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You don't need an Ivy League education to get a world-class education.

There are many online education websites that offer academic courses for a fraction of the cost of traditional colleges and universities, making them ideal for lifelong learners.

Here are7 outstanding websites to accesstonsof academic courses - for free.

Top 7 Online Education Websites

The following online education websites offer thousands of online coursesfor students and life-long learners alike. While many are fee-based courses, you can also find many free courses as well.

1. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a non-profit whose missions is "toprovide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere." Khan Academy is free for both learners and teachers, and offerslessonsfor students from kindergarten through early college, with topic including math, grammar, science, history, AP exams, SAT and more.Khan Academy's founding partners include, among others, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Ann & Jon Doerr and Reed Hastings.

Sample Free Courses: Algebra, Geometry, Statistics & Probability

Founded by Harvard and MIT, edX is a global non-profit that seeks to remove three barriers of traditional education: cost, location and access. edX has more than 20 million learners and 2,400 courses from a majority of the top-ranked universities in the world. Open edX is the open source platform behind edX, and it's open to educators and technologists who want to develop new educational tools. In addition to free courses, edX also offers courses for a fee.

Sample Free Courses: The Architectural Imagination (Harvard), Financial Analysis for Decision Making (Babson), Omnichannel Strategy & Management (Dartmouth)

Courserahas more than 35 million learners, 150 university partners, 2,700 courses, 250 specializations and four degrees. In addition to free courses, Coursera offers courses generally ranging from $29 - $99. Specializations and degrees are priced higher. Course instructors include experts from the world's top colleges and universities, and courses include recorded video lectures, community discussion forums and both graded and peer-reviewed coursework. You can also receive a course certificate for each course you complete.

Sample Free Courses:Machine Learning (Stanford), The Science of Well-Being (Yale), Successful Negotiation (University of Michigan)

Udemy, a global education marketplace, has 30 million students, 100,000 courses in 50 languages, 42,000 instructors and 22 million minutes of video instruction. Unlike other online education platformsdriven by content fromcolleges and universities, Udemy allows content creators to curate their own courses and teach them online.

Sample Free Courses: Introduction to Python Programming

TED-Ed is TED's award-winning youth and education arm whose mission is to share and spread ideas from teachers and students. TED-Ed has a global network of more than 250,000 teachers that serves millions of teachers and students around the world every week. TED-Ed includes innovative content such as original animated videos and a platform for teachers to create interactive lessons.

Sample Free Courses:The Mysterious Science of Pain, How Do Self-Driving Cars See, What Causes Turbulence

Codeacademy is an interactive platform that teaches you how to code in multiple different programming languages. Most free courses can be completed in less than 11 hours. Codeacademy has helped train more than 45 million learners in topics such as web development, programming, computer science and data science. Codeacademy alums work at Google, Facebook, IBM and Bloomberg, among other top companies. Codeacademy also offers a premium plan for a monthly fee.

Sample Free Courses:multiple programming languages

7.Stanford Online

Stanford Online, an education initiative at Stanford University, offers free online courses as well as professional certificates, advanced degrees and executive education. Stanford Online offers courses from Stanford's undergraduate and graduate schools, including Stanford Law School, Stanford Business School and Stanford Medical School, among others.

Sample Free Courses: Introduction to Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Through The Lens of Venture Capital, How To Learn Math

Final Thoughts

Whether you choose to supplement your existing education or learn a new skill, it's never too late to become a life-long learner. These online education courses can help you gain valuable knowledge, earn a certificate, complete a degree or simply expand your horizon.

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Here Are The Top 7 Websites For Free Online Education

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Udemy, the largest global marketplace for learning and teaching online, today released Online Education Steps Up: What the World is Learning (from Home), a special data report that provides a comprehensive look at online learning and teaching around the globe as the COVID-19 pandemic, shelter-in-place orders, and social distancing impact the world.

The new report analyzes global trends on the platform showing how people are turning to online learning to upskill, stay busy, and increase productivity. As remote working becomes the new normal, the findings reveal significantly increased demand globally across every segment:

Udemys mission to improve lives through learning has never been more vital than during todays challenging times, said Darren Shimkus, President, Udemy for Business. We remain committed to providing people and businesses around the world with affordable access to the skills they need today and in the future. The trends weve seen over the last two months represent a significant acceleration in the transformation to a new Future of Work.

The State of Online Learning

Online learning has surged as people look for ways to be productive while staying at home. Strong global growth in top-ranking professional skills includes Neural Networks (61% increase), Communication Skills (131%), and Growth Mindset (206%). Passion topics like Pilates (402% increase), Technical Drawing (920%), and Ukulele (292%), have surged as well.

Demand also correlates with shelter-in-place orders around the world. For example, the data shows a 130% growth in enrollments in the U.S., 200% in India, 320% in Italy, and 280% in Spain.

The State of Learning within Organizations

COVID-19 has translated into increased reliance on online learning as companies shift to remote work and move away from travel and in-person events and training. There has been an immense surge in enrollments in courses related to Telecommuting (21,598% increase) and Virtual Teams (1,523%), as well as Decision Making (277%), Self Discipline (237%), and Stress Management (235%).

The State of Online Teaching

There is also an increase in course creation as experts around the world are looking to share their knowledge as well as supplement their income through online teaching. Categories with the highest surge in new courses include Office Productivity (159% increase), Health and Fitness (84%), IT & Software (77%), and Personal Development (61%).

About Udemy

With a mission to improve lives through learning, Udemy is the worlds largest online learning destination that helps students, businesses, and governments gain the skills they need to compete in todays economy. Millions of students are mastering new skills from 57,000 expert instructors teaching over 150,000 online courses in topics from programming and data science to leadership and team building. For companies, Udemy for Business offers an employee training and development platform with subscription access to 4,000+ courses, learning analytics, as well as the ability to host and distribute their own content. Udemy for Government is designed to upskill workers and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. Eighty percent of Fortune 100 companies trust Udemy for employee upskilling. Udemy is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Denver, Brazil, India, Ireland, and Turkey. Udemy investors include Insight Partners, Prosus (Naspers Ventures), Norwest Venture Partners, and Stripes Group.

