Scotland's Dundee University will be the first school in the United Kingdom to offer a masters degree in Comic Studies.Why Dundee? For starters it is the home of the publisher DC Thomson and Co. whose creations include Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan and the Broons.The BroonsThe program will be lead by Dr. Chris Murray, a leading authority on comics, and editor of the Studies in Comics journal.Of the program Murray says: "Employability is an important consideration for any postgraduate programme, and it lies at the heart of what we aim to do with this course. "There will be practical advice...
Improve Schools: Treat students like prisoners
Check out this letter to the editor that the Superintendent of Ithaca Public Schools in Michigan Nathan Bootz sent to the local paper. The letter is addressed to governor Rick Snyder and in it Bootz simply asks for the same provisions for his students that state supplies for its prisoners!Bravo, Mr. Bootz. Dear Governor Snyder,In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And yes, everyone in Michigan is hurting right now financially, but why aren’t we protecting schools? Schools are the one place on Earth that people look to to “fix” what is wrong with society by educating our youth...
Students take over library to protest tuition hikes and education cuts
Students at Goldsmiths University in southeast London have taken control of the campus library. As many as 150 students entered the library on Monday night to begin their peaceful occupation. The occupation comes days before tomorrow's scheduled national protest on the massive cuts.Here is the official statement from the students:We have occupied the university library in opposition to the increase in university fees and cuts in education as a whole. We act in solidarity with all those facing cuts across the social sphere.We oppose the proposed change in fees structure and the cuts to teaching subsidy across education in the...
Gen. McChrystal’s "Bad Habit": He Loves Old Book Shops
(I wish I was home, relaxing in my library, reading a good book)During the 1960s, the phrase “military intelligence” was considered an oxymoron. In the midst of the Vietnam war it was a darkly glib joke, defensible only because of the series of strategic blunders that were made; it certainly seemed to be true that military officers were not the brightest candles in the chandelier and disdained expressions of intellect.It wasn’t true then, it isn’t true now. Buried within Dexter Filken’s New York Times magazine feature last Sunday profiling Gen. Stanley McChrystal, head of allied military operations in Afghanistan, is...
Shakespeare in Kindergarten
This week members of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival will be paying a visit to the kindergarten classes at Our Lady of Lourdes in Louisville, KY.Using "The Tempest" as their guide they will explore the Elizabethan world and family relationships."We're talking about the different family relationships that are in the play. These are things that are accessible even to the kindergartners. They understand family, they understand relations and they understand emotions and we don't have to worry about the text of Shakespeare and the complexity of Shakespeare and all of that sort of thing. That can come much later on,”says Brian...