Discourse

  • College Students with Disabilities Are Too Often Excluded

    College Students with Disabilities Are Too Often Excluded

    AnnCatherine Heigl, a sophomore at George Mason University, recently attempted to join all eight sororities at her school. All eight turned her down. If you ask her sister, who Tweeted about how the experience left AnnCatherine “unwanted and devastated,” the reason the sororities denied AnnCatherine is because she has a disability: Down syndrome. This kind… Read More

  • Mentors Play Critical Role in Quality of College Experience, New Poll Suggests

    Mentors Play Critical Role in Quality of College Experience, New Poll Suggests

    In order to have a rewarding college experience, students should build a constellation of mentors. This constellation should be a diverse set of faculty, staff and peers who will get students out of their comfort zones and challenge them to learn more – and more deeply – than they thought they could. Students should begin… Read More

  • What Will Make College Students Vote in 2020?

    What Will Make College Students Vote in 2020?

    There is no question that today’s college students are deeply invested in politics. They are taking to the streets of their campuses in historically large numbers to protest against gun violence, racial injustice and climate change, among other issues. But when it comes to voting, young Americans haven’t shown up at the same rate as… Read More

  • Why Some Counties Are Powerhouses for Innovation

    Why Some Counties Are Powerhouses for Innovation

    By the time the application window closed, Amazon had received 238 proposals from cities and regions throughout North America looking to become the second headquarters of the behemoth tech company. Amazon invited proposals especially from places that looked a lot like its native Seattle: metro areas with more than a million people; a stable and… Read More

  • Why Science Matters So Much in the Era of Fake News and Fallacies

    Why Science Matters So Much in the Era of Fake News and Fallacies

    Democracy and social progress die without science and fact-based knowledge. Science and facts are the foundational basis for rational and logical disputation and the possibility of reaching some truths. Fake news, on the other hand, is a calculated assault on democratic freedoms. The power of the notion of fake news and of its practitioners is… Read More

  • Teaching in America’s Prisons Has Taught Me to Believe in Second Chances

    Teaching in America’s Prisons Has Taught Me to Believe in Second Chances

    In 2007, I gave someone a second chance. I was in Danbury Federal Correctional Institution recruiting women for a new program for people returning from prison that I was running in New York City. A woman approached me and handed me her portfolio. It was basically a detailed resume of her accomplishments, skills and goals… Read More

  • College Admission Scandal Grew Out of a System That Was Ripe for Corruption

    College Admission Scandal Grew Out of a System That Was Ripe for Corruption

    As part of the “Operation Varsity Blues” case that federal prosecutors announced March 12, dozens of people – including Hollywood actresses and wealthy businessmen – stand accused of having bought their children’s way into elite colleges and universities. As a researcher who has studied how young athletes get admitted to college, I don’t see a… Read More

  • College Admission Scheme Busted

    College Admission Scheme Busted

    An indictment in Massachusetts, which was unsealed today, reads like a Hollywood mobster movie. There are rich, unscrupulous parents desperate to place their children in prestigious schools, fixers and university athletic coaches. And like many mobster movies, it ends with the wise guys being hauled away in handcuffs and charged under the Racketeer Influenced and… Read More

  • Why Double-Majors Might Beat You Out of a Job

    Why Double-Majors Might Beat You Out of a Job

    Two college majors are better than one. That is the conclusion that researchers are beginning to reach. Prior research has already shown that students who double major can earn more than peers who majored in only one field. New research we conducted recently shows that double majors fare better in another way as well: They… Read More

  • Millennials Are US$1 Trillion In Debt – But They’re Better at Saving Than Previous Generations

    Millennials Are US$1 Trillion In Debt – But They’re Better at Saving Than Previous Generations

    New findings from the New York Federal Reserve reveal that millennials have now racked up over US$1 trillion of debt. This troubling amount of debt, an increase of over 22 percent in just five years, is more than any other generation in history. This situation may leave you wondering how millennials ended up in such… Read More

  • How to Prevent the ‘Robot Apocalypse’ From Ending Labor as We Know It

    How to Prevent the ‘Robot Apocalypse’ From Ending Labor as We Know It

    It seems not a day goes by without the appearance of another dire warning about the future of work. Some alarmists fear a “robot apocalypse,” while others foresee the day of “singularity” coming when artificial intelligence exceeds human intelligence. Still others warn that income inequality will continue to rise as owners of capital capture more… Read More

  • Common Stereotypes Don’t Fit Today’s College Student

    Common Stereotypes Don’t Fit Today’s College Student

    When envisioning the typical college student, people may see a 20-year-old fumbling books while walking through a library, or maybe — if they have seen the movie “Animal House” too many times — they think of partygoers decked out in togas. Who they wouldn’t picture, however, is a 30-year-old mom of two or a 28-year-old… Read More

  • More American Students Are Studying Abroad, New Data Show

    More American Students Are Studying Abroad, New Data Show

    Kelsey Hrubes knew she had a challenge on her hands when she visited Germany as a study abroad student back in 2015. “I was forced to adapt to cultural norms I had never considered before and try to comprehend everything in a new language,” recalls Hrubes, a software engineer at Microsoft and 2017 Iowa State… Read More

  • We Talk About Artistic Inspiration All the Time – But Scientific Inspiration Is a Thing Too

    We Talk About Artistic Inspiration All the Time – But Scientific Inspiration Is a Thing Too

    I don’t know why it took so long to dawn on me – after 20 years of a scientific career – that what we call the “scientific method” really only refers the second half of any scientific story. It describes how we test and refine the ideas and hypotheses we have about nature through the… Read More

  • Why Low-Income Students Should Have the First Shot at Free College

    Why Low-Income Students Should Have the First Shot at Free College

    As the United States moves forward with making debt-free college a possibility, policymakers must prioritize making higher education accessible for low-income and historically underrepresented students, according to a recent report by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). Undoubtedly, a degree in higher education, today, is more important than ever before. It is, in… Read More

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