Interesting Articles: Humanities Make Money, The Purchase of Instagram, Kierkegaard, and More

I have a good deal to say about the misleading arguments often made about the cost of higher education. Perhaps at some point I’ll take the time to say that here. For now: just consider the math of me teaching 30 UMich undergrads in a calculus section. As a Graduate Student Instructor, I make about $9,000 in the semester (in addition to a full tuition waiver, which I’d argue shouldn’t count). If those 30 UM undergrads bring in maybe $800,000 in tuition¹, divided by 8 courses per year, that means my section brings in $100,000 in tuition. See also this article.

D.G. Myers, What Became of Literary History (via Andrew Sullivan)

On Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram: Vanity Fair

From the Times: Developers Borrow the Gatsby Glamor

From Andrew Sullivan: The Heartburn of Too Many Reviews Very true. Whenever I’m with friends, I just want to wander and find some hole in the wall place and try it out. Yelpers have a pretty yuppified view of things. Consider, e.g., the mixed yelp reviews of the fantastic Cafe La Boheme, which almost makes me want to move to San Francisco. (Note from the Andrew Sullivan the link to an article about yelp reviews of jails.)

A really good quote from Kierkegaard’s Journals (full quote here, via Caleb Crain):

Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

The same, of course, can be said about the Jewish talmudic tradition. At some point, I hope to get around to discussing some related thoughts on wisdom and the law.

Why Do NPR Reporters Have Such Great Names? (via Ross Urken) I particularly like the story of poor Korva Coleman.