Category Archives: Education

Cartoon: G.O.P. Approved History

Posted on December 20, 2023 by Ampersand

Welcome back to artist R. E. Ryan! This is the second cartoon he’s done with me; I certainly hope there’ll be more. In 2019, the New York Times published The 1619 Project, an anthology of essays and other works arguing … Continue reading →

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Colonialism, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Education, Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc. | 10 Comments

The Financial Calamity That Is The Teaching Profession

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

The paragraphs below are from an article in The Atlantic by Alia Wong with the same title I’ve given to this post. I’m just going to let them speak for themselves. Teachers have never been particularly well paid, but in recent decades … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Comments Off on The Financial Calamity That Is The Teaching Profession

These Vindictive Responses To Students Saying Awful Things Are Disproportionate And Wrong

Posted on January 23, 2016 by Ampersand

Six white seniors at Desert Vista High School in Arizona took a photo of themselves wearing shirts that spelled “ni**er.” ((In this post, I’ve blurred the faces and omitted the names of the people I’m talking about; but that’s not … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., norms of discourse, Race, racism and related issues | 54 Comments

I think this Key & Peele video is brilliant.

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Richard Jeffrey Newman
Posted in Education | 5 Comments

From Guernica: “The Teaching Class,” by Rachel Riederer

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

This is a really interesting and thought-provoking essay that I think anyone concerned about the state of higher education should read. Riederer makes a complex argument. Here are some excerpts: The rise of adjunct labor in universities is also a student … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 59 Comments

“You’re a Man. Why Are You Teaching Women’s Studies?”

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

For me, the most difficult part of refusing to be silent about the fact that I am a survivor of childhood sexual violence has been figuring out when and under what circumstances to reveal it to my students at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Feminism, sexism, etc, Men and masculinity, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues, Writing | 2 Comments

Just One Complaint While I am Doing End-of-Semester Grading

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

So I’m sitting in my office earlier today, waiting for students to hand in their final assignments, which for some include assignments on which I gave them extensions. One student, who has done barely a stitch of work all semester, … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 16 Comments

It’s Nice to Know Someone’s Doing Higher Education Right

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

Rebecca Schuman has a piece up on Slate, “Doing Higher Ed Right,” in which she writes about Iowa State University, which is “the only—only—institution of higher learning in the entire country to spend the last eight years hiring full-time faculty … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | 11 Comments

South Carolina “Fun Home” Censorship Update

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Ampersand

(To listen to the best bit, I’d recommend advancing to the 17 minute mark.) After the South Carolina House passed a bill cutting $52,000 from the College of Charleston for including Alison Bechdel’s memoir Fun Home in a campus reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Free speech, censorship, copyright law, etc., Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer issues | 37 Comments

Public Safety, Racial Awareness, and a Community College Class in Workplace Writing

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

“Can we talk about this email that the college sent out to all the students?” one of the men in my technical writing class asked me, staring at the laptop open on his desk. “I’m pretty sure you’d have given … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Race, racism and related issues | 14 Comments