Opinion
According to the results of two recent observational studies, technology impacts the way young people learn: Their attention spans are shorter, and the average quality of student work has dropped significantly in comparison to other, far-less-digital generations.
“How are you going to spend your holiday break?”
I’ve heard a lot of arguments against the need for later-term abortions in cases when a mother’s life isn’t in danger, even from those who support earlier-term abortions. These arguments often center on the false notion that there are very few legitimate reasons why a wanted pregnancy would suddenly become unwanted.
In a world of Kim Kardashians and Angelina Jolies (don’t get me wrong, I love Angie), the focus is on gossip and creating scandal rather than crafting a quality film or television series. That’s sad, because art is important, even in its most ephemeral forms.
Portland State is shrinking, according to the Oregon University System. This year’s fall enrollment was down 1.1 percent from 2011. That might not sound like much, but it represents a decrease of 233 students from last year—not a negligible number. President Wiewel apparently thought it was, though; in a recent statement he said that “enrollment at PSU is essentially flat compared to last fall.”
“Lunch just got even tastier!”
Reading this advertisement, I can’t help but laugh. Just when I thought lunch couldn’t get any tastier, they go and spring something like this on me.
It’s amazing that in a world where Israel and Palestine’s fragile truce could erupt into another major conflict the U.S. faces a fiscal cliff. Elections have only been over for a few weeks and we’re already having slow news days. We must be, because it’s unimaginable that we’re seeing news stories popping up about states’ petitions to secede from the union.
Some of the most celebrated holidays in our culture come from bizarre and forgotten origins. This is the second installment of a three-part series that sheds light on some of the expectations created around our mainstream holidays.
I am writing to express my disappointment in the publication of a recent column authored by Alyck Horton. In the October 23 opinion piece titled “Monitor vs. Whiteboard,” Mr. Horton couches the issue of online coursework in sexist, judgmental, and offensive language. I believe there are more respectful—and accurate—ways to engage in this discussion that centralize the merits of online learning, not online learners themselves. While I agree with some of Mr. Horton’s assertions about the unsuitability of online environments for coursework that is dynamic and discussion-based, I find his sexist caricature of female online students particularly disgusting, and I disagree strongly with the characterization of students enrolled in online coursework as lazy and unprincipled. This portrait is both offensive and inaccurate.
This is the first of a three-part series about some of our most celebrated holidays and traditions—those that are so ingrained in society that we often don’t know (or don’t remember) where and how they started. We’ve come to expect certain things from these peculiar holidays, but it’s time to look back at their origins.
One of the biggest questions on the national scale is: How are we going to reconcile the federal budget and reduce the deficit? There’s a lot of talk about what we can do and the kinds of solutions available, but will they work? And why?