The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., just conducted an experiment with required summer freshman reading that worked. Thanks to Nancy Baldiga, dean of the freshman class and an associate professor in economics, students were asked to read newspapers rather than books to prepare themselves for college.

The students then debated the different topics they read about in an online class Web site.

There were skeptics who thought freshman unaccustomed to reading newspapers would skip the assignment, but apparently not. More than 60 percent of the incoming class of 750 students had logged onto the Web site by mid August and a minimum of 250 had posted articles or commented on someone else’s news post. The figures just grew from there.

Some Holy Cross professors read the posts and tailored classes because they were reminded that incoming freshmen need help challenging authority, thinking critically, making good arguments and evaluating data appropriately.

Baldiga, who edited her high school and college papers, was quoted in The Boston Globe as saying, that newspapers would prepare the students far more than reading textbookse, “Everything will make so much more sense when they get to class because they will see the bigger picture.”

Here’s to you, professor.

Holy Cross thinks we’re worthwhile, but it’s up to us to offer the students something of substance — the kind being provided by Rosenthal at CIR and journalists like him.