Critical Reading 1

Finding the Line Between Safe Space and Segregation

In this article, the audience is both college students and college staff members.
The purpose is to give the author's view on how racial inequality is being handled on
campus and whether or not creating a safe space based on race could actually hurt
students by segregating them further. The author claims that creating spaces that
exclude other races may not help students the way it is intended to, leading to further
separation between races. She believes that trying different approaches and not forcing
anything to happen will lead to something culminating that makes students feel
included. Key words in the conversation include: minority, diversity, race, different. What
other ideas have been implemented in colleges across the US, and does the location
(region in the US) of the university have an effect on what is being done to combat
racial bias on campus?

First Step to Fixing Gender Bias in Business School: Admit the Problem
The audience in this article is universities and other institutions. The purpose is to
give the author's view on how gender bias is being researched and hopefully fixed. The
author claims that bias in the grading system from faculty members lead to a grade gap
between genders. She reports that in 2009, women made up 36% of the student
population but only 14% of the top 5% of a 900-person class. And in 2013, after
changes had been made to the grading system, such as adding a scribe, the numbers
went up to 39% of the top 5% in the 900-person class, showing her gender bias theory
could have been possible. Key words include: gap, gender, bias, cultural barriers.
Besides adding scribes to the classrooms, what other changes to the grading system
did the university make and how did this help decrease the gender grade gap?

How America's 2-Tiered Education System Is Perpetuating Inequality

In this article, the audience is students attending community college and the
people in charge of the education systems. The purpose is to give the authors view on
how the education system is failing those that dont attend elite universities. The author
claims that due to strict policies, poor effort by elite universities, and little funding, only
11% of students who leave community college go on to obtain a 4-year degree within 6-
years of graduating. Key words in this article include: funding, costs, community college,
underfunding. How can 4-year universities cooperate with community colleges to better
aid students who attend them?

The Post-Lecture Classroom: How Will Students Fare?

The audience in this article is professors looking for an innovative way to interact
with students and improve scores. The purpose is to show that in order to succeed in
having a flipped classroom, organization on the professors behalf is important. The
author claims that the flipped classroom is better than the traditional lecture style
classroom. The author interviewed the professor and a student from the course and had
 Critical Reading 1

positive experiences on both sides of the flipped classroom. Key words include: flipped,
test scores, changes, performance. What are possible downsides to a flipped
classroom, and why is it not used more if it is so successful?

Wasting Time on the Internet 101

The audience in this article is students and college staff. The purpose is to show
that spending time online can be beneficial to students with reading and writing. The
author claims that time online has made people read faster and at a greater pace than
ever before. He says that a paradigm shift had occurred outside the classroom, with
students not physically writing as much, but spending time writing and reading through
social media. Key words include: social media, online, unconventional. Are the results of
these unconventional courses successful, and in what ways?