The Conversation

A return to earmarks could grease the wheels in Congress

Written by Diana Evans, Professor of political science, Trinity College

Members of Congress debated a government spending bill into the early morning on March 20. AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Congress passed a US$1.3 trillion spending bill last Thursday, March 22 – only narrowly averting a third government shutdown this year. President Trump signed the bill into law on Friday.

Congress’s inability to pass...

Betsy DeVos said Common Core was 'dead' – it's not

Written by Nicholas Tampio, Associate Professor of Political Science, Fordham University

A COMMON

In a speech in Washington earlier this year, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos called the education standards known as the Common Core a “disaster” and proclaimed: “At the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead.”

The reality, however, is that the Common Core is still very much alive. As indicated in a...

New federal program tackles spiraling costs of college textbooks

Written by MacKenzie Smith, University Librarian and Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship, University of California, Davis

A new $5 million federal program will bring free digital textbooks to students.Daniel M. Ernst/Shutterstock

College students will keep more money in their pockets thanks to a new US$5 million pilot program approved as part of the $1.3 trillion appropriations bill that President Donald J. Trump signed on March 23.

The new grant program, administered...

Do you believe in miracles? Why they make perfect sense for many

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

Depiction of the miracle of the Resurrection, the central belief in Christianity.Romalo Tavani/Shutterstock.com

This year, one of the most essential holy days in the Christian calendar, Easter, coincides with perhaps the silliest of annual secular celebrations, April Fools’ Day. Easter commemorates a miraculous event, the resurrection of...

The ideal female body type is getting even harder to attain

Written by Frances Bozsik, PhD Candidate in Clinical Health Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Is muscle definition now being added to an already impossibly thin ideal?Mikhaylovskiy/Shutterstock.com

Day after day, we’re bombarded with so many media messages that rarely do we stop to think about what they’re telling us to think, do or feel.

Much has been written about the unrealistic beauty standards women have been held to. Female...

Fewer diplomats, more armed force defines US leadership today

Written by Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics and Director, Center for Strategic Studies, Fletcher School, Tufts University

Members of the U.S. Army Special Forces on Aug. 30, 2002 in Afghanistan. AP Photo/Wally Santana

A strong legacy of U.S. leadership and engagement in global politics has been reduced today to what I call kinetic diplomacy – diplomacy by armed force.

As of March 2018, the Trump administration has appointed only 70 of 188 U.S. ambassadors. At...

Trump's $60 billion in China tariffs will create more problems than they solve

Written by William Hauk, Associate Professor of Economics, University of South Carolina

Business such as California winemakers could be hurt by the new tariffs as a result of retaliation.AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

After spending seven months investigating whether China is engaged in unfair trade practices, the Trump administration announced March 22 that it will impose tariffs on as much as US$60 billion in Chinese imports.

The...

Gun control and March for Our Lives: 4 essential reads

Written by Naomi Schalit, Senior Editor, Politics + Society, The Conversation US

Editor’s note: The following is a roundup of stories from The Conversation’s archive.

Students from across the country will march in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Similar marches will take place elsewhere in the U.S. Organized by survivors of the Parkland school shooting in Florida, the protesters want Congress to pass gun control...

March for Our Lives awakens the spirit of student and media activism of the 1960s

Written by Errol Salamon, Postdoctoral Researcher and Visting Scholar in Communication, University of Pennsylvania

Students rally in front of the White House in Washington, March 14, 2018.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

A student movement against gun violence is receiving sustained news coverage.

Students are using social and news media to build momentum and advocate for legislation in the wake of a Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,...

'Big Tech' isn't one big monopoly – it's 5 companies all in different businesses

Written by Amanda Lotz, Professor of Media Studies, University of Michigan

It may seem convenient to think of technology companies as similar, but they're really not.The Conversation, CC BY-NC

Public concern about Facebook’s power in society – and in politics – has skyrocketed in the wake of revelations that users’ data was analyzed by a U.K.-based marketing firm and used to construct highly...