Can America’s Liberal Arts Colleges Be Saved?

The 95 “true” liberal arts colleges, the pure practitioners of liberal education, are in trouble. The number of persons who view themselves as liberally educated is declining. The number who wish they were liberally educated is declining even faster and the number who think they know what a liberal education is, or even that they would like to know, is shrinking fastest of all.

Grammy Broadcast Down In The TV Ratings

“CBS’ 3 1/2 -hour Grammys delivered an average of 17.5 million total viewers, a 12% decline compared with last year, according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research. Grammy ratings tend to fluctuate depending on the popularity of the nominees and the level of competition from other shows, ranging from a recent low of 17 million (2006) to a high of 29.9 million (1993).”

Character And Creator In A Dance

“Diana Vishneva, 31, is a mesmerizing beauty from the illustrious Kirov Ballet, a master of channeling feeling through a classical vessel’s restraint, and so peripatetic a performer that her repertory has become her only real home. She plays both character and creator at once. She digs into her role and lifts herself out of the story to reveal, godlike, its scope.”

Betraying The Author’s Manuscript

Last month, charges were raised against a scholarly edition of Robert Frost’s private notebooks. The work, first published in early 2007, had been heralded as offering a rare glimpse into the reclusive poet’s creative process. But now the notebook transcriptions appear to be riddled with errors that made Frost look like “a dyslexic and deranged speller,” who often “made no sense.”