Much of PhD work is about organizing logic and reason through research. This is the domain of the Intellect. When I’m not engaged in making my research intelligible, I devote part of my day to spiritual practice and I engage that part of my mind where reason and logic are not required. While I grapple […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Seven spiritual lessons I’ve learned from doing a PhD
Researching on someone else’s project – it’s a relationship
From jobbing researcher to PI: Nick Hopwood I was struck by the patter series about working on someone else’s project. The posts took me back to my time as a newly minted PhD, and nudged me into thinking about my position now – as someone whose research other people work on. In the second half of […] … learn more→
Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help
Science seems to be under attack in America, so much so that scientists and their supporters are marching in the streets. President Donald Trump has publicly called climate change a Chinese hoax abetted by greedy scientists. He has linked vaccines to autism despite overwhelming scientific consensus against these claims. Vice President Mike Pence has denied […] … learn more→
Standardized test bubble to pop?
“Fill in the bubble” tests have been a fact of life in our government-run school system for a generation or two now. I certainly remember taking them every few years, and then the biggie, the SAT, in my last year of high school. Like everything government-run (see also: vaccinations), the bureaucracy has imposed ever more […] … learn more→
EN and me
I write a lot about co- writing and the particular people I work with. But there’s one co-writing situation I don’t talk much about. And I should own up. I have been in a writing relationship with EN – full name EN Dnote – for over twenty years. I confess that I have very occasionally […] … learn more→
Is the traditional research university doomed to extinction in a digital age?
Looking back on 40 years in universities as I retire next week, I recall being witness to many brilliant advances in human knowledge. But my career has also spanned a gradual undermining of the research university ideal. The modern research university arose out of a vision of students learning through their own empirical observations. Its […] … learn more→
The myth of the college dropout
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was asked to give this year’s commencement address at Harvard, he asked for advice from Bill Gates. Zuckerberg said, “They know we didn’t actually graduate, right?” To which Gates replied, “Oh, that is the best part! They actually give you a degree!” This recent exchange between two famous Harvard dropouts […] … learn more→
Why many admitted students don’t choose your College
Everyone knows that money plays a major role in students’ college enrollment decisions. How big a role? According to a recent study by Royall & Co., the enrollment management and alumni fundraising arm of EAB, “almost one-fifth of students who were admitted to their top choice of college or university in 2016 but decided not […] … learn more→
Proceed carefully with Pell-funded dual enrollment programs
Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Rob Portman (OH) and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (VA) joined forces to introduce a bill that would allow high school students to enroll in college coursework using Pell Grant funds. But while such a move could increase access to advanced coursework–and there’s rigorous evidence to suggest longer-term benefits in earning […] … learn more→
Student loans for survival, not education
“I’m getting a new bong.” –when I was at a fake school, I overheard a student boasting what he was going to do with his Pell Grant “refund.” When a student, or someone posing as a student, goes to college, he can easily qualify for Federally guaranteed student loan money. Over half the country can’t […] … learn more→
