Education Commons^™

In higher education circles, happiness doesn't get much play. While there's plenty of talk about student satisfaction, parental expectations, faculty morale, administrative attitudes, and legislative resolve, we don't ask basic questions about what it means to be happy in academia.

Perhaps discussions of happiness in higher ed are misplaced. After all, were not here to make anybody happy; we're here to get stuff done. There's teaching and learning to accomplish. Scholarship to undertake. Committee work to endure. Policies to implement. Dollars and people to manage.

Furthermore, concern about what makes for happy students can lead us toward that education model …