Anything ChatGPT Can Do, My Students Can Do Better

Why a Media History Professor Is Welcoming AI Into Her Classroom

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday this year! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of our most read and most impactful stories.

CSUN media history professor Elizabeth Blakey draws inspiration from UCLA behavioral ecology professor Peter Nonacs’ 2013 essay, “Why I Let My Students Cheat on Their Exams.”

Comedian Steve Martin once said that teaching is like show business. Keeping this metaphor in mind, I try to approach each of my lectures like a live …

by Elizabeth Blakey | August 31, 2023

All California Kids Want for Christmas Is a Tutor

Forget Naughty or Nice, Every Student Should Get the Gift of Academic Support This Holiday Season

by Joe Mathews | December 6, 2022

Tutor us, Santa baby.

And don’t bother bringing Californians another four lords-a-leaping or eight swans-a-swimming, St. Nick. What we need this year are nearly 5.9 million tutors—one for each and every …

California Needs a 3/13 Commission to Investigate School Closures

Why Did Our Kids Lose a Year of Education—And How Can We Prevent This From Happening Again?

by Joe Mathews | June 22, 2021

If America needs a 1/6 Commission, then California certainly must have a 3/13 Commission.

When an irreplaceable foundation of our free society is threatened, an independent body must investigate so that …

Can America’s Status-Obsessed Universities Figure Out a New, More Inclusive Way Forward?

Three Higher Ed Leaders Share Their Ideas—And Wish Lists—for the Post-Pandemic Future

by Jackie Mansky | January 15, 2021

American higher education will not be the same after the pandemic. But in the wake of this crisis, what should be changed for the better? Zócalo brought together a panel …

The New Faces of Climate Justice

My Environmental Students Are Diverse, Motivated, and Love Humanity, but the More They Learn, the More They Despair

by Sarah Jaquette Ray | July 22, 2020

According to polls, Generation Z—people born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s—share some startling characteristics. Surveys show that they are more lonely, depressed, and suicidal than any previous generation. They …

Why California’s Kids Should Go on Strike

As COVID Collapses Budgets, It’s Up to Children to Save Their Schools

by Joe Mathews | June 2, 2020

Dear California Kids,

Don’t let us adults destroy your futures! This time of “distance learning” and COVID-19 chaos is the opportunity of a generation—maybe a century—to fix what’s so very wrong …

students