J. R. R. Tolkien is one of the most famous authors of the 20th century. Known for the mythical worlds and creatures he presented in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien is beloved for his way with words and his imaginative genius. Tolkien’s fame, lovability, and worldwide influence are the types of
READ MOREShould college majors be a thing of the past? That idea received a fresh airing when author Jeffrey Selingo suggested that it’s “time to end college majors as we know them.” As a researcher who studies higher education, I concede that something about the way colleges and universities educate students in the United States needs
READ MORELast week, Kelley Rose told the national media why she helped found a chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America: Jesus made her do it. Fittingly, she told her story at taxpayer expense. Her comments came as part of a glowing profile of the DSA that National Public Radio posted on July 26 mistitled, “What
READ MORE“It’s time for a coup in Venezuela.” That statement appeared in Foreign Policy magazine on June 5, two weeks after Nicolás Maduro was re-elected as Venezuela’s president on May 20 in an election widely considered to be rigged. José R. Cárdenas, the former Bush administration official who wrote it, argued that “the United States and
READ MORESticks and stones may break my bones, But words will never hurt me. We’ve all heard that childhood verse, but even a five-year-old puts the boot to that second line. Our words have power. They can wound or mend; they can separate or reconcile; they can cast others into the depths of hell or lift
READ MOREThe post-millennials have arrived. As the oldest millennials turn 37, demographers have designated a new generation for those born after 1996, Generation Z. The oldest members of this cohort just graduated from college and had their first (legal) alcoholic beverages. As they wind their way through college, post-millennials will change higher education, just as previous generations
READ MOREAccording to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) only 12% of high school seniors are proficient in U.S. History. If that number isn’t bad enough, 55% of seniors lack just a basic understanding of U.S. History and only 1% are considered advanced in their knowledge of U.S. History. Yes, it’s that bad. We wish we could snap our fingers and fix
READ MOREThree minors have been euthanised in Belgium since euthanasia for children was legalised in 2014. According to the latest report from the government agency (PDF in French) which tracks euthanasia deaths, the children were 9, 11 and 17 years old. Two died in 2016 and 1 last year. Under the existing law, their request for death has to be
READ MORESince it was introduced in 1968, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded to 79 individuals for their contributions to different branches of economics. Yet not all of them were economists by training. Here are three contributions that earned their authors the Nobel Prize in a field that wasn’t initially theirs. 1.
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