Education Commons^™

Language & Literacy: The Politics Of Language, Brittany A. Zayas, Melissa Watson

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus is for a Freshmen Inquiry Writing Seminar, which is a two-section, collaboratively taught course wherein one of the two courses engages students in critical thinking, reading, and writing about the issue of language and literacy, while the other introduces students to conventions of academic writing and mentors them in social and rhetorical writing processes. Thus, this course draws on the topic of language and literacy as a vehicle for critically analyzing students' own languages and literacies and developing especially their academic and information literacies.

Authoritarians Don’T Like Higher Ed, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

History is always a good source to help us understand today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges. In the last few years we have been witnessing mounting attacks on higher education. Detractors contest its value, accuse it of brainwashing people, and call it a waste of taxpayers’ money. And all this is taking place in an environment in which facts are distorted, people seem less educated about reality, and ideological leanings are more important than critical thinking. In other words, a world that seems to be moving more and more towards mediocrity and authoritarian-ism. Are there historical precedents to what we are …

Demagoguery Hurting Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In the last few years a ghost has been wandering the political landscapes of many countries. Whether it is Trumpism in the U.S., the Five Star Movement and the League Party in Italy, the Podemos and Catalan separatist parties in Spain, or the Venezuelan Chavism, they all have something in common: a mixture of populism and nationalism.

Populism is characterized by the rejection of the establishment, the so-called privileged elites. Nationalism is a movement that promotes the alleged interests of a tribe, whether it is a group tied by geography, culture, or ethnicity.

They are both anti-historical in the sense …

Africa Has A Need For Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the oldest words in the English language is bigotry. Although it has an obscure origin, everybody knows its meaning: intolerance toward the opinions, lifestyles, or identities of people who are different from the person expressing those opinions. The bigot bases such rejection of others on ignorance and usually takes such bigoted positions to insult.

In one of the many scandals that we are witnessing on a weekly basis, Donald Trump referred to all the countries of Africa, as well as Haiti and El Salvador, as “s***hole countries.” The problem with this statement is that it not only reflects …