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New Udemy Report Shows Surge in Global Online Education in Response to COVID-19 - Business Wire

With three daughtersOlivia, 15, Emma, 14, and Ava, 10and a career in elementary-level education, Howard School first-grade teacher Angie Torres Milleris well positioned to offer tips for home schooling to house-bound families.

Recognizing that parenting is one thing and teaching another (not to mention the near-impossible task of simultaneously working), Torres Miller said I started worrying that parents wouldnt be able to keep their kids busy. So, she started the Facebook page, Learn, Play and Grow, a space for sharing posts and videos that parents can use to help keep their kids occupied with meaningful activities.

Focusing on easy-to-make projects like using a toy dinosaur to project a large shadow that children can then outline on a big sheet of paper, or Jell-O trays with items embedded that toddlers can dig-out, Torres Miller hopes the activities can buy harried parents a short respite, Something for kids to do even for 15 minutes.

I dont want kids to take the brunt of the stress parents are feeling, she said. Thus far, 1,035 people have joined her Facebook page and Torres Millers enthusiasm is palpable when she says, It feels so good! Every day I post five activities.

Serving a wide range of kids of different ages and different needs, Torres Miller has also been providing activities for students on the autism spectrum, trying, she says, to pull-in as much as I can. All this, while continuing to teach her first-grade class at Howard School for two-hours each morning via Zoom, then taking over story time afterwards, as staff share the load of teaching specialized subjects.

I hear friends of mine say, Im ready for the kids to go back to school, Torres Miller related. She sounds an empathetic note when she adds, I feel so bad, (a lot of parents) dont know where to start. She hopes her Facebook activities provide some support for her growing online community: Im trying to helpthey seem so stuck.

To see Torres Millers Facebook educational posts, search for the group Learn, Play and Grow on Facebook.

Link:
Howard School teacher offers online education activities | News - Coastal View News

India has been under lockdown for more than a month in a desperate attempt to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Even when the lockdown gets lifted eventually, the government may not allow large congregations in restricted physical spaces. It is almost certain that educational campuses will not be fully populated any time soon.

Universities and colleges were in the middle of the second semester of their academic year when the lockdown was enforced. There was a great deal of anxiety, particularly about the graduating batches of students, lest the ongoing session should be declared a zero semester. This prompted a number of local initiatives in response to the exigency. There were sporadic attempts from individual teachers to reach out to their students and keep them engaged. A few universities made hasty arrangements for teachers to continue to hold their classes virtually through video conferencing services such as Zoom. The transition to virtual modes was relatively less difficult for those institutions that had, even prior to the lockdown, adopted learning management system platforms like Blackboard or Moodle. All the above were well-meaning attempts, albeit somewhat impromptu, to keep the core educational processes going through this period.

Also read | Online learning out of reach for many

There was a report in the media on April 13, 2020 quoting the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) as saying, among other things, that to maintain social distancing, online learning and e-education were the only way out, and that it was the need of the hour for students, teachers and the education system as a whole. This statement was clearly meant to prepare the higher education community for the exigencies of a protracted and indefinite period of closure of campuses.

However, close on the heels of this, it was also reported that online education was likely to be adopted as a strategy to enhance the gross enrolment ratio in higher education. The Chairman of the UGC told the news agency ANI: We are seeing at this time of COVID-19 and even later when all of this (is) over, to give a push to online education. It is important for improvement in the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in the country. This prompts several questions about the appropriateness of what may well be an effective contingency measure to tide over the pandemic crisis to be deployed as a long-term strategy for enhancing enrolment in higher education. The following are three such questions: one, how far will online education help support greater access to and success in higher education among those who are on the margins? Two, how equipped are online and other digital forms of education to support the depth and diversity of learning in higher education? And three, is there an unstated political motivation for this apparent shift in strategy? We will address these questions briefly here.

Higher education today has an unprecedented influx of students who are first-generation aspirants. They have no cultural capital to bank on while struggling their way through college. Access is not merely enrolment. It also includes effective participation in curricular processes, which for those on the margins would mean first, to negotiate through language and social barriers. These students are also from the other side of the digital divide which makes them vulnerable to a double disadvantage if digital modes become the mainstay of education. Unless they receive consistent hand-holding and backstopping from teachers and peers, they tend to remain on the margins and eventually drop out or fail. It is therefore necessary to think deeply and gather research-based evidences on the extent to which online education can be deployed to help enhance the access and success rates.

Coronavirus | In the time of the pandemic, classes go online and on air

Acquisition of given knowledge that can be transmitted didactically by a teacher or a text constitutes only one minor segment of curricular content. It is this segment that is largely amenable to online and digital forms of transaction. Disciplines, particularly at the undergraduate level, which are textbook-based and pretend to be relatively stable bodies of certitudes, lend themselves somewhat to such transaction. But learning in higher education means much more than this. It involves development of analytical and other intellectual skills, the ability to critically deconstruct and evaluate given knowledge, and the creativity to make new connections and syntheses. It also means to acquire practical skills, explore, inquire, seek solutions to complex problems, learn to work in teams and more. All these by and large assume direct human engagement not just teacher-student interaction, but also peer interactions, including informal ones. Learning often happens through osmosis in social settings. Deconstructing given knowledge in relative isolation is never the same as doing it through a dynamic group process.

Arguably, some of this can, to some extent, be built on to a digital platform. But curricular knowledge has a tendency to adjust its own contours according to the mode of transaction and the focus of evaluation. It gets collapsed into largely information-based content when transacted through standard and uniform structures of teaching-learning and examination.

While digital forms of learning have the potential to enable students to pursue independent learning, conventional and digital forms of education should not be considered mutually exclusive. Online learning needs to be understood as one strand in a complex tapestry of curricular communication that may still assign an important central role to direct human engagement and social learning.

Several institutions of open and distance learning (ODL) had been established in India and other countries during the mid-1960s to 1980s. This was a consequence of explorations for less expensive models for provisioning access to higher education to new generations of aspirants. As has been argued elsewhere, ODL may also have been considered by governments at that time as a safe strategy (in the light of the many instances of campus turbulence) for managing mass aspirations for higher education without necessarily effecting large congregations on campuses (Menon, 2016). One wonders whether there is a similar unstated motivation behind the present enthusiasm for online education.

