Private tutoring is used by many parents around the world to supplement their children’s education and boost their chances of success at school. In England, several surveys have estimated the prevalence of private tutoring in state-maintained schools. Now it’s becoming clearer that those parents already paying a premium to send their children to private schools […] … learn more→

With more than half the world’s population now living in cities, it seems safe to say that pavement is in, and in a big way. Ecologically speaking, that may be good news—at least in theory. Dense areas like Manhattan and Hong Kong can help contend with the perils of global warming through lower per-capita energy […] … learn more→

In September I posted a piece entitled “The Kids Are All Right!” in which I praised high school students in Jefferson County, Colorado, who staged mass walkouts to protest a plan by their right-wing school board to establish a curriculum-review committee to not only respond to an allegedly “leftist” AP framework but to promote patriotism, […] … learn more→

The UNC “Paper Class” scam is all over the news, and the full report is even online now. I assert that UNC isn’t really all that special with their scam. Administration at UNC, by the way, agrees with me, and their defense (among other defenses, I admit) is that everyone does the types of things […] … learn more→

The largest sunspot seen in 24 years is rotating back to face the Earth, and it looks to have grown even bigger. Last month, the solar active region known as AR12192 (also known as AR2192 to some of its friends) entertained the world with the sunspot clearly visible with the naked eye (with some appropriate […] … learn more→

I graduated from New York University in 2011 with a Master of Arts degree and spent some years on writing… Writing articles, blogs, essays, academic papers, short stories. I’ve even tried to finish my first big novel… But the more I wrote, the better I understood that my skills and knowledge were not enough to […] … learn more→

Mention an interest in grammar education to most people and they will assume you are concerned about incorrect use of English. What concerns me, by contrast, is the incompetence of those who pontificate about it and set quizzes on it. Google fetches more than 300,000 hits for the term \”grammar quiz\”; yet if quizzes on […] … learn more→

Who should teach? And who should decide who teaches? What should the learning environment look like? And who should decide how it looks–and should there even be just one “look”? These old questions came to mind when I read Marty Nemko’s October 29 article in Time, “Why Ph.D.s Shouldn’t Teach College Students.” I went to […] … learn more→

I’ve got an OK memory. Most of the time I can summon up the details that I need to remember, when I need to remember them – passwords, deadlines, the way home. But I do struggle to recall all of the films I’ve seen, I can’t quite place the name of a novel for love […] … learn more→

When the president of a university is dragged from his bed in the middle of the night and shot point-blank in his garden by an elite squad of the national military, we must pause to ask why. This month the Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador, known as UCA, will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of […] … learn more→