I’m a cognitive psychologist who studies language comprehension. If I see an ad for a vacation rental that says “Your going to Hollywood!” it really bugs me. But my collaborator, Robin Queen, a sociolinguist, who studies how language use varies across social groups, is not annoyed by those errors at all. We were curious: what […] … learn more→

A bill that grants students 21 and older the right to carry concealed weapons at Georgia’s public colleges and universities was ratified last month and awaits Governor Nathan Deal’s signature. He has suggested, among other changes, that faculty members should be allowed to ban weapons from their offices and in disciplinary hearings. Those caveats are […] … learn more→

The discussion chapter is the problem child of the thesis. The chapter most likely to provoke fear, uncertainty and doubt. Not everyone writes a chapter called “discussion”, but everyone has to do discussiony bits because, well – that’s where the creative magic of the PhD happens. The discussion section is scary because you have to […] … learn more→

This semester I’m teaching a comparative-literature class that deals with the connections among empathy, literature, and human rights. As in most of my classes, which all circulate around these difficult topics, I constantly prepare my students for their own navigation into the worlds of trauma and critical understanding. The problem this semester, and most semesters, […] … learn more→

Impostor syndrome is rampant throughout academia. Many of the most respected academics in the world wake up every morning convinced that they are not worthy of their position, that they are faking it, and that they will soon be found out. These sentiments can be found at every level, from undergraduate through to professor. Surely, […] … learn more→

Nations are constructs. Like any other structure they need building blocks to be sustained. Education is key to this process in particular for “young” nation-states such as the countries of the Arabian peninsula. Thrown into the international system suddenly in the early to mid-20th century, educational institutions play a key role in engineering an idea of […] … learn more→

In my blog I’ve mostly focused on the immense educational fraud of higher education today: I can’t help it, this is what is most important to me. The fake classes, fake students, and fake degrees of our leadership is very troubling to someone who sincerely wants to live an honest life and also work in […] … learn more→

In the hours since I first sat down to write this piece, my laptop tells me the National Basketball Association has had to deny that it threatened to cancel its 2017 All-Star Game over a new anti-LGBT law in North Carolina – a story repeated by many news sources including the Associated Press. The authenticity […] … learn more→

I don’t mean to harp on the fraud of community college in particular, but it seems like every week another sign of how much of a rip-off these places are gets tossed in my face. I’m starting to get picky about these frauds, because there are other issues in higher ed besides these questionable “cheap” […] … learn more→

The mass expansion of higher education, the arrival of high fees in English and Welsh universities, the ongoing technology revolution and the Great Recession have pushed and pulled the graduate labour market in contrasting directions over the last 15 years. So a new study published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies to help us to […] … learn more→