(Shyam Menon is a Professor at the Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi and former Vice Chancellor, Ambedkar University Delhi)

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Limitations of online learning - The Hindu

The Electric Utility Fleet Managers Conference now offers an online education connection to help people in the electric utility industry access its educational programs and to provide a forum for sharing professional knowledge.

The EUFMCs annual conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, each spring features educational presentations by experts from utility fleets and related suppliers, as well as roundtable discussions in which fleet managers can share information to help each other solve problems and improve operations.

The organizations online Education Connections at https://eufmc.com/connect.html lets anyone ask or answer questions.

EUFMC media coordinator Seth Skydel said, TheEUFMC Education Connectionis now reaching attendees regularly with valuable information on current and pertinent topics. In the Education Connection Archive visitors to the site will find questions and answers on COVID-19 response subjects related to fleet operations.

Skydel notes that, so far, topics on the site include Connecting with Shop Employees, Prioritizing Work with Operations, Maintaining Staffing, Properly Sanitizing Vehicles, and Addressing CDL Renewal Issues.

Additional topics will also be added.

Continue reading here:
EUFMC Now Offers Online Educational Forum - Lift and Access

After Harvard administrators announced Monday that the fall semester may take place online, faculty have begun preparing in earnest for the possibility of continued remote teaching.

This spring, instructors had less than two weeks from the day the University announced all classes would move online to the first day of online classes to transition their courses to a virtual format. If classes continue remotely in the fall, several department chairs said the summer would give them time to develop a more robust online educational model but added they may also have to cancel or postpone certain classes centered on in-person experiences.

While many faculty said earlier this semester that they felt prepared to deliver classes online, they also encountered unforeseen difficulties after the transition happened. Faced with the task of remotely proctoring students in different time zones, many shifted to open-note examinations, placing faith in the Colleges Honor Code to prevent cheating.

But now after Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay told faculty in a Monday email to immediately begin planning for a possible online fall professors must figure out how to deliver an excellent and equitable learning experience for all students amid the pandemic. Gay previously said that doing so would require rigorous and creative solutions.

So far, around 300 faculty have sought out resources from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning the FASs teaching support center to help transition to online instruction, according to the centers faculty director, Robert A. Lue.

To meet the demand, the Bok Center offered faculty a variety of consultations, workshops, self-paced modules on online learning, as well as an option to request that Bok Center staff observe their courses and provide feedback.

Lue said the Bok Center is preparing for multiple different scenarios next fall and may work with several academic departments, as well as instructors of large courses, to help them plan over the summer.

One thing thats crucial is that the Harvard curriculum will be excellent. Everyone is committed to that, he said. Were going to be working super hard all summer long.

Comparative Literature chair David N. Damrosch said he and nearly all of his colleagues in the department have used Bok Center offerings to transition their courses online. He plans to encourage faculty in his department to go back to the center over the summer to develop their courses.

If in the fall, were doing a full Zoom semester, that will take some extra thought, though I think were three quarters of the way there now, Damrosch said.

Economics department chair Jeremy C. Stein said the transition has exceeded his expectations for what could be achieved online.

When the news first came out, I was like, Oh my gosh, I dont even see why we would continue the class, he said.

Stein added that getting to know his students in person in the first half of the semester made the process of moving online easier.

It is obviously a much more challenging proposition to do a semester from start to finish online, he said.

Other departments, however, have run into conundrums in attempting to conduct laboratory courses online.

Physics chair Subir Sachdev said his department will not be able to offer components of some of its classes or even entire courses if students are not able to return to campus this fall.

Sachdev said he is already considering what to do about fall courses that would typically be taught exclusively through labs, such as Physics 191: Advanced Laboratory and Physics 123: Laboratory Electronics.

If the fall is entirely remote, then we may have to completely redesign that course or offer something else in the hope that the students would take that course when they eventually come back, Sachdev said. Theres no completely online substitute for a complete lab course like Physics 191.

Director of Science Education Logan S. McCarty 96, who has been helping faculty across the Sciences division transition their courses online, said some Chemistry courses that work with toxic materials such as Chemistry 145: Experimental Inorganic Chemistry would likewise have to be postponed.

One possible solution may be to offer students three credits for taking the lecture portion of a four-credit course in the fall, then one credit for the lab component once campus reopens, McCarty said.

McCarty said the summer will offer time to transform lecture-style courses from a hastily-planned Zoom course to a high-quality Harvard X-type course, referring to Harvards online education platform. He said such courses could include filmed science demonstrations, quizzes, and guest speakers.

We could create a highly produced, polished, really good experience, where the lecture part of the class would be far superior than what weve been able to throw together on Zoom, McCarty said.

Physics professor Amir Yacoby, who helps teach the laboratory component of Physics 15b: Introductory Electromagnetism and Statistical Physics, wrote in an email that the lab staff was able to meet most of its learning goals this semester despite the remote format. The staff recorded videos of themselves conducting experiments before campus closed, and students remotely analyzed the video data, wrote papers, and participated in discussions.

This was not a typical semester. However, we have maintained active student engagement, enthusiasm, and learning despite the remote modality, Yacoby wrote.

The lab staff are discussing ways students may be able to collect data at home in the fall, Yacoby said in an interview. He added that his course already focuses on creating simple models that allow students to puzzle through phenomenon on their own.

Overall, I believe that we can replicate our activities and maintain 95 percent of our goals remotely, he said.

Staff writer James S. Bikales can be reached at james.bikales@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamepdx.

Staff writer Kevin R. Chen can be reached at kevin.chen@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @kchenx.

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Harvard Faculty Prepare for the Possibility of Online Classes in the Fall | News - Harvard Crimson

We look at the impact of the pandemic on schools, universities, students, parents, teachers and professors and who is at the table to shape what happens next. We now have an economic crisis on top of the public health crisis, and the ways that were choosing to educate children is simply unequal and is going to lead to an educational crisis, says education scholar and Cornell University professor Noliwe Rooks, author of Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education.

