by Carl Bossard*
(21 December 2021) Education always creates disparity. That’s the way. And at the same time, schools must ensure equal opportunities. That is the mandate. But to what extent is it made more difficult by the current wave of reforms?
(14 December 2021) Many governments, including that of Switzerland, have decided to minimise CO2 emissions in the country due to the predicted global warming. It is assumed that man-made CO2 emissions are the reason for a predicted rise in the earth’s temperature.1
by Christian Gurtner, editor of the magazine «saldo»*
(30 November 2021) Today, organ donors must give their explicit consent. In future, even silence will be considered as a consent. That is what the Federal Council and parliament want. Now a referendum committee has formed: the voters should have the last word.
by Hanspeter Amstutz*
(29. November 2021) The shortage of teachers in primary and secondary schools threatens to become chronic, as a look at the rising numbers of pupils over the next few years, shows. Although more students than ever are entering teacher training at university colleges of education, the trend towards part-time employment and the excessive number of premature departures from the teaching profession are making for a highly tense situation on the job market. There have always been times of teacher shortage, but the current situation is different in two respects.
von John P. A. Ioannidis*
(29. November 2021)In the past I had often fervently wished that one day everyone would be passionate and excited about scientific research. I should have been more careful about what I had wished for. The crisis caused by the lethal COVID-19 pandemic and by the responses to the crisis have made billions of people worldwide acutely interested and overexcited about science.
by Marita Brune-Koch
(5 November 2021) Nowadays, “youth” is often equated with “climate youth”. This implies that youth today are “green” and organise or identify with “Fridays for Future”, Greenpeace, animal protection and similar organisations. However, this is by no means the case. The majority of youth “ticks” quite differently. This was shown in a study by the Austrian social scientist Professor Bernhard Heinzlmaier,* which he presented at the beginning of 2021.