Defending the Seemingly Meaningless: A Response To “Culture Clash or Expensive Field Trip” I studied in Ireland, and greatly value that experience. It’s hard to measure or define what one learns abroad, and even harder to do so if you have never experienced an extended period of time abroad. Saying an English speaking country is…
I have a passion for the quantitative. I major in math. I serve on the board of a quantitative nonprofit initiative. I review metrics for another. I get inappropriately excited when I solve a tricky statistics problem or merge two disagreeable datasets. I digress, but you get the idea: I love numbers. Yet I am…
Someday I plan to take a tour of the United States to see how different people greet each other on the street . My only substantial experience is in the Midwest, where nearly everyone you meet on a sidewalk manages to look at you for a short moment, and to say hi if they’re especially…
Concordia likes to tout its various study abroad programs. In fact, it seems like if you don’t study abroad here, you may find yourself in the minority. You may see many of your friends posting pictures of their experiences abroad. And if you’re like me, you may even get envious sometimes because, after all, why…
A friend recently directed me to a Bloomberg Politics article called “Your Week in Gaffes, Déjà vu Edition,” which documents and proceeds to adeptly crack wise about two unfortunately similar Joe Biden gaffes that occurred two years apart. I didn’t initially plan to steal those gaffes for this column, but now I think I might…
I’m going to be penalized for taking an online course that requires you to physically be there. The four credit course that I speak of is listed in the course catalog as “Distance Learning/Web Based,” but I was informed today via syllabus that the course, unknown to me, requires a weekly meeting just short of…
Don’t get me wrong: telephones are great. They allow us to throw our voices far out, far beyond the reach of our homes, our faces, our eyes. But with all due respect, Alexander Graham Bell has ruined everything. Sure, there were ways to violate the natural order before the telephone. There’s the letter, employed for…
Pop quiz: how much money do you have in outstanding student loan debt? If you’re anything like me, that question made you flinch. I want to talk about student loans this week. In particular, I want to highlight the report Are College Students Borrowing Blindly by Elizabeth J. Akers and Matthew M. Chingos, both of…
This piece discusses some of the issues raised in a previous letter by Professor Oksana Bihun. For the sake of clarity, the structure of this piece will mirror that of Dr. Bihun’s. I will preface my responses with a ‘thank you’ to Dr. Bihun for raising questions and creating discussion. That being said, I disagree…
As the routine of spring semester sets in and the days grow longer, the panic starts to spew in many seniors about their post-graduation plans. We’ve become accustomed to answering the questions from our friends and acquaintances about what we’re doing after college, and I know that at least for me, that vague answer has…