Notes in the Margins: Income, lawyering and quitting community colleges

College graduation rates: Income really matters: It's getting more difficult for low-income students to climb the economic ladder as the college graduation gap between the rich and poor grows. (CNN)

Occupied by fear  The occupation of the lecture theatre should remind us academics of the pre-occupation that drew us to the university. Today we need not simply to teach - any more than a banker needs simply to lend and speculate or a merchant simply to market and sell or indeed a politician simply to win an election and govern. Today we need to create the conditions in the university and beyond that make it possible again to be a student. (Times Higher Education)

College campuses should be havens for civil disobedience There aren’t that many questions about how “best to handle” student protesters. In fact, the principal question is, “Do I use pepper spray on this group of students who are sitting on the ground, posing absolutely no threat to me or anyone else?” And the answer is a resounding no. (Arizona Daily Wildcat)

Most 2-Year Students Quit Too many students arrive at community colleges without having learned basic reading and math concepts. Most must take developmental courses that provide no credit toward a degree but still cost as much as college-level courses. (The Wall Street Journal) What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering Law schools have long emphasized the theoretical over the useful, with classes that are often overstuffed with antiquated distinctions, like the variety of property law in post-feudal England. Professors are rewarded for chin-stroking scholarship, like law review articles with titles like “A Future Foretold: Neo-Aristotelian Praise of Postmodern Legal Theory.” (The New York Times)

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