A worldwide wave of school climate strikes, begun by the remarkable Greta Thunberg, has reached the UK. Some critics claim these activist-pupils are simply playing truant, but I disagree. Speaking as both a climate campaigner and an academic philosopher, I believe school walkouts are morally and politically justifiable. Philosophy can help us tackle the question of whether direct action […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
School climate strikes: why adults no longer have the right to object to their children taking radical action
Just what are ‘zero tolerance’ policies – and are they still common in America’s schools?
When parents and educators discuss school discipline, one of the things that comes up most are “zero tolerance” policies. This term is often misused and misunderstood, according to new research I published recently. Zero tolerance policies are also thought to be widespread. But, my work and a recent report show they are actually less common than frequently thought. Zero […] … learn more→
A prickly path towards integration for EdTech
By now, most people that own a computer have heard of one or two EdTech companies. EdTech, despite being an industry that’s often not as glamorous as subjects in other technological fields such as machine learning or space exploration, still stands as an important piece of how humans normalize their interactions with the exponential nature […] … learn more→
Face recognition technology in classrooms is here – and that’s ok
Recently, the Victorian Government brought in new rules stating Victorian state schools will be banned from using facial recognition technology in classrooms unless they have the approval of parents, students and the Department of Education. Students may be justifiably horrified at the thought of being monitored as they move throughout the school during the day. But a roll marking […] … learn more→
Blanquer, “read, write, count” and “fundamental knowledge”
As part of the discussion of the French bill “Blanquer”, an amendment was adopted in committee with the approval of the Minister of National Education: the creation of “public institutions of fundamental knowledge” (ranging from CP to the third). The title could have been “Common Core School” or “Compulsory Schooling”. But these are the “fundamental knowledge”, an expression that […] … learn more→
Male teachers are most likely to rate highly in university student feedback
University students, like many in society, demonstrate bias against women and particularly women from non-English speaking backgrounds. That’s the take home message from a new and comprehensive analysis of student experience surveys. The study examined a large dataset consisting of more than 500,000 student responses collected over 2010 to 2016. It involved more than 3,000 teachers and 2,000 […] … learn more→
Digital portraits for academics
Recently, Hans Tilstra was talking about digital twins – online identical models for offline objects. He talked about our personal digital twins, the representations of ourselves online. It is an intriguing idea, but not one that I really buy into. Our various digital personas are too fragmented to be considered real twins. I think of online personas […] … learn more→
The uneven U
Publishers often send me academic writing books to review. I happily look through every book, but if I think I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, I just don’t write a review. I don’t want to crush a fellow author’s soul. The rejected titles sit sadly, in small piles of guilt, on the bottom of one of […] … learn more→
Higher tuition fees in college: a counterproductive trend ?
On November 19, 2018, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced the “Welcome to France” plan for the reception of non-European foreign students. The main measure of this plan is a spectacular increase in registration fees, from € 170 to € 2,770 in license, from € 243 to € 3,770 in master’s degree and from € 380 to € 3,770 […] … learn more→
Why Gen Z is leaving College
College enrollments have been falling the last few years, as I’ve said a few times. The loss of students is coming from the kids right out of high school, who leave wondering what to do next. In times past, college was always the plan for the new high school graduate. I don’t blame them for […] … learn more→
