If universities sacrifice philosophy on the altar of profit, what’s next? | Education - The Guardian

Hull says the subject doesn’t meet the needs of ‘business partners’. Try telling that to Thales of Miletus, argues Julian Baggini, writer and philosopher.

‘Events unfolding at Hull are symptomatic of a deep malaise affecting not just universities but the wider culture.’
Photo: University of Hull

You might think that a university philosophy department facing closure in Hull is of as much interest to the average person as the shutting of a butcher’s in Wolverhampton is to a vegetarian in Totnes.There are almost as many universities as high streets now, and for every closure here there’s an opening somewhere else.

But the events unfolding on Humberside are symptomatic of a deep malaise affecting not just universities but the wider culture. The crude pursuit of what is “practical”, “efficient” or “useful” is threatening everything of value that isn’t evidently profitable.

Philosophy has been taught at Hull ever since the University opened in 1928. The department has no problem with recruitment and has a good faculty. Because humanities courses are so cheap to teach and student fees so high, there is no conceivable way it could be losing money. In a letter to colleagues, Kathleen Lennon, emeritus professor of philosophy, insisted: “Philosophy at Hull is financially viable – providing a healthy return for the university.”

So why is the university not accepting any more joint honours students and publicly entertaining the possibility “that we will not be recruiting new students” in 2019? A statement by Jeanette Strachan, the university’s registrar, to the local newspaper suggests some worrying answers. Strachan said the university sought to offer students “a high-quality academic experience and ensure that their qualification holds value over time”.

The word that screams out of that sentence is “value”. The implication seems to be that a philosophy degree does not provide a sufficient financial return for those who “invest” in it...

That’s what the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus did in the sixth century BC. Fed up of being told that he was poor and therefore his learning was useless, he applied his analytical skills to the climate and the economy and then bought up every olive press in town. When the bumper olive harvest came, as he had foreseen, the presses were in huge demand, he had a monopoly and made a killing. Thales pulled off this stunt not to earn money but to prove a point. Someone of his intellect and ability could devote themselves to getting rich if they wanted. But he valued wisdom and learning more. His lack of wealth did not reveal a personal flaw but a justified choice about what he held most dear.
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Recommended Reading

How the World Thinks:
A Global History of Philosophy

Source: The Guardian

11 Fantastic Science Books to Binge Over the Holidays | Science - WIRED

Snuggle up with your favorite display technology and ignite your neurons with these science books from 2018, recommends WIRED Staff.

Photo: WIRED

This year brought no shortage of great science-themed books. Spurred by rapid advances in biotech, the writer Carl Zimmer spun a personal tale around the emerging science of heredity. Investigative reporter John Carreyrou exposed the rotten business at the heart of Theranos, the blood-testing startup built on air. Our past also proved bountiful, with books on that time we made teenage girls glow until their bones rotted (The Radium Girls), and when competing visionaries dueled over how to steward our one and only world (The Wizard and the Profit). If that all seems a bit much, we've got an escape hatch: psychedelics. Lots of them, as recounted by Michael Pollan.

But those are just a few of the superb tomes to emerge in 2018. So grab a weighted blanket and a precision-brewed cup of tea, and read on to see WIRED's staff selections.
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Source: WIRED

Mathematics Phobia | Editorial - The Sentinel Assam

A section of teachers and guardians are responsible for the widespread phobia against mathematics, explains Editorial.

Photo: The Sentinel Assam

Instead of making it unnecessarily complicated, explaining it with clarity and ease would do a world of good to young learners. Speaking on the occasion of National Mathematics Day at a high school in Nagaon, mathematician and educationist Dr Tarakeshwar Chaudhury spoke of how a mind without fear can appreciate the inner logic of mathematics and revel in its joys. It is a timely call considering the high attrition rates in State schools due to students coming to grief because of mathematics. The pedagogical issues involved in writing good textbooks and effectively teaching math in the classroom is for teachers and education planners to sort out. 

But the more problematic aspect is the public perception that mathematics is a hard subject, its formulae and equations seemingly dry and almost inhuman. If you have a peculiar knack for it, you will get the answer right and score full marks; if not, you will score zero — so goes the popular notion...

An enigma to Western mathematicians to this day, Ramanujan attributed his intuitive genius to goddess Namagiri, his family deity; Carl Gauss, revered as the Prince of Mathematicians, came from a family of illiterate labourers; Rene Descartes was as much a mathematician as a philosopher, a gentleman soldier with a delicate constitution; Kurt Godel — who proved that no mathematical system can be fully complete and consistent, because in any such system, there are statements that cannot be proved true or false — starving himself to death because of his paranoid fear about germs. 

As for girls, they can take inspiration from the late Maryam Mirzakhani of Iran, the first woman mathematician to be honoured with the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize equivalent in mathematics...

The language of mathematics may look intimidating and alien, yet it is ubiquitous in various activities around us, particularly in this digital age. 
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Source: The Sentinel Assam

The 49 New Skills You Can Now Learn on LinkedIn Learning | New Courses - LinkedIn Learning

Each week presents a new opportunity for you and your team to learn the skills necessary to take on the next big challenge, reports Paul Petrone, Editor - LinkedIn Learning.

Photo:  Learning Blog - LinkedIn Learning

And, at LinkedIn Learning, we want to do everything we can to help make that happen.
 
So, each week, we add to our 13,000+ course library. And this past week was no different, as we added 49 new courses covering everything from mobile development to audio production to digital marketing. 

