Barak Obama, leading candidate for President of the US, announced today his plan to fund all universities directly from the government budget. In a speech in Pennsylvania, which holds its primaries in 3 weeks, he said:
Education should be available to everyone at every level regardless of ability to pay. The only way to lift the poor from disadvantage is through education. Education means better jobs and higher salaries and more self-respect.
He went on to cite the problem of how prestigious universities often set extremely high tuition costs which most …Continue

Another post in my series on American holidays, which started (late) with Valentine’s Day.This time I’m looking at the upcoming Saint Patrick’s Day, which is almost always held on March 17th. This year though, it has been moved to March 15th (because the 17th is part of Holy Week–the build up to Easter). That may or may not influence the secular authorities–probably it will since the 15th is a Saturday!
As you may have realized, originally St. Patrick’s Day was purely a religious holiday celebrating Saint Patrick who converted Ireland to …Continue

Native speakers make mistakes. Even professional writers. Here’s a mistake from an article on Market Watch about an alleged scandal involving presidential candidate and Senator John McCain. An important issue but one marred by this horrible mistake:
Paxson also said that Iseman likely attended the meeting, which she helped to arrange it, the report said.
This is a very common mistake for ESL students dealing with transitive and intransitive verbs. It should read, “which she helped to arrange,” because the word “which” takes the place of the “it” at the end.So learn …Continue

In the course of my life here I occasionally come across some very funny English mistakes. Here are two that I managed to document on my (not high quality) cellphone camera:

This is from an ESL workbook. Clearly they meant to say that the answer key begins on page 1 as numbered in Roman numerals. But it ends up looking like Key pi (as in 3.14159…). I thought this was an English book!
The second one shows you how to destroy the world with your air conditioner.Oh yeah, that first setting on …Continue

Another great post from Rate Your Students on how not to write to your professors, or why good English is important for foreign students and for Americans alike:
hi mrs. thomas, i know this is irresponsible but wud it be okay if u gave me the add code number. the one that i signed up for at the end of the class
Read more to see the professor’s response.

The Primal Scream is a tradition at Harvard that allows students to mark the end of the reading period–when students study for their semester exams–and the start of the exams themselves. As one might expect from a respectable and conservative institution like Harvard which has produced such a wide array of prominent politicians, businessmen, and respectable members of society, the Primal Scream is when students run naked through the campus at midnight!
This year’s run was notable for some freshman starting 5 minutes early instead of at the traditional 12:00 and …Continue

Another fun article! According to the Chronicle of Higher Education a University of New Hampshire professor has been acquited of charges of stalking and disorderly conduct after allegedly assailing a university administrator because of a parking ticket!
John Collins, department chair of biochemistry and molecular biology, recieved a parking ticket this summer and blamed an intermin dean. Witnesses claim he threatened to kill the dean. That got him banned from campus and stripped of his title of department chair. Although the courts found him innocent, the campus has not reinstated him …Continue

Another good one from Rateyourstudents.com, the site where professors get to rant about their students. This post is top ten first year pre-midterm quotes. Think of it as a guide to what not to say to your professor.
Let me also throw in some of my favorite anti-quotes from Kazakhstan high school students, some of my least favorite things said to me by school children here:

Hi. While I appreciate the enthusiasm, we do not say ‘Hi’ to teachers. We say ‘Hello’ or ‘Good morning’ I assume most students do not say …Continue

I recently came across an article in ETS’ TOEFL Access Newsletter, featuring a typical schedule in the day of the life of an American undergraduate university student entitled Everyday Life. It certainly was one take on American university life and may give you some idea of the rhythm of universities here. However for a counterpoint, I thought I would present my typical day at school and I would love to hear from you gentle readers. What is your typical day at school like? It would be great to hear from …Continue

Just a couple of funny news items that caught my eye from the Chronicle of Higher Education news feed.

First off, How Not to Sell Marijuana. Namely, do not shout out your window, “If you’re looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale.” That might attract the attention of nearby policemen who might then search your room and arrest you. You might get kicked out of school as well for that.

Or your wardrobe may get you in trouble. As the busy holiday travel season begins, take a look at …Continue

There is a site called Rate My Professor which allows students to rate their professors by university, subject and name. In principle this is not a bad idea. Before taking a class with a new professor, I always tried to find a few people who knew the prof so I had an idea of whether he/she was a good lecturer, what kind of workload was expected, how accessible the prof was outside of class. A professor makes or breaks a class, without question so knowing something about the prof. is …Continue

Stanford
Harvard
MIT
Texas A and M
Indiana University

Stanford

Once upon a time, a man and wife, dressed in old and unfashionable clothes, asked to see the President of Harvard. The secretary, practically laughing, brought them in. They sat down and said that they wanted to donate some money to Harvard to start a new college or department.The President of Harvard looked over their clothes and figured they wanted to give a hundred dollars or so. He said, “Well it’s very expensive to start a new school. You have to pay for the building, …Continue