AMYGOODMAN:This isDemocracy Now!, democracynow.org,The Quarantine Report. Im Amy Goodman in New York. Juan Gonzlez is co-hosting from New Jersey, as we turn to the impact of the pandemic on schools, universities, students, parents, teachers and professors. Here in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic, home to the largest school district in the United States, public schools have been closed since March 16th. At least 68 Education Department staffers have died from coronavirus, including 28 teachers, 25 teachers assistants, also administrators, office workers, school aides, food service workers, guidance counselors, a parent coordinator and a technology specialist.

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new grading system for the rest of the coronavirus-disrupted school year and said some so-called underperforming students may be enrolled in virtual summer school. This is is Mayor de Blasio.

MAYORBILLDEBLASIO:We want to make sure the grading policy we use now fits the moment were in now and the reality of our kids, our parents, our educators now. So, the chancellor, his team worked with parents, teachers, elected officials, advocates, listened to all different viewpoints. Weve had a series of conversations confirming the direction of this policy. And it came down to the notion of what we owe our kids at this moment: first of all, flexibility.

AMYGOODMAN:This comes as the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school system in the U.S., has announced no student will receive an F grade. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the states academic year could start in late July or early August, and some K-through-12 campuses may reopen to offer summer school programs.

Meanwhile, here in New York, at least 12, and possibly as many as 17, faculty and staff in the public City University of New York system have died since the coronavirus pandemic began, including five at Brooklyn College. This comes as universities nationwide face massive financial losses from closing down their campuses and moving instruction online during the pandemic.

For more on all this, were joined by education scholar Noliwe Rooks, the W.E.B. Du Bois professor of literature at Cornell University, where shes also director of American studies and a professor in Africana studies. Shes the author ofCutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education, joining us from her home in Ithaca, New York. Shell be the featured guest tonight at avirtual community conversationon the future of public schools in Queens afterCOVID-19.

Professor Rooks, welcome toDemocracy Now!What has the coronavirus pandemic exposed about education in America?

NOLIWEROOKS:Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.

I think, as weve seen in so many other areas, the pandemic is exposing, just shining a light on, inequalities that are already there, as we see people who are impacted, who are falling ill, tend to be poor, tend to be Black, Latinx. The children who are suffering the most with this closing down of schools share similar kinds of demographics.

One of the things that is perplexing and hopefully we can come out of the other end of this really taking this seriously is we had absolutely no conversation. There were no emergency plans for closing of schools, for ceasing education. When it became clear that it was putting teachers and students and, as you mentioned, the numbers of educational workers who have lost their lives or fallen ill attempting to stay in classrooms, we had no plans for what happens if you take schooling offline. We quickly, across the country, New York City and elsewhere, decided on remote education.

There are two things about that that are particularly disturbing. One, the fact that something as central to communities, as central to children, as central to vulnerable communities as public education public education is not just about education for vulnerable communities. Its also about healthcare. Its also about mental health stability. Its about for some kids, its about where you get your clothes washed. Its about where you get the food youre going to eat during the day. To take something that central offline, in a hodgepodge, in a rush, without even thinking that disaster preparation should account for, like, what we do in the absence.

The second thing is, what we have put in place instead of in-person education is online schooling. What education scholars, what scholars this is not even an open question anymore know is online education advantages some children and disadvantages, severely disadvantages, others. Communities that cannot have easy access to fast, to stable internet, it matters. The ways that those children are able to learn, to keep up, to have their learning abilities evaluated, you just cant do it as easily. A majority of poor Black and Latinx families access their internet through their phone, so theres additional charges that are racked up when they have to use their phones to try to access learning. We know that. We also know that in terms of standardized tests, in terms of closing gaps in educational learning, online learning consistently performs worse than any other delivery method. We know that from 20 years worth of research. Its not something new.

So, in this moment of crisis which it was a crisis something had to happen. You know, it wasnt couldnt be planned for. Thats what a disaster is. We both shut down schools in a way that further harmed certain kids, and we instituted a kind of learning thats going to cause an educational pandemic once these schools reopen.

JUANGONZLEZ:Well, Professor Rooks, I wanted to ask you. At Rutgers University, one of my teams I teach investigative reporting. I had one of my teams, thats doing a project on the coronavirus, did a survey of several hundred Rutgers students precisely on this issue of remote teaching. And the figures they came up with were astounding. Eighty-five percent of the students who responded to the survey said that their ability to concentrate, in the shift to online classes 85% of them said was extremely affected or very much affected. And also, 71% of them said that their home environment was poor for being able to actually participate in the classes, in online classes. So, there is a this is at the university level.

NOLIWEROOKS:Right.

JUANGONZLEZ:Now take this down to the public school level. Your sense of the impact that this is having even on the ability of students to learn?

NOLIWEROOKS:Right. You know, were seeing things like children who are sitting on a sidewalk in front of a McDonalds because theres stable Wi-Fi there, looking for some Wi-Fi so that they can in fact complete the assignments. They want to learn. They want to keep up. They want to do well. But this form of education makes it difficult.

Much like your students at Rutgers, I have students all across the socioeconomic spectrum in my classes. I have students who went back to homes that were housing insecure in New York City, in various family shelters, where the Wi-Fi is spotty at best. And I have students whose families became involved inICEactions in the period between the declaration of the emergency and when they had to go home, and trying to navigate all of that; and now students, you know, whose parents are unemployed, whose family members have died. So, I know, as you do, firsthand, from a college perspective, how disruptive this is.

Its not a leap to think, you know, students who were already at risk, who were already vulnerable, who were already in families worried about their ability to make ends meet, we now have an economic crisis on top of the public health crisis. And the ways that were choosing to educate children is simply unequal and is going to lead to an educational crisis, an educational pandemic, on the other side.

You cannot ask students to perform well with a medium that requires a lot of concentration. You really have to pay attention, and you have to know how to make your computer work if it goes off. You have to know what to do if your Wi-Fi all of a sudden goes down, in the midst of trying to learn new concepts, of trying to learn foundational knowledge that youre going to need to continue to move through the educational system. It is disruption on top of disruption on top of disruption for communities and children who can least afford it.

