How do we know if a student has learned enough to attain a degree or credential? Likely, the answer is currently phrased in the form of credit hours: 64 semester hours to earn an associate’s degree, 128 semester hours to earn a bachelor’s degree, and so on. But the credit hour, the most widely used currency of determining work put in toward a degree, was never intended to measure student learning at all.
Free Inquiry and Expression: From Principles to Educational Practice
Hundreds of colleges and universities have adopted free expression and institutional speech documents from the University of Chicago. In 1899, the University of Chicago faculty unanimously resolved that complete freedom
Leila Brammer
September 7, 2026
