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jamesgmartin.center
Personal blog · jamesgmartin.centerpoliticsculture
jamesgmartin.center is a personal blog at jamesgmartin.center about politics and culture. Since 2017, 29 different Hacker News readers have linked it 57 times, most often “Administrators Have Seized the Ivory Tower”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (11) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link the James G. Martin Center's articles on higher education, such as grad student labor, college presidents' pay, grade inflation and AP economics, usually as evidence in discussions.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 11 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Administrators Have Seized the Ivory Tower2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-12-04
- Legacy standardized-testing firms are cutting rigor to please students2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-06-21
- Higher Education and the Law of Diminishing Returns2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-03-31
What Hacker News says?
Citing increases in fraud and retractions, this article makes the case that as funding has increased, scientific quality has worsened. (Which is counter to what I guessed above!) Pursuit of scientific knowledge for its own sake replaced by obsession with grant cycles. https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/01/the-intellectual-and... But lots of other things have also changed that may or may not be causes: - many fewer…
Comment linking /2020/01/the-intellectual-and-moral-decline-in-academic-research/
on “AlphaFold: a solution to a 50-year-old grand challenge in biology”Submitted The End of Being a Duke Professor and What It Means for the Future of Higher Ed as a story · 239 points
HN discussionIn higher ED this seems like a long time coming. Grad students essentially work as slaves for the Uni's & professors with triple-duty in lab time for professor + teaching + self-research. Their reward comes in notoriety & bi-lines on research that helps them become professors in their own right in higher ed. The cost is minimized rights to IP they've been crucial in inventing, outrageously low wages, and an average…
Comment linking /2016/10/academic-job-market-tottering-nobodys-telling-graduate-students/
on “University of Chicago Graduate Students Vote to Unionize”Submitted The True Cost of a PhD: Giving Up a Family for Academia as a story · 68 points
HN discussionHere is an essay showing how women's higher education in the U.S. was boosted by restricted donations to universities: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2021/02/feminist-college-fun... .
Comment linking /2021/02/feminist-college-funders-and-the-problem-of-donor-intent/
on “Donate Unrestricted”Submitted Failing Intro Economics as a story · 61 points
HN discussionNo, he would be right. Source: https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2014/07/do-librarians-need-a...
Comment linking /2014/07/do-librarians-need-a-masters-degree-the-american-library-association-says-yes/
on “Bezos should put his billions in public libraries”Submitted The Imminent Student-Loan Disaster as a story · 33 points
HN discussionI will read this pdf and bing some articles about "total public funding" and see what I believe. https://www.jamesgmartin.center/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/B...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Bennett_Hypothesis_Paper_Final.pdf
on “It’s better to be born rich than gifted”Submitted Short-Term Thinking on Race Has Caused Long-Term Problems in Higher Education as a story · 23 points
HN discussionAs mentioned in a reddit thread(1) of the same article: "Let's see, average amount of student loan debt per graduate is $30k. Student loans are usually a life-altering debt, designed to take decades to pay off. That means for every year this chode gets paid $1M, 33.3 students are stuck with paying off his yearly salary for the next 20 years. " And that's just 1 person. And it's pretty easy to connect the dots to the…
Comment linking /2017/06/administrative-bloat-campus-academia-shrinks-students-suffer/
on “College Presidents Making $1M Rise with Tuition and Student Debt”Submitted Short-Term Thinking on Race Caused Long-Term Problems in Higher Education as a story · 13 points
HN discussionThis guy has another article where he discusses AP economics (college level econ taken in high school with a test at the end that can be applied for college credit) as being superior to undergrad econ 101. I think that's an interesting position to write about. I tend to agree. My decade past high school experience found the AP courses were excellent. I did almost a dozen of them. https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2022…
Comment linking /2022/09/ap-economics-is-a-model-of-academic-rigor/
on “Failing Intro Economics”Submitted So Now the Feds Will Monitor Research Integrity? as a story · 8 points
HN discussionhttps://www.jamesgmartin.center/2022/11/administrators-have-...
Comment linking /2022/11/administrators-have-seized-the-ivory-tower/
on “Indoor Air Quality and Learning: Evidence from Large Field Study in Schools [pdf]”Submitted Kill the Admissions Essay as a story · 6 points
HN discussionIt seems like you're not at all understanding what I've been saying. The measure of teacher performance was based on student improvement over time on standardized tests. It is incredibly valuable to measure a teacher's capability in actually helping students learn and improve. After all, isn't that the sole purpose of teaching? > That's because I didn't understand what your argument was. The usual argument is "teach…
Comment linking /2020/02/gpa-or-sat-two-measures-are-better-than-one/
on “Apple’s Anti-Union Tactics in Atlanta Were Illegal, US Officials Say”Submitted Higher Education and the Law of Diminishing Returns as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThe site itself is also highly political, and the author even more so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Martin_Center_for_Aca... https://www.jamesgmartin.center/author/georgeleef/ https://www.nationalreview.com/author/george-leef/
Comment linking /author/georgeleef/
on “Classical Music Is for Everyone”Submitted My University Treated Me Like a Criminal Over a Joke as a story · 5 points
HN discussionand there's also the Ivy League grade inflation... https://jamesgmartin.center/2025/11/harvard-admits-that-grad...
Comment linking /2025/11/harvard-admits-that-grades-have-lost-their-meaning/
on “Professor denounces mass AI fraud on an exam at Brown University”Submitted Legacy standardized-testing firms are cutting rigor to please students as a story · 4 points
HN discussionA recent think tank article is "Higher Education and the Law of Diminishing Returns: Shortening the average time-to-degree makes economic sense." https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2023/03/higher-education-and...
Comment linking /2023/03/higher-education-and-the-law-of-diminishing-returns/
on “Americans Are Losing Faith in College Education”Submitted George Mason's Orwellian "Just Societies" Requirement as a story · 4 points
HN discussion2006 - https://www.the-scientist.com/uncategorized/are-we-training-... - "Are We Training Too Many Scientists? A glut of postdocs, too few desired positions, and a faculty invested in the status quo point to a need for change. Who will take responsibility?" 2013 - https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/too-many-scientists/5... - "Too many scientists? The proliferation of PhDs is unsustainable and damaging, says Paul…
Comment linking /2018/02/science-discontents-jobs-many-scientists/
on “Ask HN: Where have all the scientists gone?”Submitted Universities and Meritocracy (Review of “The Aristocracy of Talent”) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionYou appear not to have an open mind on the issue, but another article https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2022/06/remembering-title-ix... explains what is wrong with the rules changes. A WSJ opinion piece critical of the rules, "Biden Renews Obama’s Attack on Campus Due Process: New Title IX regulations would eliminate cross-examination, live hearings and other basic rights." is archived at https://archive.ph/fvc6i .
Comment linking /2022/06/remembering-title-ix-abuses/
on a deleted threadSubmitted Asian Americans Debunk Critical Race Theory as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted From College Indoctrination to Corporate Intolerance as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted GenAI Will Not Make Students Smarter as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
