Cicero Contra Intellectual Decline in Retirement

From Guest Blogger Ryan Berg

For some successful business people, retirement is a word that connotes positive meanings.  “Retirement could not come sooner,” or “I want to sell my business and retire at 55 or 60,” I have heard on many occasions.  Some cannot wait for the moment of physical leisure to take over, but is it at the expense of our mental leisure? A recent study published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives notes what many have suspected for a long time, yet has remained remarkably difficult to prove: memory declines with age, diminishing our ability to think and reason critically and rigorously. Those who retire early perform worse on cognitive tests, especially memory tests.

Recruitment Trends and the Liberal Arts

By Guest Blogger Ryan Berg

In light of my recent post about Leo Strauss, an education in political philosophy, and the liberal arts, I found a recent article in the Wall Street Journal about recruitment trends at America’s top colleges quite disconcerting.  Companies recruiting new hires have recently moved the preponderance of their recruitment efforts to state universities.  Recruiter’s top five favorite universities are all public, and the list is comprised mostly of top public universities.