Mandatory Classes Yield Frowns All Around

Core classes. Mandatory classes. Gen Ed classes.  Whatever name colleges use for classes every student must take, the takeaway I hear from many professors and students is the same:  forcing classes on students sours them on those classes pretty much immediately.   I get it … More

Be a Satisficer

Aziz Ansari’s book on dating astonishingly touched on something relevant to job hunting. Ansari quotes Barry Schwartz and Sheena Iyengar (both authors, psychologists and professors), who describe what they call a “paradox of choice.”   “Maximizers” are people who weigh every option; they often get … More

Reslience: Learn from First Gens

Fascinating if disturbing article in Psychology Today (from October 2015 – link below) discusses the anxiety many college students feel today, and how, and why, it differs from that of their parents.   Particularly illuminating to me, however, was a nugget near the end of … More