Dehumanizing language often precedes genocide. One tragic example: Extreme dehumanizing language was a strong contributor to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. As I have written, the Hutu majority used a popular radio station to continually refer to Tutsi tribal members, a minority in Rwanda, as “cockroaches.” As support for this characterization grew among Hutus, it essentially […] … learn more→

Are you happy when you go to class? This is the question we usually ask at the beginning of our subject Education for Happiness. Four years ago we detected an important gap in the initial training of future teachers of Teaching in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education. We had not included an interdisciplinary space for reflection […] … learn more→

How often do we hear that libraries aren’t just about books anymore? They are makerspaces with 3-D printers, scanners, laser vinyl cutters and routers. They provide green rooms, sewing machines, button makers, and tools like drills, saws and soldering irons. They are places to borrow seeds, fishing rods, cake making supplies, binoculars, laptops and tablets, radon detectors, musical instruments, bicycles and take-home wifi hotspots. They are important sites for […] … learn more→

Science and democracy are concepts that have contributed to the common good after a process based on the pillars of Greco-Roman culture. The two have followed sinuous paths, sometimes adjacent, throughout history. And both are in danger. Inspired by a recent text by José María Izquierdo we launch the following question: do we know what democracy really consists of? Sometimes […] … learn more→

Large wildfires in the Arctic and intense heat waves in Europe are just the latest evidence that climate change is becoming the defining event of our time. Unlike other periods that came and went, such as the 1960s or the dot-com boom, an era of unchecked climate change will lead to complex and irreversible changes in Earth’s life support systems. Many […] … learn more→

The real problem with our higher education system is the academic fraud, predominantly paid for by the student loan scam. If our schools offered a legitimate education, the bulk of the issues we’re seeing there would be irrelevant. A somewhat buried scandal gives a clue what’s going on here: NCAA Punishes Missouri in Blatant Academic […] … learn more→

In 1970, only three countries – Italy, Japan and Mauritius – banned corporal punishment in schools. By 2016, more than 100 countriesbanned the practice, which allows teachers to legally hit, paddle or spank students for misbehavior. The dramatic increase in bans on corporal punishment in schools is documented in an analysis that we conducted recently to learn more about the forces […] … learn more→

The idea of robots taking our jobs is not radically new. But artificial intelligence (AI) is now completely reorganising the global economy. Some estimates of productivity-driven economic growth conclude that AI will contribute approximately $US16 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Unfortunately – compared to the European Union, Japan, United States and United Kingdom – […] … learn more→

Most seasoned university teaching staff will have encountered them at some point in their careers. They are the mysterious “ghost” or “no-show” students who enrol in your modules, sometimes in significant numbers, but then fail to attempt any assessment tasks. In many cases, these students also avoid the lectures and tutorials, or don’t participate in […] … learn more→

On behalf of student here from Hong Kong I am so worried to tell my parents that the work is too much. They want me to study hard and continue at an Australian university. – Anonymous Key points first and foremost, look after yourself try to talk to your parents, remembering they only want what’s […] … learn more→