Diane Silvers Ravitch is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, she was a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education. In 2010, she became "an activist on behalf of public schools". Her blog at DianeRavitch.net has received more than 36 million page views since she began blogging in 2012. Ravitch writes for the New York Review of Books.
A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest rate may be substantially lower and the repayment schedule may be deferred while the student is still in school. It also differs in many countries in the strict laws regulating renegotiating and bankruptcy. This article highlights the differences of the student loan system in several major countries.
College tuition in the United States is the cost of higher education collected by educational institutions in the United States, and paid by individuals. It does not include the tuition covered through general taxes or from other government funds, or that which is paid from university endowment funds or gifts. Tuition for college has increased as the value, quality, and quantity of education have increased. Many feel that increases in cost have not been accompanied by increases in quality, and that administrative costs are excessive. The value of a college education has become a topic of national debate in the U.S.
Rodger Kamenetz is an American poet and author best known for The Jew in the Lotus (1994), an account of the historic dialogue between rabbis and the XIV Dalai Lama. His poetry explores the Jewish experience and in recent years, dream consciousness. Since 2003 he's been instrumental in developing Natural Dreamwork, a practice that focuses on the sacred encounters in dreams.
Lee Siegel is an American writer and cultural critic who has written for multiple publications. He has authored multiple books of nonfiction and received a National Magazine Award.
Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities generally operated by their owners, investors, or shareholders in a manner prioritizing shareholder primacy as opposed to education provided by non-profit institution that prioritize students as project stakeholders.
In the United States, student loans are a form of financial aid intended to help students access higher education. In 2018, 70 percent of higher education graduates had used loans to cover some or all of their expenses. With notable exceptions, student loans must be repaid, in contrast to other forms of financial aid such as scholarships, which are not repaid, and grants, which rarely have to be repaid. Student loans may be discharged through bankruptcy, but this is difficult. Research shows that access to student loans increases credit-constrained students' degree completion, later-life earnings, and student loan repayment while having no impact on overall debt.
Virginia Heffernan is an American journalist and cultural critic. Since 2015, she has been a political columnist at the Los Angeles Times and a cultural columnist at Wired. From 2003 to 2011, she worked as a staff writer for The New York Times, first as a television critic, then as a magazine columnist, and then as an opinion writer. She has also worked as a senior editor for Harper's, as a founding editor of Talk, and as a TV critic for Slate. Her 2016 book Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art argued that the Internet is a "massive and collective work of art", one that is a "work in progress", and that the suggested deterioration of attention spans in response to it is a myth.
Edupunk is a do it yourself (DIY) attitude to teaching and learning practices. Tom Kuntz described edupunk as "an approach to teaching that avoids mainstream tools like PowerPoint and Blackboard, and instead aims to bring the rebellious attitude and DIY ethos of ’70s bands like The Clash to the classroom." Many instructional applications can be described as DIY education or edupunk.
American Student Assistance (ASA) is a national non-profit organization to help students make informed choices to achieve their education and career goals. It is headquartered in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.
Elyse Goldstein is a Canadian Reform rabbi. She is the first woman to be elected as president of the interdenominational Toronto Board of Rabbis and president of the Reform Rabbis of Greater Toronto.
Dana Shawn Stevens is an American film critic who writes for Slate. She is also a cohost of the magazine's weekly cultural podcast, the Culture Gabfest. She is the author of a 2022 book about Buster Keaton and the 20th century titled Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century.
The New Journal is a magazine at Yale University that publishes creative nonfiction about Yale and New Haven. Inspired by New Journalism writers like Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese, the student-run publication was established by Daniel Yergin and Peter Yeager in 1967 to publish investigative pieces and in-depth interviews. It publishes five issues per year. The magazine is distributed free of charge at Yale and in New Haven and was among the first university publications not to charge a subscription fee.
Class of Her Own, formerly known as "Discovering Gloria," is a documentary film by Boaz Dvir set to release in 2024. The documentary captures Gloria Merriex’s transformation into an educational innovator and shows her engaging her math, reading, and science students at the most effective levels through unconventional teaching practices, which included hip-hop and dance routines.
Lisa Guernsey is an American early education researcher, author, and former journalist. She is currently director of the Learning Technologies Project at New America, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. She is also deputy director of the organization's Education Policy Program.
Sister Zeph, birth name Riffat Arif, is a Pakistani Christian teacher, women’s activist and philanthropist from Gujranwala, Pakistan. She is the founder of the Zephaniah Women's Education and Empowerment Foundation (ZWEE).
Tressie McMillan Cottom is an American writer, sociologist, and professor. She is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and an affiliate of the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is also an opinion columnist at The New York Times.
Jordan Shapiro is an American author known for his work on parenting, education, gender, and technology.
Dana Burde is an American political scientist. She is a professor at New York University, where she is also Director of International Education. Burde studies the relationship between level of education and violent conflict, particularly in Afghanistan, as well as how humanitarian organizations and government policies can promote successful education outcomes. For her book Schools for Conflict or for Peace in Afghanistan, Burde won the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
The Math Myth: And Other STEM Delusions is a 2016 nonfiction book by Queens College political scientist Andrew Hacker analyzing and critiquing the United States educational system's teaching of mathematics as a linear progression towards more advanced fields. Based on a 2012 New York Times op-ed by Hacker titled "Is Algebra Necessary", Hacker argues that the teaching of advanced algebra, trigonometry, and calculus is not useful to the majority of students. He further claims that the requirement of advanced mathematics courses in secondary education contributes to dropout rates and impedes socioeconomically disadvantaged students from pursuing further education. Hacker critiques the Common Core system and American focus on STEM education in lieu of social sciences, arguing that the educational system should prioritize "numeracy" over pure mathematics education.
