The confusion that results from this lost distinction causes problems in academia––see the recent kerfuffle in anthropology––as well as in medicine, law, public policy, and more. People mistake meanings and talk past one another about matters that are fraught even when definitions are clear. How did we get into this semantic mess? (Friedersdorf, The Atlantic)
Read MoreIn physical classrooms, many educators have shifted to oral presentations and handwritten exams to try to prevent misuse of an unregulated technology. But those strategies can be harder to execute online, where more than half of American college students took at least one class last year, up from about a third in 2019. (Goldstein & Blinder, The New York Times)
Read MoreInstead of a letter grade, first-semester transcripts will show “pass or no credit.” The program is designed to help students “acclimate to the demands of college and allow intrinsic motivations to guide personally meaningful academic journeys,” the school said. (Belkin, The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreThe key to understanding this fight is recognizing that as much as progressives want men who say they are women to be allowed in women’s sports, they don’t have to get that to win. The activists will be happy enough if they can simply ruin the game for those fighting to keep women’s sports for women. (McGurn, The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreLike groups of atoms, those subsets can form — and dissolve — at quicksilver pace, leaving people in ever-tinier bubbles, devoid of connection with one another and the larger social fabric. Even subgroups have subgroups, dividing amoeba-like into combative factions, creating a nation of us vs. them and them and them..(McKinley, The New York Times)
Read MoreA bipartisan bill to prevent demonstrations near houses of worship was introduced in both the House of Representatives and Senate Thursday (Aug. 6) and has already won the support of several Jewish organizations. (Shimron, Religion News Service)
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