on at the university. In my years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, I spent less than 1% of my time teaching students about neural network programming, epilepsy, neuroscience and supervising residents in neurology. I spent roughly 75% of it doing research, 10% on seeing patients and the rest on writing grant proposals and serving on the institutional review board for research. A better metric for inefficiency is the ratio of administrators to faculty, which has ballooned in recent decades thanks to governmental regulations and social engineering. Reducing that, and streamlining the process for applying for grants, is where bloat can best be mitigated.
Boston Globe
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Hillsdale College refuses federal funding. It makes me a better teacher.
Advertisement This bold idea need not be a mere thought experiment. It's a part of my reality, as a guy who works at a college that refuses federal largesse; it's a denial that delivers a blessing. It protects me and my colleagues from bossy bureaucrats and makes me a better teacher. Hillsdale College was founded by Free Will Baptists in Michigan in 1844. Its Advertisement The graduates of Hillsdale College include In 1975, Hillsdale College received a letter from the federal government, as did Harvard and every other college and university in the United States, ordering it to sign a document to say it complied with affirmative-action regulations, and then to provide data on the race and ethnicity of its students and employees. Hillsdale declined, on the grounds that it never had discriminated, as well as to defend the principle that even a federal government with good intentions has no business meddling in its affairs. A years-long legal battle ended when the Supreme Court said that recipients of federal aid must comply with federal dictates, including schools that merely enroll students who take federal loans and veterans who seek to use GI Bill benefits. Once again, Hillsdale College Advertisement Rather than imposing hardship, this principled position has created opportunity. Hillsdale College can focus on providing a high-quality liberal arts education, rather than mustering an army of compliance officers who fuss over federal directives. One of these directives is the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which has led regulators to insist that professors can't talk to the parents of their students about classroom performance. It doesn't matter if mom and dad pay the tuition. This rule intends to protect student privacy, and there's something to be said for treating college students as adults rather than as wards. Yet FERPA bans a valuable form of communication. I've learned this firsthand because of Parents Weekend, which Hillsdale College holds every semester. Its main event is a chance for parents to have one-on-one meetings with the professors who teach their children. Other colleges and universities also have Parents Weekend, but without this element. During these conversations, I give out syllabi and describe the objectives of my courses. I trade information about academic interests, career ambitions, and more. I've heard about mental health challenges and other personal struggles. On multiple occasions, based on what parents have said, I've helped students find internships and jobs. The bottom line is that Parents Weekend allows an exchange that makes me better at what I'm charged to do. And I get to do it because Hillsdale College can ignore federal regulations. Another reward of resistance is that millions of Americans have resolved to support Hillsdale College's freedom, and they've helped the college build an endowment of about $900 million. That's a fraction of Harvard's treasure chest, but also the envy of many other liberal arts colleges, which have come to fear that they can't function without government subsidies. Advertisement It turns out that sometimes the right choice is to declare independence.
Epoch Times
30-04-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
5 Alternatives to Going to College
Only 36 percent of Americans have notable confidence in our higher education system, according to . 'The Chronicle of Higher Education,' a premier outlet covering news related to colleges and universities, has an entire series of articles on the ' .' These articles acknowledge that societal belief in the value of college has dropped significantly. More and more high school graduates are skipping college entirely. The reasons for a paradigm shift surrounding higher education lie beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that the days when college was seen as an all-but-necessary rite of passage and the only viable path to a successful career are probably over. My purpose isn't to advise anyone for or against college, nor to promote or criticize any particular institution. To be clear, many colleges offer an excellent education. Plenty of career paths require a college degree. Depending on a high school senior's circumstances, going to college may be a great choice. But that doesn't mean college is for everyone. Plus, the general state of our higher education system certainly leaves something to be desired. In many cases, Americans are asking the question: Is the quality of education available at the average college really worth the enormous financial cost and time commitment? Sometimes, the answer is no. Fortunately, there are ways to receive a good education that don't have to put your loved one into debt for the next 10 years. There are also successful career paths that don't lead through the ivory tower. Here are five ideas for young people looking for an alternative to the standard four-year college bachelor's degree. Some entries on this list focus on the self-improvement side of the question and some on the career-training side of the question—two educational considerations that should remain distinct. A good education is about improving the whole person, not merely checking the boxes that result in a larger paycheck. Online Academies and Educational Institutes The internet has unfurled many new avenues of learning. Today, it's possible to receive an education whose quality rivals that of an average university