JUANGONZLEZ:Im also wondering if youve been following the experiment that Los Angeles unlike many of the other places around the country, in Los Angeles, the local public television station immediately switched to having different bands of its spectrum to provide instruction to different classes. I havent heard this happening in many other places around the country, using public television, which is obviously accessible to many more people, to be able to get instruction out to students.

NOLIWEROOKS:Thats a great idea. And that is no, I have not heard about that, and I had not been following it.

I do know, all over the country, though, you are seeing businesses, parents, activists and families get together to talk about what would work best for them, what they think needs to happen. There have been some calls for allowing children to access the Wi-Fi in public schools. We cant have instruction take place in New York City public schools for a variety of reasons, but is it the case that children on school grounds could not access that Wi-Fi in order to have something stable? There are people who are asking for creativity in this moment.

And certainly, as we think about what happens on the other side, we dont know when schools are going to open up again. We dont know what form. We dont know. But we know that theres going to be a other side of this. And as we reach that other side, Im hopeful that we do not repeat some of the unintentional mistakes that were made when we shut things down, when we did not ask, school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood, What do you need from us? What is it that give them a seat at the table. Give folks who are most impacted a seat at the table and say, just ask the question, How can we bring these schools back online in a way that does not disadvantage your children? What do you know that we need to know? And I think were at a point in the crisis where we need that kind of creativity and collaboration.

AMYGOODMAN:What about the mental health of young people right now, who are at home, who, you know, in a lot of cases, either they dont have access to screens or their parents didnt want them to, now of course online all the time? And also, this vision you have of the future? You have the president of Brown University saying if schools dont reopen in the fall higher education higher education is imperiled.

NOLIWEROOKS:Right.

AMYGOODMAN:Now, most kids go to public schools

NOLIWEROOKS:Exactly.

AMYGOODMAN: whether were talking about community colleges, whether were talking about public universities. What about all of this, that we dont even know whats going to happen, and the inequitable, very different kind of endowments that the Ivy Leagues have versus the rest of higher education in this country? Are we going to see a closing of hundreds of schools?

NOLIWEROOKS:Right. You know, one of the things the conversation about higher education is sort of mirroring the conversation that were having about K-12 in that were tending to were not. Our public policy, our sense of urgency is not around children who are most in need or institutions that are serving children who are most in need.

The vast majority, well over 50%, well over 60%, of Black and Latinx kids who get BAs, who get college degrees, do so at community colleges or for-profit universities, not at four-year institutions, and certainly not at schools like one that I teach in which I teach. But the conversation about reopening colleges and universities has so far excluded community colleges almost wholly. Im hearing very little in the national media about what is the impact on community colleges, where most of these kids are actually being served.

Its a similar phenomena that youre finding with K-12, where theres almost no conversation about the kind and the quality of instruction thats even taking place online based on the socioeconomic background of the kids. Some kids are having some of the plans entail them having limited like 40 minutes a week or two 40-minute sessions a week, that actually involve the computer. And the rest of the times, not even online, parents are being asked to step in, are being given different kinds of worksheets and plans, and they are being asked to step in and to help ensure that kids are completing this work. The parents have different abilities to offer that kind of help.

So, in both K-12 as well as in higher education, as is so often the case, our public policy is not starting from the bottom up. Its starting from the top down. Its starting with what works best. In a time of crisis when were all impacted, its still asking, What works best for the most wealthy?

AMYGOODMAN:Well, of course, this is a conversation that well have to continue. Noliwe Rooks, we want to thank you for joining us, the W.E.B. Du Bois professor of literature at Cornell University, author ofCutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education.

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Education Crisis: From Pre-K to Higher Ed, Students Face Unequal Access During Coronavirus Shutdown - Pressenza, International Press Agency

(WBNG) -- The New York Hunter Education course is required to purchase a hunter license in the state.

It's typically offered in-person, but because of the coronavirus, it's now being offered online.

The online course cost $19.95, a new fee put in place by the software developer, which isn't required for the in-person classes.

"We are volunteers, we don't get paid, the DEC doesn't get paid, the only money they get paid from is when you go to get their license," said Broome County hunter safety coordinator Alan Hektor.

While the online class is convenient, hunting officials are voicing concerns about the course being offered in the non-traditional way.

"When we have the training here we do field work. We actually take the students out to the fire range, as you can hear in the background, and we let them shoot state guns," said Hektor.

Hektor says there are things he teaches his students hands-on during a typical eight hour course.

For example, loading your vehicle with your firearm or crossing a fence with your firearm.

Hektor says those field lessons are important for one reason.

"Safety. Our number one concern is safety for the hunter in the field," he said.

Hektor also says the instructors teaching the in-person classes have years of knowledge.

"Most of the instructors are old like myself. My father who is 96 and has been an instructor for 73 years. So we pass on our experiences to the new students," he said.

Having an instructor in the same room allows them to share some real-life experiences.

"People fall out of tree stands, you would not believe it. Experienced hunters, turkey hunters shoot each other. It's things that we pick up on and we tell them there's certain things they can do to prevent incidents," said Hektor.

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation says the course will be available online until June 30.

For more information on how to sign up, click here.

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NY Hunter Education course being offered online - WBNG-TV

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the SA Cabin Crew Association are considering taking legal action against the business rescue practitioners of South African Airways, they said in a joint statement late on Friday afternoon.

The two unions, which together form a majority of union representation at the embattled state-owned airline, say they are eyeing a court application to have the BRPs removed.

Captain Grant Back, chairperson of the SAA Pilots' Association (SAAPA), said on Friday evening that they too believe the BRPs have not fulfilled their obligation and will also consider court action to have the the BRPs removed.

"We look forward to work with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and the rest of labour in finding a workable solution to revive SAA and keep it as a national asset, which is necessary to kickstart our economy when we come out of the Covid-19 period," said Back.

The National Transport Movement (NTM) has already rejected the current proposal of the BRPs, "because it suggests the payment of severance packages are subject to the sale of certain assets and approval by creditors".

