Where Work Is Headed

Here are two items that you may have missed but that are clearly further indicators of the devaluation of workers. First, some owners of McDonald’s franchises have started issuing pre-paid debit cards, instead of paychecks, to their employees. Clearly this practice is in some way saving the owners of the franchises some money, though I…

The Reflective Practice of Teaching

The following was written for the blog of the Whole Child Initiative of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, where it went live today. You can see the original here As a teacher, I cannot imagine not reflecting as a regular part of my teaching practice. Part of this is because as a shy…

Coal Miners Get the Shaft Again—Postscript 1

The post to which this is a postscript is available at: https://academeblog.org/2013/07/10/coal-miners-get-the-shaft-again/ Lest anyone think that what Peabody Energy and Arch Coal are doing through Patriot Coal is an anomaly in the Appalachian coal fields, let me draw your attention to the career of Don Blankenship. From 1992 to 2010, Blankenship headed Massey Energy in…

400 Films about Higher Education (or at Least Set on Campuses): 251-300

Cultural Representations of Higher Ed, No. 3 I am working backwards through this list. Here are films 251 to 300, which are generally ridiculous, but perhaps somewhat less ridiculous than those numbered 301-400. The first post in this series, covering films ranked 351 to 400 is available at: https://academeblog.org/2013/07/09/400-films-about-higher-education-or-at-least-set-on-campuses-351-400/ The second post in this series,…

400 Films about Higher Education (or at Least Set on Campuses): 301-350

Cultural Representations of Higher Ed, No. 2 I am working backwards through this list. Here are films 301 to 350, which are, again, generally ridiculous. The first post in this series, covering films ranked 351 to 400 is available at: https://academeblog.org/2013/07/09/400-films-about-higher-education-or-at-least-set-on-campuses-351-400/ The rankings are my own and in most cases somewhat arbitrary: that is, these are…

Coal Miners Get the Shaft Again

The union movement in the United States may not have begun in the coal fields, but it arguably became a major force in the American economy, in American politics, and in the national life of the United States because of the stands taken by pro-union miners in coal fields from the Appalachian Mountains to the…

What Happened at City College of San Francisco?

Late on the afternoon of July 3, as San Franciscans were preparing for a four-day holiday weekend, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which accredits two-year institutions in California, dropped a bombshell.  The commission announced that it was revoking its accreditation of City College…