for free or at a low cost. Innovative educators are creating online academies and institutes to compete with traditional brick-and-mortar colleges at a fraction of the price. Here are some prime examples. Psychologist and public intellectual Jordan Peterson has established an online academy with video courses taught by Ivy League professors and other experts. The academy purportedly cuts out the ideological bent found in many university classrooms. Course offerings include 'Modern European History,' 'Symbolism and Christianity,' 'Basics of Biology,' 'Plato: The Dawn of Thought,' and 'The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.' Currently, tuition costs $499 per year. Tradition-oriented Hillsdale College has put together a number of free online video courses for the public. The college board believes that a good education is necessary both for personal happiness and societal flourishing, and they're working to spread the good seeds of liberal education far and wide. Related Stories 4/26/2025 4/24/2025 With an emphasis on the classic texts and ideas of Western civilization, Hillsdale courses cover a wide range of topics, including the history of Rome, the founding of America, Winston Churchill, C.S. Lewis, Aristotle's 'Ethics,' Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' classic children's literature, Shakespeare, Marxism and Communism, civil rights, and the American constitution. The Albertus Magnus Institute is a nonprofit ' dedicated to the promotion of education that is truly liberating.' The institute seeks to teach the liberal arts in the traditional way they were understood for many centuries in the West. Operating within the Great Books tradition, the institute offers live and recorded courses in Greek and Latin, Boethius's 'Consolation of Philosophy,' English lyric poetry, democracy in America, and Euclid's 'Elements.' For those looking to go deeper, a three-year 'Cohort' program is available during which students work through all the traditional liberal arts and the foundations of philosophy. The first year focuses on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric), the second on the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music), and the third on the philosophy of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. The Cohort fee is a modest $50 per month. You can find more information about these and similar educational opportunities . Trade Schools Trade schools, technical schools, or vocational schools focus on teaching students specific, employable skills. As such, a trade school might pair well with one of the online academies listed above. Trade school curricula tend to be hands-on and practical, efficiently preparing students for work in fields like: Construction Cybersecurity IT Plumbing Electrical Welding Cosmetology Administrative assistant Graphic design Normally, trade schools cost significantly less than a traditional four-year college, and their degrees take less time to complete. Most programs can be completed in six months to two years' time. However, students pursuing this route should be careful of trade school scams, which, unfortunately, do occur. Predatory schools can leave students with lots of debt and little job prospects. The Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff law firm that, when considering a school, you confirm its accreditation, be wary of 'counselors' who are really salesmen, get job-placement data in writing, and request information on the school's student loan default rate. Apprenticeships and Internships For some career paths, the best way to prepare is to simply get started. For centuries, most trades were taught via apprenticeship, with young workers toiling under the guidance of a master tradesman or craftsman, learning the necessary skills on the job and perfecting their craft through years of feedback and hard-won experience. Apprenticeships are still available today. Modern apprenticeship programs combine paid, on-the-job instruction with classroom time, culminating in an industry-recognized credential. A surprisingly boast apprenticeship opportunities, including construction, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, transportation, and education. Internships are another excellent way to gain work experience in your desired field. However, they don't always lead to industry-recognized credentials and are often unpaid. Coding Bootcamps For those interested in a career in IT or computer programming, a coding bootcamp may offer the perfect jumpstart. A coding bootcamp is an intensive course designed to teach essential computer programming skills. The training provided prepares students to work in a programming, web development, software, or related field. Snagging this in-demand skill through a coding bootcamp could be enough by itself to launch a career as a tech professional—and it can be accomplished for much less time and money than a computer science degree requires. Bootcamps typically run for at least 12 weeks. Real Estate Sales Licenses A career as a real estate agent doesn't require a college degree. Prospective agents must complete a pre-licensure course and pass their state's licensing exam to work as a real estate agent. Usually, agents must subsequently complete continuing education to maintain their license. Exact requirements vary by state, but generally at least 60 hours of coursework are required prior to taking the licensing exam. Still, that's a lot less time than a four-year business degree. And the $1,000 or so spent on books, classes, and exam fee falls far short of the of a bachelor's degree in the United States. Some of these pathways could be pursued simultaneously to maximize your college-substitute years. For instance, a student could complete a coding bootcamp and a real estate sales license to provide career training while rounding out their general education through Hillsdale online courses—and still be finished in under four years. While the traditional college route remains a viable and sometimes necessary path for many, it's important to realize many alternatives are available. Students may be able to secure their future while saving thousands of dollars and years by thinking a little unconventionally.
