Reading for Battle

Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.

Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.

Education

The university: still dead
Andrew Delbanco’s insightful new book on the history and future of the American college exposes an institution that has no idea what it should be.
Angus Kennedy, spiked, 25 May 2012

College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be
In a brisk and vivid historical narrative, Delbanco explains how the idea of college arose in the colonial period from the Puritan idea of the gathered church, how it struggled to survive in the nineteenth century in the shadow of the new research universities, and how, in the twentieth century, it slowly opened its doors to women, minorities, and students from low-income families.

Andrew Delbanco, Princeton University Press, 20 March 2012

Elected, but how democratic?
The EU needs more democracy—and yet the European Parliament is flawed
Economist, 17 March 2012

What are Universities For?
Stefan Collini challenges the common claim that universities need to show that they help to make money in order to justify getting more money. Instead, he argues that we must reflect on the different types of institution and the distinctive roles they play.

Stefan Collini, Penguin, 23 February 2012

Consumerism in higher education: the rise of the helicopter parent
Parental intervention was once a rare occurrence in higher education. Not any more. Afshan Jafar shares her experiences of dealing with a consumerist HE culture
Afshan Jafar, Guardian, 23 January 2012

Dreaming spires for all? Only if we face up to some hard truths
There’s a fundamental problem at the heart of our education system: private schools educate around 7% of students yet account for 44.6% of students at Oxford.
Jacob Reynolds, Independent, 5 November 2011

The Simpsons versus Shakespeare
Children don’t need to go to school in order to enjoy cartoons, but that it takes years of study to understand great literature and become an educated person.
Michele Ledda, Independent, 23 October 2011

Dangerous Books for Boys? The Literacy Debate
‘What is to be done about literacy?’ is the shrill cry heard amongst business circles and policy makers. Literacy levels of our schoolchildren are generally a source of worry amongst various educational groups and parents. I’ve finally reached the point where the answer has become blindingly clear. It is DO NOTHING.
Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, Independent, 10 October 2011

Young people's fiction: Feisty girls, feckless boys
In young people’s fiction, why are girls so self-righteous and boys so oafish, asks author and Costa judge Eleanor Updale
Eleanor Updale, Daily Telegraph, 6 October 2011

Should England’s schools become ‘engines of social mobility’?
Whilst sociologists and statisticians have continued to argue over the facts of social mobility, a political consensus has emerged as to the solutions.
Toby Marshall, Independent, 5 October 2011


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Memorialising the Holocaust: the challenge of history?

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