When I started my PhD, I was full of enthusiasm, excited by this new opportunity and period of growth. I read a blog by Jodie Trembath about having a PhD symbol (she originally called it a PhD totem but changed this on the request of several First Nations scholars in the US). I bought an Asian bamboo […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
PHD bamboo
Stanford: Dungeons and Dragons is RACIST
The “new thing” is often declared the problem for society’s ills. Television and comic books, when they came out half a century or more ago, were blamed for why children were so disobedient, for example. A bit more recently, Dungeons and Dragons was targeted when it achieved some level of popularity in the 70s, with […] … learn more→
How to write a successful ethics application
The word “ethics” strikes fear into the hearts of most early career researchers. Some of the reasons are beyond our control, but there’s actually a lot we can do to make our own experiences of the ethics approval process less painful. I’m writing this from two perspectives: as an early career researcher (I finished my […] … learn more→
Why ‘acting locally’ is impossible in an interconnected world
Like many Americans, I worry about the state of the planet and try to make a positive impact through decisions in my day-to-day life. But I also am nagged by the feeling that I often get it wrong, even though I analyze environmental problems for a living. Concerned about plastics in the ocean, I renounced single-use plastic […] … learn more→
School exclusions and knife crime: why we should be listening more to vulnerable children
Exclusion rates in English state funded schools are once again on the rise, alongside concerns about the impact of exclusion on the well-being of children and also on public safety. The highest level of exclusion rates are experienced by vulnerable students who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, and are from disadvantaged and ethnic minority backgrounds. As a […] … learn more→
The revision cave
Well, my current book is nearly done. But I was wondering, the other day, why writing a book never gets any easier. I’ve written quite a lot of books. This one is actually the twenty fourth, although about eight of them are edited collections. Not the same as a monograph or trade book – although […] … learn more→
Professor: Grading and grammar are racist
Our institutions of higher learning are massively oversized. While in general I disagree with the levels of growth which allowed this to happen there is one benefit to a large institution: resistance to change. Back when our institutions were merely huge, this benefit occurred quite often as the universities tended to not fall into fad […] … learn more→
When you’re older than your professors
Marlene was one of the brightest and most conscientious doctoral students I’ve ever served in my academic coaching and editing practice. An older student, she had returned for her doctorate after three of her four kids were grown and out. Marlene held down a full-time job in medical billing, and her youngest was now in […] … learn more→
‘I’m in another world’: writing without rules lets kids find their voice, just like professional authors
Ask a child why they write and you might receive a common response: the teacher told me to. Kids often lack confidence as writers and find it emotionally draining. The problem might be the classroom and its detachment from what writers do in the real world. In some classrooms, students learn writing techniques and then apply them to a […] … learn more→
Does free education guarantee the accessibility of higher education?
On 11 October 2019, the Constitutional Council confirmed the French State’s duty to provide free public higher education. This decision is based on the preamble of the Constitution of October 27, 1947, which in paragraph 13 states that: “The Nation guarantees equal access for children and adults to education, vocational training and culture. The organization of free and secular […] … learn more→
