Issue 24, Spring 2003

William A. McEachern, Editor

Odds and Ends

Joseph Schumpeter claimed in his History of Economic Analysis, (Oxford, 1954) that Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was "the most successful, not only of all books on economics, but, with the possible exception of Darwin's Origin of Species, of all scientific books that have appeared to this day"(p. 181).

Both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, the two independent discoverers of evolution by natural selection, said they developed the idea while reading Malthus on population. Malthusian theory has not been a useful predictor of the human experience since the Industrial Revolution, but it continues to predict the experience of non-human species quite well.

Text literally means that which is woven, or a weaving of words. Text has the same root as the word textile, a weaving of threads. The rules of punctuation can sometimes give the written word an informational advantage over the spoken word, as in distinguishing between a restrictive and a non-restrictive clause. But both sides of the written word must know the ground rules. As a textbook author, I worry about students who miss information because they never learned the rules of punctuation.

The expression "higher education" is a broad term, stretching from the most ivy-covered college to a two-year college with makeshift classrooms. The standard course load for instructors at Princeton and Harvard is now down to one course per term, while a five-course load is standard at many two-year colleges. I have met instructors at two-year colleges who were teaching seven and in one case, nine courses at a time, usually for the extra pay or to fill a last minute vacancy. The difference between the highest and lowest teaching loads across institutions has probably never been greater.

"Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition."
-Historian Jacques Barzun

"There are two pains in life, the pain of discipline, and the pain of regret. Take your pick."
-Unknown

"It is easy to be generous out of another's purse."
-Danish proverb

"If you are offered a penny for your thoughts, but you put your two cents' worth in, then someone is making a penny."
-Comedian Steven Wright

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