The permutations are leading to the future of the airline narrowing to two options which are liquidation versus restructuring," NTM president Mashudu Raphetha

said on Friday evening.

"It seems the balance of forces are leaning towards the possibility of a liquidation, which may give rise to a new airline."

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) also indicated earlier on Friday that it "rejects with contempt" the BRPs' proposal. It regards the proposal as an "attempt to blackmail workers".

Saftu claims the aim is "to collapse SAA in order to open the way for its privatisation".

A week ago the DPE rejected a request for further funding of about R10 billion from the BRPs in order to complete the business rescue process.

The BRPs had also earlier started a section 189 process with employees on restructuring the company. About a week ago the BRPs offered all SAA employees (excluding Mango and SAA Technical staff, subsidiaries which are not in business rescue) severance packages at the end of April to all staff.

SAAPA is of the view that the entire section 189 process has been just "a box-ticking excercise from the beginning". SAAPA claims labour has not been consulted to their satisfaction nor had informnation requested been provided, such as the business plans the BRPs referred to along the way.

"How do you have a section 189 process without a plan?" asks Back.

Employees have been given until next week to accept the agreement, which has since been adjusted.

Up to April, all employees have received their full salaries.

'Defend the airline'

"We are calling on government, and in particular the Department of Public Enterprises in the interest of saving SAA, to join our application to defend the airline, and work with us in developing a turnaround plan that will secure the future of the airline and save jobs," Numsa and Sacca state.

Earlier on Friday, in a public address about Covid-19 funding, Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni spoke of a "new economy" that could emerge after the lockdown ends. He said there will be new opportunities for companies to grow. Referenciing Gordhan, Mboweni said a new airline could arise from "the ashes of SAA".

Numsa and Sacca accuse the BRPS of having "an agenda to strip the assets of the airline" and to liquidate it.

"We are left with no choice but to approach the court, not only to remove them but also to demand a full breakdown of exactly how they have spent our hard earned tax money...This is a battle for the very survival of the airline and for all the working class families who will be affected " say the two unions.

Repeated bailouts

On Tuesday the DPE informed the unions at a meeting, which excluded the BRPs, that SAA can no longer depend on financial support from government. This comes after government has repeatedly bailed out the airline over the years, often at the very last minute.

Representatives of the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union, National Union of Metalworkers of SA, the SAA Pilots' Association, the National Transport Movement, the Aviation Union of Southern Africa and the Southern Africa Cabin Crew Association were among those in attendance.

The DPE said all parties need to commit to a creative solution to avoid the business rescue process, which started in December last year, from failing. According to the DPE, a consultative forum would be established for talks on how best to ensure the well-being of employees.

NTM says it is seeking clarity from the DPE as to the options government can offer SAA employees. The union also points out that it would need longer than the current deadline given by the BRPs to caucus its members properly once it is clear what the various options and their implications are.

The union Solidarity has also expressed the need to obtain more clarity on the role and function of the so-called "Leadership Compact" proposed at the meeting with the DPE in lieu of the business rescue process.

"Not only are thousands of our members' and their families' livelihoods at stake, but also the entire airline industry and the economy of SA," Solidarity said in a letter to the DPE.

Back says SAAPA will not sign the employment termination contract put on the table by the BRPs in its current form. As for any other amended offers from the BRPs, SAAPA would, after due consideration, be required to first get a mandate from its membership to respond to the BRPs.

The BRPs said in response to the threat of legal action, that the Section 189 process continues and the offer of termination of employment is still on the table.

In the view of the BRPs a winding down process would obtain a better option for employees and creditors than a mere liquidation.

On Thursday the BRPs said the airline cannot survive beyond month end, and the choices left are either a forced liquidation or a winding down process. The practitioners said they do not have sufficient funds available to continue honouring the obligations of SAA to its employees beyond 30 April 2020.

"At this juncture, we wish to register our grave concern and disappointment that, despite substantial cash injection amounts that have been dedicated to the business rescue process, no plan has been forthcoming," says Solidarity.

"This delay in delivery...has, in itself, exacerbated the crisis that existed before the business rescue process. Our concerns are because sincere efforts to find a resolve may carry the unintended consequence of prolonging the entire process of business rescue, which SAA can ill afford."

The DPE referred Fin24 to the BRPs for comment.

* This article as updated to include comment from SAAPA, NTM, Saftu and Solidarity.

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Unions threaten legal action to have SAA business rescue practitioners removed - Fin24

With respect to McManus and Hamilton, who have admittedly produced a very interesting article, there are characterizations and theoretical points within their article that I feel need to be addressed.

Introduction

As a practicing psychotherapist investigating political expressions of psychoanalytic thought, I was very interested to read Matt McManus and Conrad Hamiltons recent critique of Jungian and Lacanian perspectives. I was also intrigued by McManus and Hamiltons choice to assign, respectively, these thinkers to the Right and Left of the political spectrum. They did this, in large part, through their interpretations of how Jordan Peterson and Slavoj iek have, in turn, drawn from each psychoanalysts work. With respect to McManus and Hamilton, who have admittedly produced a very interesting article, there are characterizations and theoretical points within their article that I feel need to be addressed. In particular, it is necessary to demonstrate more accurately the complexity of the perspectives held up as representatives (I believe inaccurately) of Left-situated or Right-situated expressions of psychoanalysis.

Although clear divisions of Lacanian thought into the Left and Jungian thought into the Right might make for an engagingyet choppy articlethere are a number of similarities between the two perspectives. There are also complexities internal to these perspectives that have to be eclipsed for this interpretation to hold. Especially noticeable in reading their article were the failure to acknowledge the left-wing Jungian streams of theoretical development (that have largely been ignored since Jungs death), the equation of Petersons focus on order from chaos with the aim of Jungian analysis in general, and the erasure of theoretical similarities between Lacan and Jungs perspectives. Also, I believe there were some inaccuracies regarding admittedly difficult aspects of Lacanian theory (the misrepresentation of the early infants relationship to the mirror stage, for example), as well as a degree of irony when the two authors (themselves influenced by Marxism) invoke charges about lacking evidence or unfalsifiabilitywhen it comes to those with whom they disagree. However, I will sideline these later concerns in favor of primarily addressing the implicit characterization of Jungian thought as being inherently conservative or right-wing in analytic approach.

