Taking the sting out of nasty surprises
Written by Steven Schwartz on November 24th, 2008
Hello, this is David Myton again standing in for Steven Schwartz.
In her excellent book about the experiences of Soviet soldiers during World War II, Catherine Merridale records the words of the Russian war poet David Samoilov in reaction to the Nazi invasion that began on June 22 1941:
“We were all expecting war. But we were […]
Higher education: less Gekko, more Gandhi
Written by Steven Schwartz on October 8th, 2008
In a speech to a group of business leaders recently, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd linked the turmoil in global financial markets with the 1987 film Wall Street. In the movie, fictional stockbroker Gordon Gekko makes the following speech:
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all […]
Universities need a research environment
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 23rd, 2008
Sir David King, former UK chief scientist and now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, is well known for his concern over the challenges posed by climate change. For example, he has said that while terrorism poses a serious threat “I don’t think it is even comparable to […]
The alpha and omega of education
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 11th, 2008
At first blush two stories that made the news this week appear alpha and omega apart. But if we dig deep enough, we find there is a real and relevant connection.
The first story concerns a National Church Life Survey which found a decline in the number of people who read the Bible.
The Bible Society chief […]
Teach for Australia: an education revolution
Written by Steven Schwartz on September 4th, 2008
In today’s Australian newspaper Noel Pearson and I discuss a plan for an exciting new direction for education in Australia.
The Teach for Australia project, a collaboration between Noel’s Cape York Institute, Macquarie University and the Boston Consulting Group, aims to revive the idea of public service among young people by encouraging the brightest Australian graduates […]
Higher education: the skills students need
Written by Steven Schwartz on August 27th, 2008
A couple of newspaper stories this week caught my eye. At first glance they seem to have no connection, but taken together they raise some interesting questions for educators.
The first article (in the Sydney Morning Herald), ‘Plugged-in politics hits our shores’ concerns what the author calls ‘Politics 2.0’ (a reference to the Web 1.0 […]
Let’s make sure democracy is not a fleeting thing
Written by Steven Schwartz on August 21st, 2008
Last night, a celebration took place. It was designed to commemorate the centenary of an event, which, at the time, captured the attention of Australia.
One hundred years ago this week, American battle ships steamed passed South Head on their way into Sydney Harbour. The 16 vessels, belching steam and glistening in the sun, filled the […]
Higher education: Postmodernism rides again?
Written by Steven Schwartz on August 7th, 2008
I thought postmodernism had ridden off into the sunset after a brief sojourn on the higher education stage. But apparently not so – it seems pomo is alive and well and damaging our students.
According to this month’s Australian Literary Review postmodernism is ruining our universities. The ALR features an article – Paralysed by Postmodernism - […]
A textbook case …
Written by Steven Schwartz on July 23rd, 2008
Should students be required to purchase textbooks authored by their instructors? Does it matter whether the textbook is “self-published” or commercially published? These questions are currently being debated at many universities (see here for example).
For trade books (the books found in bookshops), self-publishing is known as “vanity” publishing because the only people who do it […]
Faith, hope and … higher education?
Written by Steven Schwartz on July 16th, 2008
World Youth Day is underway in Sydney with more than 100,000 young Catholic pilgrims from Australia and around the world in attendance. It’s a great occasion made even more significant by the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, who will receive a public welcome in Sydney later this week.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Tuesday welcomed the […]