Higher education

You’re in college. Think.

Education/ Opinion

You’re in college. Think.

Students need to fight the rising tide of anti-intellectualism

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This is an excerpt from Professor Duncan’s address to students, faculty and staff at Stonehill College’s Academic Convocation on Wednesday, August 30. MY SUBJECT IS anti-intellectualism: The distrust of and contempt for intellectual and educational activities. The rejection of rationality, reason, and critical thought, on the one hand, and the embrace of emotion, faith, and(...)

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Esports: More than a game

Education/ Technology/ Spring 2017

Esports: More than a game

Big bucks online competition now gaining academia's interest

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FOR MOST PEOPLE over the age of 30, playing video games is perceived as a waste of time, a solitary, non-social activity that serves to melt one’s brain. Yet as a 20-year old who has been playing video games for about 15 years (and whose brain is still intact), I believe that perception is way(...)

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The Download/ Education

The private college trap

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The Globe Magazine over the weekend carried a provocative headline: “Work hard. Go to college. Get ahead…and other bad advice we’re giving low-income students.” The story by Neil Swidey doesn’t quite match the headline, but it nevertheless paints a very troubling portrait of low-income students getting in way over their heads financially at what Swidey(...)

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The Download/ Education/ Media

McKenna’s marketing deal with the Globe

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As the Suffolk University soap opera heads toward some resolution today, one storyline hasn’t received much attention — the decision by President Margaret McKenna to enter into a $670,000 advertising and marketing agreement with the Boston Globe. The advertising deal came up last weekend when Suffolk board chairman Andrew Meyer and three other trustees told(...)

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The Download/ Education

Suffolk’s McKenna gaining upper hand

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Suffolk University President Margaret McKenna met for four hours on Wednesday with her nemesis on the board of trustees, a sign that some resolution of the ugly public fight over McKenna’s tenure is in the offing. The board is scheduled to meet to fire McKenna on Friday, but her powwow with board chairman Andrew Meyer(...)

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The Download/ Education

Suffolk-cating presidents

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Suffolk University is in a constant identity crisis. Of course, when you have five presidents in six years, that’s bound to happen. And, if the university’s board of trustees has its way, the downtown school may be making yet another change at the top. But this time, it’s not happening without a fight. Reports began circulating last(...)

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A higher ed turning point

Education/ Politics/ Opinion

A higher ed turning point

UMass must fight for long-overdue state investment

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STATE FUNDING FOR the University of Massachusetts system is up for debate once again on Beacon Hill. Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders want UMass President Marty Meehan and the UMass board of trustees to roll back tuition and fee increases approved in June. However, in return for trimming student costs, Meehan wants the Legislature(...)

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The Download/ Education

Educating illegal immigrants

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The question of granting in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants for public colleges and universities continues to vex lawmakers. Should we punish children who, through no fault of their own, landed here when their parents came through back channels? Should we deny these students the ability to learn and lift themselves out of the inevitable low-income(...)

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Lowering math standards not the answer

Education/ Opinion

Lowering math standards not the answer

Higher ed students need better high school preparation or better remedial instruction when they arrive

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IN HIS PERSPECTIVE PIECE in the Spring 2014 issue of CommonWealth (“To fill our talent pool, fix remedial education”), Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland expressed  concern at the number of college students who are placed into developmental math courses and fail to progress. We agree that far too many students are in developmental math courses. However,(...)

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