With all the time that young people spend in front of screens these days – from TVs to laptops, cellphones and iPads – children are bound to see a lot of ads and commercials. On average, American children spend anywhere between three to nine hours of time on screen. This includes TV, DVD, mobile, computer and video games. To […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
3 tips: How to teach children to watch commercials more closely
An epidemic of perfectionism falls on young people
The phenomenon of perfectionism has grown considerably over the last twenty-five years, affecting men as well as women. That’s what we learned from recently leading one of the most important studies ever done on perfectionism . And we have also learned that perfectionists become more and more neurotic and unstable, and less reliable and organized over time. Perfectionism […] … learn more→
Britain already disengaging from Europe as UK government pulls funding from unique European research institute
You may not have heard of it, but students from across Europe have been studying at The European University Institute (EUI) since 1976. Situated in the Tuscan hills overlooking Florence, the idyllic setting plays home to a unique institution dedicated to training PhD students and enhancing Europe’s research capacity in economics, history, law, and social sciences. Although […] … learn more→
What’s behind the teacher strikes: Unions focus on social justice, not just salaries
For the past few years I’ve been studying teacher unions and teachers strikes throughout the Americas. My research has taken me from the Mexican state of Oaxaca – where teacher protests in 2006 led to both violent repression and a broad-based social movement for direct democracy – to the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, to coal-mining towns in West Virginia. I’ve […] … learn more→
Decrease anxiety about learning English with mobile gaming
It’s normal to experience some anxiety when speaking a second language. When paired with large class sizes and limited opportunities for practice during class time, however, this anxiety can limit a person’s ability to perform in the language classroom. In order to become proficient in a second language, learners require extensive practice with the language such as with new vocabulary […] … learn more→
Losing your job to student debt
Government stupidity clearly knows no bounds. We have tens of millions of people now with student loan debt, a debt which is often too large to pay back thanks to government interference, and cannot be cleared via bankruptcy. But the government wants “its” money, and gets to create the laws. We’re already seeing students loans […] … learn more→
Charter schools exploit lucrative loophole that would be easy to close
While critics charge that charter schools are siphoning money away from public schools, a more fundamental issue frequently flies under the radar: the questionable business practices that allow people who own and run charter schools to make large profits. Charter school supporters are reluctant to acknowledge, much less stop, these practices. Given that charter schools are growing rapidly – from 1 […] … learn more→
“League of LOL”: a case that questions schools of journalism
Since the beginning of February, testimonials have been pouring in on the “LOL league” – a Facebook group of young media professionals accused of harassing people between 2009 and 2012 on social networks, particularly Twitter, other journalists and members of the blogosphere. These revelations question the responsibility of the editorial offices, but also that of the schools of journalism. They also […] … learn more→
Choosing a career? These jobs won’t go out of style
Sensationalist claims that 40% of jobs in Australia won’t exist in the future are unhelpful for young Australians thinking about entering the workforce. The reality is some jobs will no longer exist, new jobs will be created and most jobs will undergo some form of transformation. The skills we need for work are changing, but young Australians […] … learn more→
Bold requests
What was your last “bold request”? We are PhD students in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada who began our MA theses together in 2015. Both first-in-our-family graduate students, and lovers of learning, we were motivated to make the most of our experiences as graduate students. One way that we’ve attempted this is through “bold requests”. Here, we […] … learn more→
