Shortly after the September 11 attacks occurred, a colleague and I found ourselves feeling a need to put together a course that would help students put those attacks in some kind of historical perspective. The course we constructed and taught twice at St. Lawrence University drew heavily on the history of imperialism and sought to position 9/11 as a key moment in the emerging (and at that time, still relatively unacknowledged) story of U.S. imperial decline. In recent years this notion of imperial decline has slowly begun to seep into public consciousness. What are the cultural manifestations of this growing awareness? One of the most provocative cultural interventions of the last several years is the song "Patriot's Heart," written by perpetually underappreciated singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel (pictured at right) and originally recorded by his band, American Music Club on their 2004 album Love Songs For Patriots. I wrote an extended review of this remarkable album in 2005, focusing on Eitzel's lyrical exploration of the theme of denial and its corrosive influence on American politics and culture. Last month I had the pleasure of hearing Eitzel perform "Patriot's Heart" in Madrid as part of a solo tour that has drawn rave reviews. The song draws a close comparison between pornography and patriotism, portraying the U.S. as only Eitzel could...as an aging gay male stripper.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) understands ‘Academic Freedom' as being "...the essential characteristic of an institution of higher education. It encompasses the right of faculty to full freedom in research and in the publication of results, freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, and the right of faculty to be free from institutional censorship or discipline when they speak or write as citizens." The question of academic freedom in Turkey is often a contentious issue. Protests on November 6th and 7th in Ankara by University students against the country's High Education Board (YÖK) on its 28th anniversary clearly displayed a significant level of discontent against an often-heavy handed involvement of the Turkish government in matters of higher education.
According to Derebssa Defera Serbessa (Ph.D), In many parts of Ethiopia, an enormous gap persists between the number of students graduating from school and those among them who master a minimum set of cognitive skills.One of the main reasons for countless Ethiopians graduating high school and college, yet failing to have developed the skills they need to succeed in the workforce is mastering the language of instruction; English. The problem arises as Ethiopian government and public schools teach English as a single course until the seventh grade, at which time all classes, except a single Amharic class, are taught in English! This creates a particularly acute problem for those students with strong math and science skills but an inadequate handle on English, who are at a loss when the language of instruction suddenly shifts from Amharic to English come seventh grade.
There are 48 days left to the COP15 in Copenhaguen. So why is this such a big deal? Althought its going to be a lot of paperwork and more talking than anyone can stand for two weeks, this conference is hopefully going to decide on some global action to slowdown climate change.The UNFCCC process is hoping to set up policies for the post- Kyoto (post 2012) regime. There has been preliminatory talks in Bonn in June, Bangkok at the begining of this month, and talks in Barcelona are coming up next weeks; however, nothing is yet set in stone.
Shortly after the September 11 attacks occurred, a colleague and I found ourselves feeling a need to put together a course that would help students put those attacks in some kind of historical perspective.