Author: Craig Brandon File Type: pdf Colleges look much the same as they did five or ten years ago, but a lot has changed behind the scenes. While some mixture of study and play has always been part of college life, an increasing number of schools have completely abandoned the idea that students need to learn or demonstrate that theyve learned. Financial pressures have made college administrations increasingly reluctant to flunk anyone out, regardless of performance, although the average length of time to get a degree is now five years, and for many students its six or more. Student evaluations of professorsoften linked to promotion and tenure decisionshave made professors realize that applying tough standards, or any standards, only hurts their own career progress. For many professors, its become easier and more rewarding to focus on giving entertaining lectures and to give everyone reasonably good grades. The worst of these schools are the subprime colleges, where performance standards and accountability have been completely abandoned. Students enjoy a five year party with minimal responsibilities while their parents pay the bills. These schools investment decisions (first-class gyms and dining centers) are all geared to attracting students that want to have a good time, and their brochures all emphasize the fun aspects of the college experiencethere are very few pictures of students actually studying or in class. And after graduation, former students are frequently unable to find work in their chosen fields, thanks to their schools reputation with employers, and unable to afford the payments on sizeable student loans. The subprime colleges, which teach a significant percentage of college students, are only the tip of the iceberg. All colleges, even the most elite, have moved in this direction to some extent. If you are a parent sending your child to college, The Five-Year Party will give you critical information you need about what is really happening at your childs college, and what you can do to ensure help your child gets a real education. **

Author: Robert R. Laven File Type: pdf Often neglected by historians, actions in Missouri and Kansas had an important influence on the course of the Civil War, with profound effects for the communities and people in the region.Outside of Virginia and Tennessee, Missouri was perhaps the most hotly contested territory during the war.The fighting in Missouri culminated with an expedition that re-wrote the books on tactics and the use of mounted infantry.This book focuses on the experiences of the soldiers, officers and civilians on both sides.The author brings to life the events in the region that contributed to the internecine strife in the Western Theater. About the Author Veteran and retired Department of Defense Intelligence analyst, Robert R. Laven lives in Creve Coeur, Missouri.

Author: Brian R. Doak File Type: pdf Authors from the ancient world rarely used great detail to describe the physical features of characters in their works. When they did mention bodies, they did so with very specific goals in mind. In particular, the bodies of heroic figures, such as warriors, kings, and other leaders became loaded sites of meaning for encoding cultural, religious, and political values on a number of fronts. Brian Doak analyzes the way biblical authors described the bodies of some of their most iconic male figures, such as Jacob, the Judges, Saul, and David. These bodies represent not mere individuals-they communicate as national bodies, signaling the ambiguity of Israels murky pre-history, the division during the period of settlement in the land, and the contest of leading bodies fought between Saul and David. Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel examines the heroic world of ancient Israel within the Hebrew Bible, and shows that ancient Israelite literature operated within and against a world of heroic ideals in its ancient context. The heroic body tells a story of Israels remembered history in the eventual making of the monarchy, marking a new kind of individual power. Not merely a textual study of the Hebrew Bible in isolation, this book also considers iconography and compares Israelite literature with other ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern materials, illustrating Israels place among a wider construction of heroic bodies.

Author: David Ladipo File Type: pdf