Welcome

 This is the blog of the Idaho affiliate of the National Association of Scholars.

Our Mission

The National Association of Scholars upholds the standards of a liberal arts education that fosters intellectual freedom, searches for the truth, and promotes virtuous citizenship.

Our Ideals

The standards of a liberal arts education that the NAS upholds include reasoned scholarship and civil debate in America’s colleges and universities; and individual merit in academic and scholarly endeavor. We expect that ideas be judged on their merits; that scholars engage in the disinterested pursuit of the truth; and that colleges and universities provide for fair and judicial examination of contending views. 

We expect colleges to offer coherent curricula and programs of study. We uphold a view of institutional integrity that includes financial probity as well as transparency in the curriculum and classroom. We uphold the principles of academic freedom that include faculty members’ and students’ freedom to pursue academic research; their freedom to question and to think for themselves; and their freedom from ideological imposition.

Add potatoes and we are the Idaho Association of Scholars.

Our membership remains small.  We have yet to incorporate because we need three members to sit on what will be the least demanding, least time consuming board of directors in history.  If you can lend your name and likely a couple hours a year to the process, please email me at claytoncramer@cwi.edu.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There Are Limits to This Diversity Idea, You Know

 3/13/23 Campus Reform : Dr. Tabia Lee, faculty director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at De Anza College, alleges that she is being  terminated  for not adhering to anti-racist “orthodoxy.” Lee, a Black woman who  grew  up in central California, was fired last week from her position as a tenure track Faculty Director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at the community college in Cupertino, California,  according  to Inside Higher Ed. Among the alleged reasons for Lee’s termination include her objection to the school’s indigenous land acknowledgment statement, successful hosting of a “Jewish Inclusion” event, her reasoned objection to “Latinx” and “Filipinx,” and her questioning of the ideological implications of capitalizing “Black” and lowercasing “White” in the school’s official Educational Master Plan. In particular, Lee’s thoughts on race in America are heterodox  compared  to the diversity, equity, and inc
Read more

The Stupid is Growing Stronger

  I just received an invitation to  this event : Part 2 of Indigenous Ways of Knowing in Math and Science, a free webinar series presented by The Robertson Program and Kikinoo'amaadawin. About this Event Indigenous land-based teachings, when carried out in collaboration with community Elders or Knowledge Keepers, can provide rich learning experiences for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Educators in this session will be provided with ideas and connections in mathematics and science using Indigenous land-based experiences. Learn how to connect these activities to the current curriculum! How gratifying that the Elders or Knowledge Keepers have to be involved.  For some reason, "Knowledge Keeper" makes me think of someone in  1984 . The other dangerous implication is that the methods of learning math and science that work for every other population (regardless of race) is too  difficult  for the indigenous peoples of the world.  Europeans are indigenous to Europe, Eas
Read more

Victory For Academic Standards

12/3/21 The College Fix : Truckee Meadows Community College has ended an effort to fire Professor Lars Jensen, who had been subjected to termination proceedings after pushing the school to maintain its rigorous math standards. In November, a hearing officer at the Nevada school  found that  Jensen had violated several of the college’s codes when he protested a new curriculum structure that essentially allows remedial math classes to count for college credit. In response to the hearing officer’s report, a five-member faculty termination board recommended on November 23 that Jensen be allowed to remain in his job. The next day, college President Karin Hilgersom accepted the recommendation of the faculty committee and announced Jensen would not be fired.  
Read more