Professor Yunus inherits a nation in turmoil, balancing hope and challenges in Bangladesh
A transition from a dictatorial regime to democracy is almost akin to breathing life into a corpse.
When Bangladesh bleeds, no one scores any political point, however lofty their political ideologies are.
Universities are not teaching entities, per se. Universities are, instead, transformative sanctuaries.
What we euphemistically call student evaluation of teaching is, in fact, a “Customers Satisfaction Survey.”
The correlation between writing and technology is as old as writing, for writing IS technology. Technological advances such as papyrus, the printing press, the mechanical pencil, the fountain pen, and the typewriter have complemented writing.
When it comes to writing, ChatGPT is a BIG nothing
Writing is not an art suddenly discovered. It’s a craft gradually developed. Writing–both creative and critical– is formulaic, the way math is.
Back in the mid-90s when I was majoring in English literature at a public university in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I was a cricket buff. For the Bangladeshis, cricket was a transnational love affair in the 90s.
Money can’t buy knowledge, but the knowledge industry of the modern world, centred in our universities, runs on money. Universities worldwide are money-strapped now.
The Covid-19 pandemic has altered all of our professional beliefs and behaviours. I used to believe, for example, that teaching is a flesh-and-blood experience and that human interaction is essential to education.
When the lockdown was imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic in March, I shifted to online teaching at a university here in Dhaka.
It’s already been several months since we’ve been hurled into the vortex of the coronavirus. The virus lives among us, silent and invisible.
I always wanted to be a professor in English. When the pandemic hit and lockdown began, I ended up being a professor in pandemic.
Any pandemic is crushing. COVID-19 is no exception. It strains cognition and emotion. It tanks economies. It disrupts communication. It alters psychology. It breeds panic and paranoia.
I always knew that life is unpredictable. But between February and April this year, I started to discover what it truly means to live an unpredictable life.
I’m panicked, as is everyone around the world now. We’re faced with an existential threat. A death sentence hovers over us as it has hovered over Wuhan, China, since December 2019.
To answer this question, let me hazard an analogy -- good writing is much like good food. Good writing tickles our senses the way good food does.