To a degree, I believe that the authors are aware and acknowledge partially the complexities of Jungian thought, and this causes some discomfort with the original premise of their piece. McManus and Hamilton take pains to differentiate and separate the decidedly un-progressive personal figure of Jacques Lacan (Freud was not a progressive) from the interpretations of Lacans interlocutors. These interlocutors were often the resolutely fashionable left-wing figures, who haunt the bookshelves and syllabuses of continental philosophy departments. These names include Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and, of course, the focal figure of their article: Slavoj iek. This highlighting of the development of Lacanian theory through its academic interpreters allows it to be positioned on the Left, within the topology of McManus and Hamiltons article.

It is strange, therefore, that the Jungian analogue to psychoanalysis (analytic psychology) does not receive the same treatment. Instead, when it comes to the supposedly right-wing orientation of Jungian analytical psychology, we are presented with a paucity of examples. We are offered Jungs alleged racism, his spurious personal actions during the Second World War, and his influence on Jordan Peterson as proof for their characterization of Jung as right-wing. It is important to note here that Peterson, while a renowned clinical psychologist, was not a trained Jungian analyst. iek, on the other hand, is a trained (albeit not practicing) Lacanian analyst. As such, to use Peterson and iek as examples of their relative schools is already perhaps to overstate the point. McManus and Hamiltons somewhat impoverished overview of Jungian thought may also be partly due to the acknowledged unpopularity of Jung within the academy. The authors are academics, rather than clinicians; so their seeming lack of familiarity with the outgrowths of Jungian theory can perhaps be forgiven. Who (outside the murky world of clinical psychoanalysis and psychotherapy) could be expected to know the permutations and arcane growths of post-Jungian theory? Instead, as they did in their piece, it might be easier to focus on the twin poisons of mysticism and racism, when it comes to Jung.

McManus and Hamilton reduce Jungian thought to the twin streams of the problematic proclamations of its founder and the fiery exhortations against progressivism leveled by its most easy listening popular exponent, Jordan Peterson. Yet, there are many broadly progressive and left-wing developments that have emerged from (and been influenced by) the Jungian field. Indeed, McManus and Hamilton mention the Anti-Oedipal work of Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari as being desirably progressive critics of Lacan. However, McManus and Hamilton fail to mention the tribute that these two thinkers pay to Jung in their 1980 book A Thousand Plateaus. Within A Thousand Plateaus work, Jungian archetypal theory is, indeed, referenced. Although described as insufficiently deterritorializing, Jungs approach is seen by Deleuze and Guattari as being closer to the mark than the single all-encompassing Oedipal model employed by Freud. This refers to the Oedipal framework which, of course, Lacan based his entire theoretical edifice around in his return to Freud.

This Deleuzian connection runs deeper than this single mention in the Capitalism and Schizophrenia series. Deleuze further references Jungs work inhis 1968 book Difference and Repetition, and Deleuzian ideas expressed within this book are reflected theoretically in the work of the former Jungian (and creator of Archetypal Psychology) James Hillman. Hillman was originally a Jungian analyst, who guided studies at the Jung Institute in Zurich. His workwithin books such as Re-Visioning Psychologyreflects a pluralist, deconstructionist, and anti-authoritarian turn within Jungian thought. There are also influences from the Sufi mysticism of Henry Corbin. Years before Jordan Peterson arrived on the scene, Hillman had already anticipated and argued against popular conservative interpretation of Jung. He did this by critiquing the over-emphasis on the monotheistic (slaying-the-dragon-of-chaos) Hero archetype, as well as the individualist ego later associated with it.

Hillman felt the over-identification with this archetype was inherent to Western cultures excesses. And his own pluralist re-imagining of Jungian theory sought to mitigate this through emphasis on difference. He also railed preemptively against Petersonian reductions of archetypal imagery to evolutionary psychology and biological processes. Again, Hillman saw these as attempts to slay the power of the images of the unconscious, stultifying them by turning them into abstract scientific concepts. Furthermore, Hillman questioned the individualist basis of therapy, advocating for changes in the political and social world. As such, he anticipated many left-wing critiques of this individualism inherent in the profession, such as those articulated in Anti-Oedipus. As perhaps the most popular post-Jungian psychologist in the United States (apart from Peterson), it can hardly be said that Hillman was right-wing or conservative.

Further examples of radical attitudes latent within the Jungian model of analysis are plentiful. For example, the interpretation of psychosis as a breakdown-to-breakthrough, a spontaneous reorganization of the conscious self by the unconscious, also reflects and anticipates the anti-Oedipal promotion of deterritorialization, within the work of Deleuze and Guattari. The importance of Jungs personal deterritorialization and psychotic breakdown to the creation of his system are most clearly illustrated via the posthumous release of the almost Lovecraftian esoteric tome called The Red Book.The Red Book features an articulation of the content of Jungs breakdown, complete with psychedelic artwork and a hallucinogenic narrative of underworld figures. Jungian scholars such as Sonu Shamdasani and Hillman have held this as being far more foundational to the creation of his school than the influence of Freud, and the entire book can be held up as an instance of deterritorialization, par excellence. These elements do not a conservative form of psychoanalysis make. Far from the imposition of a right-wing orderor, slaying of chaosthis is a descent into the abyss of the underworld and a reforging of self and identity through deterritorialization and radical difference, in the vein of Zarathustra.

To fail to present these elements of Jungian thought and characterize it as merely a vessel of Petersonian order is to exclude its essential origin myth. With the above points in mind, it becomes difficult to maintain the view of Jungian analysis as a right-wing perspective. Although the authors of the original article do pay some heed to the contradictions between Jung and Petersons interpretations, by excluding the other half of Jung (the many ways in which Jungian theory emerges from more of a Deleuzoguattarian upsurge of radical difference and otherness), a false image of theoretical conservatism is more sustainable. It is not my intention to hold up Jung as a progressive icon in opposition to McManus and Hamiltons articleor to present him as a hidden leftist. Rather, I seek to highlight the ambiguities within his work and the more progressive tendencies of those of his followers who are not named Jordan Petersonand who have had far more legitimate clinical (though perhaps less popular) impact.

