We all know the fabled stories of the GI Bill of Rights and how it assisted returning veterans after the Second World War and the conflict in Korea. Many who never would have thought of going on to college were able to do so with support from Uncle Sam who lent a hand in other ways as well, for example, making it possible for people to buy homes as they put their military service behind them and embraced civilian life.

So how are we doing on behalf of veterans these days? Well, stories about the quality of medical care provided at Walter Reed Hospital run alongside others regarding the thousands of veterans who, upon coming home from combat, are discovering that their benefits aren’t sufficient to actually make matriculation possible.

The print and media ads and military recruiters imply that after service in the armed forces lies a higher education. Turns out that the old GI...

We all know about the baby boomers. They are about to reach retirement age, if they haven’t already, and leave us with an inadequate number of professionals and trained personnel as we move further into the 21st century. Thus, I was interested the other day to compare two documents that came across my desk.

One was a report from the Partnership for Public Service, an organization located here in Washington, pointing out that the war for talent was hitting the federal government particularly hard as more than one-third of the full-time permanent federal work force prepares to depart in the next half decade.

The Partnership for Public Service has hooked up with IBM to reach out to some of the non-public service retiring baby boomers and induce them to come into the government for what are called “encore careers,” with the promise of interesting and challenging work. A start was being...

Ever watch someone struggle with spatial skills, trying to put a collection of odd-shaped pieces back into a box or aligning two multi-faceted forms together to make a neat cube? Some people “see it” in an instant while others fuss with the jigsaw problem forever. Look at those who go on vacation with a small carry-on suitcase while their friends need an 18-wheeler to carry the same stuff. Less is more in the big idea world.

What some folks do with space, others do with words. I marvel at the writers who turn a phrase as neatly as an elegant proof. Composing a brief post for this column is much more difficult than crafting a long one!

I found myself the other evening part of a freewheeling discussion about creativity. Much of the conversation centered on individual achievers who made leaps of imagination in a particular field of study — people who studied a piece of common...

Forty years ago, give or take a semester or two, American campuses from Morningside Heights to Berkeley found themselves in the midst of protests against the Vietnam War and the restriction of free speech and political activities. Sometimes peaceful, at times disruptive, often intense and passionate, a generation of students and faculty raised their voices and fists supporting civil rights, fighting for First Amendment rights and against the War. Student activists of that era are now aging baby boomers, some of whom have kept their radical world-view, others have joined the establishment, a few have swung to the right. None will ever forget the way they and their campuses shook back in the day. Since that time almost all campus political activities, whether over issues local, national or international, are measured against “the way it was” in the late 60s and early 70s.

In...

When they were young, my children played Dungeons & Dragons. I confess to never understanding the game. But this week Gary Gygax, the inventor of D&D died and I found myself reading several obituaries of his life with an eye toward gaining a bit of knowledge about my children’s past.

Adam Rogers, a senior editor at Wired, comments in the New York Times, “… the most popular books on earth are fantasy novels about wizards and magic swords.” In my childhood days, pop culture centered on weekly radio shows like “The Green Hornet” and “Captain Midnight.” My children had imaginary flaming swords and rolled special dice to get into their new worlds and I carefully guarded my magic decoder ring. We share a type of inter-generational role-playing.

Perhaps Rogers is correct when he says that “Every Gmail...

For those of you who live in the greater Washington area you may want to note an event upcoming on March 19 sponsored by the Division of United States Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Professor Robert O’Neil (former president of the University of Virginia and currently professor of law) has written a new book called Academic Freedom in the Wired World. The program will consist of Professor O’Neil speaking about his work for about half an hour followed by two commentators, of which I will be one, along with Ann L. Franke, each of us speaking for about 15 minutes respectively. There will then be audience Q & A and a small reception. Click here for a link to the Wilson Center. Attendees at such events are usually a mix of scholars, people from local universities,...

For those interested in the subject of my February 20th post on professorial retooling, I direct your attention to Peter Seldin’s article in the March 5, 2008, Chronicle, “Tired Professors Can Be Rejuvenated.”

One hears a good deal these days about the shortage of physicians in the United States. Part of the problem is one of distribution. M.D.‘s like to live in big cities more than they do in rural communities or small towns. So Boston probably has a little more than its fair share of doctors while others go wanting. But beyond that, the issue is also complicated by our changing demographics. As the baby boomers get older they need more care, and when they get more care they live longer and need more care.

For a long time the issues were insufficiently recognized, and in fact, medical schools were discouraged from growing by their professional organizations. If we had a momentary shortfall in doctors, we addressed it by importing talent from other countries, frequently from the third world, and we continue to do this with doctors and nurses even now. This gave Americans more medical...

In his New York Times article today, Pete Thamel tells us in the first paragraph of the story that “…like all the universities in the Ivy League, Harvard does not award athletic scholarships.” I think it is worth asking what that means.

When Harvard charged tuition in the same manner as other institutions, athletes from financially challenged backgrounds who succeeded in being admitted to Harvard were awarded financial aid for justifiable fiscal reasons but athletes from middle and upper middle as well as wealthy families were obliged to pay tuition. Thus many talented sports-minded youngsters turned away from Harvard to matriculate at other institutions with robust intercollegiate athletic programs that proffered athletic tuition scholarships.

Now that ...

As baby-boomers get set to retire, more and more services are appearing to meet the growing list of senior needs, including College Based Retirement Communities.

Is moving near to a college campus a better alternative than taking a sail on a continuing cruise around the world? Well, no, those aren’t the only possibilities, but they are two of the more attractive options floating around at the moment.

Consider the merits of taking up residence aboard a ship rather than in an assisted living facility and I’ll bet you’ll find that it is less expensive and more satisfying to travel around the world, a voyage that comes complete with stewards, housekeepers, cooks and staff looking after every social need, and an infirmary and medical staff for primary health care. The ship offers far more variety in daily activities and better access to personal trainers, dance instructors and bar...