For much of the 2019-2020 academic year, Syracuse University has been besieged by student protests over how the school handled of a series of racist incidents on campus. In the latest protest, Syracuse student activists have occupied the campus administration building since Feb. 17. Using the hashtag #NotAgainSU, they are calling for action in the wake of racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related […] … learn more→

The use of the word “I” in academic writing, that is writing in the first person, has a troublesome history. Some say it makes writing too subjective, others that it’s essential for accuracy. This is reflected in how students, particularly in secondary schools, are trained to write. Teachers I work with are often surprised that I […] … learn more→

It would seem as if the Trump era has been especially bad for the humanities. Sure, in the years before 2016 there was constant worry about “the crisis in the humanities”, with the disciplines’ supposed descent into jargon, specialisation and obscurity. Undergraduate enrolments fell. Literature and language departments closed. Even President Obama, a former law […] … learn more→

The main literary genres (lyrical, narrative and theater) have survived in our modern history and it seems that their future does not present doubts as to their permanence in cultural uses and in the processes that concern the formation of people. However, it is inevitable to consider what is the use made of each of them […] … learn more→

Across Canada, issues related to education are regularly making headlines. Ontario teachers have been on rotating strikes, B.C. teachers have been without a contract since last June and both Manitoba and Alberta are reviewing their education systems. In our research, we are examining the language, stories and messages that are being generated by governments, the media and the public at large about […] … learn more→

From September 2020, schools in England will be required to teach relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) that includes LGBT relationships. This means that pupils will, for the first time, learn about all kinds of families and relationships, not just those that are heterosexual. Some parents and people in faith communities have protested outside school gates opposing the efforts […] … learn more→

I have a wardrobe full of food-print dresses, hundreds of pairs of food shaped earrings, a collection of food-themed hair accessories, and even a handbag shaped like a lemon wedge. If you follow me on social media, you will see a new combination of foods multiple times a week. But I’m not a fashion account […] … learn more→

  Many relatively well-off parents drive their kids to special activities after school. On top of trips to soccer practices and games or piano lessons and recitals, they increasingly make one more stop: a trip to their local after-school tutoring center. In most cases these children don’t attend underfunded schools or need help competing with those in […] … learn more→

The ability to understand emotions contributes almost as much to students’ grades as their IQ. Past studies show two personal qualities are important for student academic success – intelligence and conscientiousness. IQ scores explain about 15% of the differences between students’ grades. Conscientiousness, such as having the diligence to do enough study, explains about 5%. Our recent research has found […] … learn more→

Advice. Loads of it. Coming out of our ears.  And on every possible topic, including research and writing. Advice needs readers. But we readers also need to be, as Ernest Hemingway put it, “crap detectors”. Howard Rheingold has worked up this idea, using Hemingway’s terminology. Rheingold has developed a little protocol that can be used to […] … learn more→