The new courses now available on LinkedIn Learning are:
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LinkedIn Learning (Blog)

Gen Z Is Shaping a New Era of Learning: Here’s What you Should Know | Learning and Development - LinkedIn Learning

In 2019, a new generation will enter the workforce: Generation Z (Gen Z), composed of those born between 1995 and 2010, says Emily Poague, Vice President of Marketing, LinkedIn Learning. 

 Photo: Learning and Development - LinkedIn Learning

This generation is larger than the Millennial generation — at 61 million strong, it is the first cohort of workers that grew up with the Internet, and are used to dynamic and social communication from an early age. 

To unpack generational learning we conducted a survey to assess trends in learning and identify any gaps in what influencers Gen Z to learn and stay engaged versus what L&D and HR leaders think they want. 

Here is what talent developers should know:
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Source: LinkedIn Learning (Blog)

Top 10 women in tech and diversity in tech stories of 2018 | ComputerWeekly.com -TechTarget

Computer Weekly takes a look at some of the defining moments for women and diversity in the technology industry in 2018, according to Clare McDonald, Business editor at Computer Weekly.

Photo: ComputerWeekly.com -TechTarget

The year 2018 was dubbed the year of the woman as campaigns highlighting women’s issues, such as #TimesUp and #MeToo, shone a harsh light on the inequality between genders that still goes on to this day. 

Also marking 100 years since women were given the vote in the UK, 2018 was an important year for women in every sector.

Equally as important as advancing women’s issues is creating a diverse and inclusive environment in the technology workplace – which was the theme of this year’s Computer Weekly and Mortimer Spinks diversity in technology event.
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Source: ComputerWeekly.com -TechTarget 

Otley author launches fun-inspired maths book | Ilkley Gazette

Follow on Twitter as @TonyCotton9

AN EDUCATION consultant from Otley has rounded off a successful 2018 with a book launch, inform Jim Jack, Reporter at Ilkley Gazette.

Education consultant and author Tony Cotton at the launch of his new book in Otley.
Photo: Simon Carey

Tony Cotton has written full-time since leaving his post as Head of the School of Education and Childhood at Leeds Beckett University six years ago. Over the past 12 months he has six books published - ranging from a mathematics programme for Jamaica to a textbook on teaching in International Primary Schools for Cambridge University Press.

His latest publication, How to develop confident mathematicians in the early years: A guide for practitioners and parents (published by Routledge), was launched at Otley Labour Rooms on December 14...

His book includes 60 activities developed from those games which he describes as ‘ways to play together and to explore and develop mathematical understandings collaboratively.’ 
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Happy reading!

Source: Ilkley Gazette

Women Mathematicians in Their Own Words | Roots of Unity - Scientific American

Photo: Evelyn Lamb

Evelyn Lamb, Freelance math and science writer based in Salt Lake City, Utah observes, The Journeys of Women in Mathematics documentary diversifies the stories we tell about women in math.

Mathematicians Carolina Araujo, Neela Nataraj and Aminatou Pecha Nijahouo were featured in the Journeys of Women in Mathematics documentary
Photo: International Mathematical Union

Journeys of Women in Mathematics Full Length Version 
 

In July, Rio de Janeiro hosted the first World Meeting for Women in Mathematics, or (WM)², as a satellite conference to the International Congress of Mathematicians. As part of the event, they screened the first part of a short documentary called Journeys of Women in Mathematics. The full version is embedded below.

The film, about 20 minutes in its finished length, starts with profiles of three women in mathematics. Neela Nataraj is the chair of the mathematics department at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Aminatou Pecha Nijahouo is a researcher in pairing-based cryptography at Maroua University in Yaounde, Cameroon. Carolina Araujo is a mathematician at the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All three talk about their paths in  mathematics and the challenges they faced as women in their fields. After profiling Nataraj, Nijahouo, and Araujo, the film goes to (WM)² to talk to women mathematicians from Latin America about their work and their hopes for the future of women in the discipline...

Watch and listen to the stories of these remarkable women in mathematics. And then think about how to move beyond stories.
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Source: Scientific American and World Women in Mathematics Channel (YouTube)

The Best Health and Science Books of 2018 | Books - The Cut

The nice things about a health and/or science and/or psychology book, if you get a good one, is that it feels like self-help you don’t need to be embarrassed about. 

Photo: Monica Click/Getty Images/iStockphoto

(Why self-help feels inherently embarrassing is another matter.) Most of them isolate one thing about yourself or the world that is maybe not as well understood as it should be: dreams, or shame, or psychedelic drugs. By the end, you usually appreciate the subject more, or at least you notice it more, and sometimes, this appreciation/attention combo really does improve your life. If anticipating the start of 2019 has you in self-improvement mode, consider the following books from 2018.
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Source: The Cut

9 New Books We Recommend This Week | Book Review - New York Times

Follow on Twitter as @GregoryCowles

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times by Gregory Cowles, Senior Editor, Books.

In 1997, the poet Adrienne Rich was selected to receive the National Medal for the Arts. She refused it. “There is no simple formula for the relationship of art to justice,” she wrote to the head of the National Endowment for the Arts in a letter explaining her reasons. “But I do know that art — in my own case the art of poetry — means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power that holds it hostage.”

The relationship of art to justice, and of art to political power, is very much at the center of poetry these days, as Tracy K. Smith (the United States poet laureate) noted in a recent issue of the Book Review dedicated to the subject. Books from that issue dominate this week’s recommended titles, from poets new and established, considering everything from class politics to colonialism to queer identity. Our staff critics round things out with a radio host’s book about running and a legal scholar’s argument that corporations have grown too powerful: proof that poets aren’t the only ones thinking about the role of politics in our lives.
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Source: New York Time