Education
The future of education: A lesson from COVID-19
For the past year, I have wanted to write about technology in education. When I first arrived at the University, I was surprised that at an institution whose endowment lies multiple orders of magnitude beyond any amount of money I could imagine, I found classrooms containing no technology more recent than electric lights or plastic…
Read MoreWhy you don’t feel successful at Princeton
I spent my first two summers of high school completing state-required gym classes so that I could fit more science classes into my schedule during the academic year. Every morning, I had to run a lap on the track with my classmates under the searing July sun. I ran these sprints several dozen times, and…
Read MoreVoices from the Invisible: The Reality of Black Lives in Our Schools
School people, especially boards and heads, are really good at spinning words into fluffy fantasies of utopian worlds where they have “created diverse, inclusive communities,” “protected and empowered the most vulnerable” and “cultivated environments to unlock the richness of diversity.” Lofty sentences appear in glossy catalogs and websites and swaddle prospective parents and students of…
Read MoreThis isn’t normal
A tweet went around this week saying that if you don’t come out of quarantine with a new skill or more knowledge, “you didn’t ever lack the time, you lacked the discipline.” It was a harmful manifestation of the paradox we all face right now: sitting at home, you think you should be doing more,…
Read MoreAccommodations, year-round
As we enter our third week of courses conducted entirely online and adjust to this new reality, we need to ask ourselves: Why weren’t these services readily available before the COVID-19 pandemic? These services include: every course material (including textbooks) available online, Zoom lectures recorded for future replay and review and more lenient attendance policies…
Read MoreHow to succeed at “Zoom University”
Having half of our semester online due to the COVID-19 outbreak was a big shock to The University of Tampa community. These past couple of weeks have felt like an eternity, sitting in the house and not having classes to go to everyday. I can’t believe it’s been less than a month since the majority…
Read MoreThe attention economy is corrupting the classroom
Distractions engendered by the use of technology in class You have 15 minutes. What would you — a curious, respectful student, part of a privileged 4.3% — rather indulge: an Instagram post or the insights of a leading academic? The choice seems obvious. But our everyday practices speak to a bleaker reality. The promises of…
Read MoreProfessors, show that you care
Extensive academic expertise is not enough to foster mentorships When I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time as a high schooler, I marveled over how the professor in the movie not only helped Will cultivate a passion for mathematics but also undertook Will’s personal strife and actively helped him overcome it. Although it’s…
Read MoreDon’t Stop, Don’t Put Down Your Pencil
The outrage this year over the attempts of the rich and infamous to rig the college admissions process in favor of their children has focused new attention on an old issue: purchasing a diagnosis to qualify for extended time on standardized tests. During my 18 years as an assistant head of school, from the late…
Read MoreThe role of a role model: Inspiring girls in school from a younger age
Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I saw little representation of women in STEM fields. The inspirational autobiographies I read while growing up mostly consisted of women politicians or writers. The shelves of our libraries were always lined with books written by the likes of Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, or Beverly Cleary. Once in a while,…
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