Adjusting to life after university can be very difficult.Graduation may signify a time for celebration but it can also indicate a period of uncertainty as fresh graduates begin to anticipate their future. As per a psychologist named Andy Hogg, “it is normal for recent college graduates to feel stressed and anxious,”all this because of the […] … learn more→

Someone once asked Malcolm Gladwell when his next book would be out. “I need an idea before I can write another book,” he responded. As a PhD student, his answer didn’t make sense to me. I knew that I needed to write a book (fancifully called a “dissertation”) – I just didn’t realise that I […] … learn more→

Higher education is a scam. Administrators run universities for profit and care little for standards. Students don’t learn anything, don’t get good jobs and end up in debt poverty. Welcome to the world of the edusceptic, where we, my fellow academics, are the rip-off merchants of the age. A slew of books, blogs, newspaper articles […] … learn more→

For the Golden State of California, 1960 was a golden year: It was a time of rapid development, when the state chose to use its tax revenues to fund magnificent freeways and other infrastructure. Part of this massive development was a system of public higher education – a model that put California center stage in the American […] … learn more→

A college degree is the key to unlocking many of the best careers in the modern labor market. But more than 20 million working-age adults in the United States are college dropouts, failed in some way by institutions that collectively receive hundreds of billions of dollars in public funding every year. For the last few decades, the […] … learn more→

I post in forums, and it’s so weird when politicized topics come up. For example, I mentioned how Google modifies its search engine to steer searches away from information detrimental to Hillary Clinton (this was during the last election, although what Amazon is doing with Hillary’s book today is no different. I’m called a conspiracy theorist […] … learn more→

For the past two years the actions of government and protesting studentshave slowly started squeezing South Africa’s universities into a shadow of their former selves. In his book “As by Fire” prominent educationalist Jonathan Jansen argues that South Africa is witnessing the end of its universities. He explains that this doesn’t mean the doors will close. Registration will […] … learn more→

I first saw the film of David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross(1992), as an undergraduate pursuing a degree in literature and film, around 2004. It chimed with my ideas about the sort of working future I didn’t want to have, and the meaninglessness of labour under capitalism, but otherwise I thought little more about it – […] … learn more→

A deficit in the development of the teenage brain has been blamed for teens’ behavior in recent years, but it may be time to lay the stereotype of the wild teenage brain to rest. Brain deficits don’t make teens do risky things; lack of experience and a drive to explore the world are the real […] … learn more→

I was surprised to hear that a robot named Sophia was granted citizenship by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The announcement last week followed the Kingdom’s commitment of US$500 billion to build a new city – Neom powered by robotics and renewables. One of the most honourable concepts for a human being, to be a citizen and all that […] … learn more→