teaching

Perhaps a few more academic advisors should do this: My own reasons for majoring in linguistics were even more accidental. I entered college with sophomore standing, and so I had to declare a major right away. I wanted to major in math, but this required an interview with the department chair, Prof. Gleason, who was Read more

I suppose it would be cruel to expose my students to this: http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/onion/radionews/player/player.swf?soundFile=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/radionews/06-156_Alphabetizing_Temp_Sun.mp3&title=TempPutsExtensiveKnowledgeOfAlphabetToGoodUse&date=Sat,Jun272009&slug=temp_puts_extensive_0&autostart=no Tip from George Leef at Phi Beta Cons. Read more

This is yet another reason I require my students to turn in assignments on genuine pieces of paper, not by email.Tip from the Marginal Revolution via the Geek Press. Read more

Joanne Jacobs has a pair of doozies today: People laid off from factory jobs can’t compete for new jobs without a GED.  As I recall, they were the Kool Kidz back in high school ("school is for suckers"); who’s Kool now? (As I drive by in my new BMW, sucker!) Students from Troubled Backgrounds affect Read more

Parents in Kenya prefer to send their children to private schools: “If you go to a market and are offered free fruit and vegetables, they will be rotten. If you want fresh fruit and vegetables, you have to pay for them.”Tip from Joanne Jacobs. Read more

Why Don’t Students Like School?  Daniel Willingham thinks he has the answer.  More about his book here. Tip from Joanne Jacobs. Read more

I had a revelation last night:  if you’re not a Party Dog, you can still enjoy Fiesta San Antonio, because it’s also Genius Week.  First there’s the Nobel Economists Lecture at Trinity University, then there’s some very serious music at the St Mary’s University Fiesta Jazz Festival.  I’m looking for other "genius" events, any nominations? Read more

The oft-reviled John Derbyshire blurts out another unpleasant truth: The besetting sin of intellectuals is their assumption that everyone else is intellectual, or wishes to be. But sure enough, we keep teaching our students like they’ve all read the Harvard Classics, in junior high. Read more

Some folks are wising up about the cost and value of a college education: “You often hear the quote that you can’t put a price on ignorance,” said Ezra Kazee, who has $29,000 in student debt and has been unable to find a job since graduating from Winona State University in Minnesota last May. “But Read more

If this essay wasn’t so insightful, it would scare the writing right out of me. Tip from Marc Danziger at Winds of Change. Read more