Read and admired throughout the world, Shakespeare’s plays and poetry have been the guiding light of statesmen, of authors, and of artists. His writings are the indispensable foundation for understanding English literature, language, and rhetoric. Yet less than 8% of the nation’s top universities require English majors to take even a single course that focuses on Shakespeare. The Unkindest Cut: Shakespeare in Exile 2015 examines 52 of the national universities and liberal arts colleges ranked highest by U.S. News & World Report. The report demonstrates how the study of Shakespeare has been marginalized at these schools and lists examples of the courses that stand in its place. The report also gives advice to trustees, administrators, alumni, and donors on how to reverse this trend.
In this 10th edition of its flagship annual survey of college general education curricula, What Will They Learn?, ACTA shines a light on the wide disparity in academic standards at institutions of higher learning across the country. What Will They Learn? reviews the core curricula of over 1,100 four-year public and private institutions across the country […]
ACTA today released a report that examines the country’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges. Despite endowments soaring as high as $1.8 billion, nearly all institutions increased tuition during the Great Recession to finance bloated administrative spending, with many college presidents enjoying salaries higher than Barack Obama’s. Education or Reputation? peels back reputation to find out […]
Just as July 4th celebrations are set to begin, ACTA’s new report, No U.S. History? How College History Departments Leave the United States out of the Major, reveals that less than 1/3 of the nations leading colleges and universities require students pursuing a degree in history to take a single course in American history. Only 23 […]
If it weren’t for Plato, Larry Arnn would have been a lawyer—though it is difficult to imagine him in a courthouse filing terse procedural briefs. The president of Hillsdale College for 15 years, Mr. Arnn seems like a born professor. Ask about the 2016 election or the state of higher education, and it isn’t long before he’s […]
A new study out today — the date considered most likely to be the Bard’s birthday — shows that less than 8% of top U.S. universities require English majors to take a class by the man often cited as the greatest English language writer of all time, William Shakespeare. The American Council of Trustees and […]
William Shakespeare, born in England about this time 451 years ago, is in little jeopardy of being forgotten in literature or popular culture. His native language has gone global. His poetry and plays, endlessly influential, are read, translated, adapted and performed around the world. But a new report has uncovered what to many might be […]
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