Do you have something important to say, but find it hard to get people’s attention? Or have you tried to listen to someone who claims to have something interesting to impart, but they can’t explain it and the idea gets lost? (Or worse, you get bored and lose interest, even if they’re trying to describe […] … learn more→

It’s a truism that we take our freedoms for granted until they are taken away, but recent events have really driven that home to me. In November, my imminent book exposing the subversive activities of the CPC in Australia was dropped by its publisher because it feared retaliation from Beijing. I never imagined that such […] … learn more→

The extraordinary rise of Xi Jinping was, understandably, the main talking point of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October. Thanks to the president’s relentless consolidation of his personal power base within the party and the official encouragement of something approaching a cult of personality, comparisons with Mao were […] … learn more→

With rising interest rates and home costs, not to mention the numerous foreclosures we are seeing all around us, many homeowners are now opting for the sell and stay option to keep on living in their cherished homes. A sell and stay transaction is basically a tax-free scheme that allows you to sell your home […] … learn more→

How much education does a preschool teacher need? When the District of Columbia announced in March that it would require an associate’s degree for all lead teachers at child care centers who work with children up to age 5, the reaction was widely negative. Journalist Matthew Yglesias tweeted that the requirement seemed “ill-advised,” while Sen. Ben Sasse, a […] … learn more→

Bullying is a problem for schools worldwide. It is a fairly common behaviour, although it can be difficult to identify the number of young people who have been bullied because of the different ways bullying is measured. One 2014 review of 80 studies suggests that roughly 35% of children experience bullying at some point. In a class […] … learn more→

When I was at a fake community college, there was one thing I loathed the most: a forced meeting with a boss (by “boss” I could be referring to any number of people with the right to fire me at their displeasure, from dean/assistant dean, to provost/assistant provost, to chancellor/assistant chancellor, to vice president/assistant vice […] … learn more→

It’s been an interesting year for digital games. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds became the most played PC game on the digital distribution platform Steam, with its battle-royale, scavenge and survive 100 player gameplay shaking up the first-person shooter genre. Nintendo’s new console, the Switch, blew us away with the latest games in the Zelda and Mario franchises. And the cathartic nazi-Killing of Wolfenstein II was particularly […] … learn more→

Unlike old-fashioned vocational education, high school-level career and technical education doesn’t really prepare people for jobs directly after high school. While the stated end goal of K-12 education in America is for students to be “college and career ready,” the reality is the existence of career-ready high school graduates is a myth. The expectation that […] … learn more→

As I write, it is just after New Year’s Day 2018. The remnants of 2017 have already beaten a hasty retreat and, as with any new year, thoughts quickly turn to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. For universities, the challenges are not insubstantial, and have already been trailed. Inevitably, many will focus on […] … learn more→