As rector of Leiden University, I am sometimes buttonholed by concerned individuals on Twitter, at alumni events and even at the local market about some recent controversial statement that one of our scholars has made in the media. These individuals are typically embarrassed by the comments, and ask me what I am going to do about […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Let the lightning of academic freedom strike
Is the Opioid crisis impacting College campuses?
The opioid crisis is taking the lives of around 115 Americans each day—and is taking over the lives of millions of others. Although the problem is more common in rural than urban areas, the fact that doctors have in recent years over-prescribed opioid painkillers means that anyone can be at risk for abusing these powerful […] … learn more→
Why America needs a new approach to school desegregation
Despite all the time and effort invested desegregating the nation’s schools over the past half century, the reality is America’s schools are more segregated now than they were in 1968. Keep that statistic in mind as the nation marks the 64th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education – the 1954 Supreme Court decision that famously mandated the […] … learn more→
Losing my memory stick was unforgettably brain-beating
It was a quiet evening in the bucolic foothills of academia. I had just finished updating my lecture for the following morning – checking that the various theories expounded hadn’t been discredited since last term, and that the embedded web links didn’t redirect to sites of a pornographic nature – and uploaded the file to my […] … learn more→
It’s time to rethink what’s meant by “mother tongue” education
The issue of mother tongue education has been fiercely but sporadically debated in South Africa since 1994. In the past two and a half years, student protests at universities across the country have breathed new life into the discussions. Proponents of mother tongue education tend to argue that children should be taught in the language […] … learn more→
Keeping it real and optimistic: Will attaining Bachelor degrees bring rainbows across the sky?
Hooray for fantastic and lofty goals focused on early childhood educators attaining four-year degrees that enhance and challenge their joyful work with children and their families! … But then, BANG! Rainbows don’t appear across the sky because we hit the wall and reality of our nation. While the horizon recedes, though, the dream remains … […] … learn more→
3 benefits of enrolling your child in a playgroup
Early childhood is an important and instrumental part of a child’s life, with these years seeing a tremendous amount of growth in toddlers. From birth until about eight years old, a child undergoes many physical and psychological changes, and many of these revolve around their cognitive development. So much of this time relies heavily on […] … learn more→
Can ‘Made in Vietnam’ degrees make it in Vietnam?
For Vietnamese, the “Made in Vietnam” stamp holds little cachet. That goes double for higher education as the country’s stretched-thin universities struggle with talent shortages – a minority of lecturers hold PhDs and few publish research in international outlets – and decaying facilities. Stop a random Vietnamese parent on the street and ask where they […] … learn more→
Science teachers sacrifice to provide lab materials for students
Whatever salary the science teacher at your local public school makes per year, subtract US$450. That’s how much money the typical middle and high school science teacher spends out of pocket each year on science lab materials. The $450 figure is based on a study we recently conducted to determine if science teachers have adequate funding to […] … learn more→
You’re never too old to become fluent in a foreign language
A new study on second language learning has recently taken the mediaby storm. A range of headlines – from the BBC to the Daily Mail and The Guardian – all trumpeted the depressing message that it’s impossible to become fluent in a foreign language after around age ten. All of these reports dramatically misrepresented the findings from the study, and the message they sent […] … learn more→
