Recommendations, anyone?

A few posts back, Adunare recommended reading the Chronicle for Higher Education. Duly noted. What do others think it is important to be reading? Which journals, periodicals, magazines, blogs, etc., are must-reads for Christians who want to think deeply about God, faith, and public life?

Sphere Sovereignty?

In response to the Donatists, with whom he had a variety of theological disagreements, Augustine developed his 'just war' theory and his understanding of the role of civil government. I found the following quote in one of Augustine's letters to Boniface (Letter 185):

But as to the enactment of those men who are unwilling that their impious deeds should be checked by the enactment of righteous laws, when they say that the apostles never sought such measures from the kings of the earth, they do not consider the different character of that age, and that everything comes in its own season. For what emperor had as yet believed in Christ, so as to serve Him in the cause of piety by enacting laws against impiety...?

How then are kings to serve the Lord with fear, except by preventing and chastising with religious severity all those acts which are done in opposition to the commandments of the Lord? For man serves God in one way in that he is man, in another way that he is also king. In that he is man, he serves Him by living faithfully; but in that he is also king, he serves Him by enforcing with suitable rigor such laws as ordain what is righteous, and punish what is the reverse.

The Academic Underclass

At least a few of us may find of interest this piece, coming out of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, pushed in the Calgary Herald and National Post: Universities with higher part-time profs lead to lower graduation rates.

Picking up off the York strike, the article argues that the battle lines - while drawn around typical issues of salaries and benefits - were also drawn along the new classes of the academic world: namely the so called permatemp profs.

The idea is basically that in an effort to save money, university admin watch tenured (re: expensive) baby boom faculty retire, and replace their course load with cheaper, temporary profs. From the article, "sometimes likened to WalMart workers, these PhDs, part-time lecturers, and teaching assistants often perform tasks that tenured professors do not - or will not. But in recent years, the tension around this underclass is coming to a boil."

And therein lies the spiral. Many Canadian Uni's require substantive publications, postdocs or research grants - all of which are difficult if not impossible to attain without institutional support; a support that is less and less forthcoming.

I'm not quite sure how to move on an issue like this. The article argues that these academic conditions are leading to lower graduation rates, and poorer education - which seems it could well be. What are next steps to restoring the academic and pedagogical grandeur of the Canadian university?

The Cost of Talent

The CBC published an article today on Obama's plans to cap the compensation packages for executives of companies receiving bailout aid. 

Under Obama’s plan, top executives at firms receiving extraordinary help from U.S. taxpayers will have their compensation capped at $500,000 US. If they receive any additional compensation in the form of stock, it can’t be cashed in until taxpayers are paid back.

This brings a few thoughts to mind. First, how did Obama decide that $500,000 US is the right number? What is the real value of attracting top-level managerial talent?  I know many balk at the $130,000 salaries we pay Canadian MPs, but given their high task, I've often thought we do well to double them. Given the impact of the decisions made, don't we want to draw in our best and brightest?

If top dollar execs do actually bring a return thanks to better management, and if boards actually offer a measure of accountability, should there be a cap on the rate we'd pay if there is a net gain overall? And with the bailout in mind, will we see the sharpest leaders in companies who are suffering take better compensation elsewhere and leave potentially lesser hands to the hard tasks that face us? Is Obama creating a brain drain in recession ground zero? With CEO turnover rates already high, will this just make things more unstable?
Ottawa Brian, I'd especially love to hear your thoughts on this.

Testing the Test

I recommend the daily updates from the Chronicle for Higher Education, though only if you know how to create rules in your Outlook (these emails are indeed daily). A recent piece I found interesting on Testing the Test. I can't be the only doctoral student who loathed the process of writing the GRE (Dave I still have your GRE prep book!) - though not in English lit as this article discusses.

As I recall I did well enough, but the only school that required it was Notre Dame, which I didn't end up attending. Furthermore, the cost of the test is nearly prohibitive these days and schools give only peripheral attention to (some) standardized tests.

It seems to me that the GRE is a relic of the swinging 60's and the positivist 70's, and it's time to retire it. Surely CV's, recommendations and writing samples are far better indicators than whether I can accurately recall my Calculus OAC class.

Another reason why I'm fine with being a Calvinist

The debates about whether religion is good for society are endless for a reason: There are too many variables, too many religions, and too many definitions of "good" to make anything like a universally-accepted answer possible. But I'm pretty comfortable saying that a certain kind of religion is good for a certain kind of person. And it's hard to escape the impression that the world would be in better shape today if more of our elites - our bankers and financiers, our tycoons and captains of industry, and yes, our Presidents as well - had spent the last decade's worth of Sundays on their knees listening to readings from Ecclesiastes, and Jansenist-inflected sermons about the innate depravity of man.

- Ross Douthat here

Governmentium

(Forwarded by friends)

NEW CHEMICAL ELEMENT

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.

This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.