Race, Antisemitism, and Jung

Jungs behavior during the Second World War is also put forward by McManus and Hamilton as to why Jungian analytic psychology should been regarded as an inherently right-wing articulation of psychoanalysis. While it is true that Jung performed ambiguous (often unacceptably complicit) actions in regard to Nazismand made statements that even for the time and context would have been considered Antisemitic (See Stephen Froshs work on the subject)he also worked in order to help Jewish colleagues escape from Nazi Germany. Jung also explicitly criticized the Nazi regime, once the explicit barbarity of it became more apparent. This, of course, does not excuse his earlier actions or his Antisemitism. However, again, we are presented with an ambiguity that has led to intense levels of soul-searching, within the Jungian analytic profession. Theoretically, as Hamilton and McManus point out, this profession has a vested interest in exploring and articulating the shadow not only of the individual client but also of the personality of Jung himselfand of Jungian institutions.

Jungs Antisemitism especially has been laid bare not only by Frosh but by the well-respected Jungian Analyst Andrew Samuels. Samuels, as one of the most prominent and high-profile Jungian thinkers, again shows the political ambiguity in Jungian thought. Samuels actually is far more deserving of the title of representative of this school of analysis than is Peterson. Samuels, for instance, has been the chair of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. He was also an advisor for the British Labour government and one of the first professors of Jungian Analytic psychology in the world. Samuels has also long been the pre-eminent voice in political psychotherapy of any denomination: promoting a very strongly pluralist, left-wing, and progressively-orientated approach to integrating these two fields. His identity as a Jungian is not in contradiction to his political identity as a leftist. Jung and Jungian thought hold a level of ambiguity that McManus and Hamilton miss, either owing to their ignorance of its existence or as a result of misconstruing Jungs complicated background for the convenience of creating a simple binary: Left or Right.

It is Jungs initialoften deeply flawed or problematicpersonal explorations around questions of plurality, difference, and race that allowed for post-Jungian theory to develop reflexivity around these questions, which Hillman and Samuels demonstrate. This evolution is even reflected in the tribute to Jungs theory that decolonial pioneer Frantz Fanon makes in his 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks. This is the book where Fanon attributes his own theories around introjected racial consciousness as being inspired by those made by Jung. Although Fanon was a Lacanian by training (and emphasizes the constructed rather than inherent basis to archetypes in his appropriation of archetypal theory), still Fanon acknowledges that his work owes some debt to Jungs original psychoanalytic exploration of racial consciousness. Again, my point here is not to excuse Jungs racism by reference to Fanon. Rather, I aim to illustrate that even around the issues of race, Jung (and also his legacy in terms of post-Jungian analytical psychology) is far more complex than McManus and Hamilton imply.

Peterson as Senex Possessed

Although McManus and Hamilton do mention in passing that Petersons work is an idiosyncratic rendition of Jung, it is perhaps not emphasized enough how Petersons over-emphasis on the aspects of order, the individual ego, and the heroic slaying of chaos moves away from anything resembling the aim of Jungian clinical work. What these aspects of Peterson perhaps would indicate to a Jungian analyst is a personality under possession of what is called a Senex archetype: This archetype is the Grey old man, the representative of established order. It is reminiscent of the image of Saturn devouring his children. While standing for repression, stasis and, conservatism, he rails against the attempts of the young to gain power and overthrow order. The Senex is often seen as being within an archetypal complex, in which it is positioned in conflict with the archetype of the Puer (the eternal youth). We can see Peterson falling into this complex through his position as the substitute dad of estranged Western masculinity. He follows this with father-like exhortations to clean ones bedroom. Then, there is the mutual hatred between Peterson and the infantilized Puers of the social justice movement. Petersons theoretical reduction of the images of the unconscious psyche to biological and evolutionary explanations would also be likely seen by many Jungian thinkers as an example of a Senex possession. This results in an attempt to make concrete the fluid material of the unconscious. In this way, individuation and differentiation can take place and, therefore, fossilize the unconscious: ossify it in a form that is more socially and academically acceptable to explainor, as Deleuze would have, Oedipalize it.

Possession of the personality through an archetypal complex such as this is far from the aim of individuation in the Jungian sense. With more integral interpretations of Jung as seen in the works of Hillman, Samuels, or even from Jung himself (within The Red Book), individuation is, instead, articulated as being the differentiation of self via bringing forth radical difference from the unconscious. In holding Peterson as an exemplar of Jungian thought, a caricature of analytical psychology as conservative can be promoted. However, this cannot be sustained if any sort of faithful account of Jungian theory is provided.

It might be said that in trying to cleanly divide Jung and Lacan into Right and Left political positions, it is almost a replication of the Senex-Puer complex that I identified Petersons work as suffering from. Admittedly, there is perhaps some attraction in framing the perspectives of complex, ambiguous thinkers in this way. It allows one to frame ones preferred perspective as either that of a righteous rebel or, alternatively, a defender of order. The truth is thatmuch like Lacanunderneath the unipolar portrayal of Jung by McManus and Hamilton, an ambiguous figure lurks. There is a figure who is sometimes conservative but sometimes radically other. There is a figure who emphasizes individuation and differentiationbut also the influence of collective archetypes. There is a figure who saves his Jewish colleagues but promotes theories of Aryan supremacy. Jung is a profoundly complex figure. As such, there must be a reckoning with himin all of his ambiguitythroughout the academy before his form of psychoanalysis can be labelled right-wing.

Nick Opyrchal is a psychotherapist in private practice. For his M.A., he researched the intersection between Lacanian and transpersonal perspectives in psychotherapy. His current doctoral work investigates the intersection of identity politics and the transpersonal within psychotherapy.

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Jordan Peterson and Carl Jung's Worldviews Have Been Greatly Oversimplified - Merion West