CBS Sunday Morning, 2023, 8:44… In 1972, when Title IX was passed to help improve gender equality on campus, men were 13% more likely to get an undergraduate degree than women. Today, it's women who are 15% more likely to get a BA than men. That's just one of the startling statistics revealing how millions of young men today are struggling to understand how or where they fit in.
Vice News, 2021, 6:08… As debates around teaching Critical Race Theory in schools continue across the country, Hollywood has tackled exploring the conversation for decades. Science fiction is being used as a tool to tell stories of American history and a sociologist (Jean Beaman) tells Krishna Andavolu that it may actually be effective.
Vice, 2020, 6:17… Zing Tsjeng visits Oxford to examine the ongoing controversy as universities across the UK reckon with their unsavoury connections to colonialism. People like slave owners, slave traders and white supremacists have historic connections to some of the UK’s finest universities. They don’t put that bit in the prospectus, but it’s the truth.
Vox, 2020, 10:47… When it comes to who gets punished and removed from American classrooms, the US doesn’t treat all students equally. Black students get suspended and expelled far more frequently than their white classmates, and often for the same or similar offenses. And the weeks of school that Black kids miss each year can kick off a chain reaction that changes a child’s future.
Vice News, 2019, 6:49… Lauren Miranda, a former math teacher at Bellport Middle School, was fired after a topless selfie sent to her boyfriend in 2016 — got into the hands of students. It’s a private matter that has thrust her onto a public platform where she refuses to be shamed. Lauren’s situation isn’t unique. According to a 2016 study, roughly 10.4 million Americans have had their nude photos posted without their permission. Now, she’s speaking out about the double standard of sexualizing the female body.
PBS NewsHour, 2018, 9:12… Against the backdrop of simmering tensions over race and police violence against African Americans, police departments like the NYPD have introduced a relatively new training program aimed at teaching officers about implicit bias. Special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports on the research behind “Fair and Impartial Policing” and whether it’s really effective.
Vice News, 2018, 7:12… If you keep up with the world of competitive spelling, you've noticed the 10 year winning streak of South Asian-Americans. Kids from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have simply dominated the competition, and the South Asian Spelling Bee circuit has a lot to do with that. Launched in 2008, the South Asian Spelling Bee is an elite circuit whose alumni account for a decade of spelling dominance in the nation's most competitive spelling competition.
There is a claim made in here that half of new PhDs in the US are from fake instituions where one can purchase a degree without having to complete any work. Though I wish they investigated the process of getting one of these degrees a bit more thoroughly, this video does a good job highlighting the scope of this deceptive practice.
A new report on free first-responder trainings in the south side of Chicago, an area infamous for violence and gunshot victims. We see the beautiful transformation of potential bystanders into empowered citizens armed with life-saving knowledge. This is a wonderful example of community engagement and empowerment.
A classic short video about consent your undergrads will love. More information here.
A humorous look at dysfunctional sexual education programs in the United States with a call for a more comprehensive sexual education. In this video we learn how educators commonly shame and/or frighten teens into remaining abstinent, which isn't all that surprising given the enormous sex-negativity prevalent in our culture. However, abstinence-centered sex ed has little-to-no effect in preventing teen pregnancies or STDs, and ultimately does a disservice to youth and society. We need a sex-positive approach where we empower people to make healthy, informed sexual decisions. In order to do that we need to honestly discuss sex and sexuality in all of their unsettling complexity, conveying accurate information to individuals in a manner free from moral judgement.
Great stats on how our idealized and unrealistic view of "normal" sex compares to reality. This video does a good job on provoking audience reaction using gastronomic images. While some may see this as perhaps inappropriate for the classroom, I believe this video dispels misconceptions about sex in an edgy educative manner in line with a sex-positive ideal.
"Today, more than 40 percent of American children born deaf receive cochlear implants. The technology effectively restores hearing by bypassing the ear and delivering audio information directly to the brain. The vast majority of deaf children who are implanted develop hearing and speaking skills comparable to their hearing peers, thus allowing them the option to “mainstream” into normal schools.
Deaf education in the U.S. has gone through many phases. American Sign Language (ASL) is currently the dominant mode of instruction in deaf schools, but there have been periods where ASL was banned and students were forced to speak and lip-read, an ineffective approach known as oralism. ASL has now gained legitimacy and been shown to include the deep grammar and syntax found in spoken languages. It is also the wellspring of deaf culture, a proud community wary of historical attempts to assimilate them into a hearing world.
As more parents opt for cochlear implants, VICE News explores their impact on the medical condition that gave rise to a cultural identity".
This is a good example of religious privilege in American society—Christian students do not have to choose between honoring a religious holiday with their family or going to school to learn and advance one’s education. While students may commonly view missing a day or so of school as no big deal (or even desirable), missing classes may seriously disadvantage those who are highly invested in their education (especially if education is the key to social mobility). This is also a good example of competing social institutions.
