1 . I started participating in student journalism when I was in high school. And when I started, I really just saw my articles as more fun versions of the academic essays I was writing every day in class. It wasn’t really until an article I wrote in March 2020, that I really understood the power of expressing my voice through journalism, and the unique appeal and responsibility of being both a student and a journalist.

Most of the things reported on in student publications directly or indirectly affect the journalists writing about them. This differs from mainstream publications (刊物), who often have the privilege (特权) to objectively cover things that they have no connection with. Student journalists, on the other hand, often find themselves trying to put on a different “hat” when it comes to reporting, but in my eyes part of the magic of being a student journalist is that despite putting on a different “hat”, it’s still the same you.

We know what is important to report on because we are constantly surrounded by the student voice. An Irish Times or Independent reporter would never know about the burden of high rents, or why so many campus spaces are not accessible, or feel the fears of examination changes in light of artificial intelligence. Students know what students care about, and what issues aren’t getting the attention they deserve.

I’ve always been drawn to comment articles, particularly because it’s a place I feel my voice holds a special significance, and one where my words and my articles come together to represent me. Opinion pieces are unique, in that they are the only article format that doesn’t have to be entirely objective. I, and many other comment writers I chat to, find this freeing. It’s a relaxing experience to work out an important issue from your own viewpoint and even with your own frustration (挫败、失意) or praise, and it feels especially personal.

We need to protect student journalists, but we also need to expand the field we can cover in student journalism. The student voice is powerful because it is diverse, and it’s critical to reflect their voice. The press also has an important role in defending itself. Freedom of information is one of the most sacred (神圣的) things we have, and one that we as students need to protect.

2 . In the fog of uncertainty about how new technology will change the way we work, policymakers around the world have flocked to the same idea. No matter what the future brings, they say confidently, we will need to upskill the workforce in order to cope.

The view sounds reassuringly sensible. If computers are growing smarter, humans will need to learn to use them to humans’ advantage. Otherwise, they may run the risk of being replaced by computers.     1     .

Research published by the Social Mobility Commission shows that workers with degrees are over three times more likely to participate in training as adults than workers with no qualifications. That creates a virtuous circle for those who did well at school, and vicious circle for those who did not. If the robots are coming for both the accountants and the taxi drivers, you can bet the bean counters will be more able to retrain themselves out of danger.

    2     In the UK, the government introduced an “apprenticeship levy” a few years ago in an attempt to force employers to spend more on training. A surprising number have responded by sending their senior managers on “apprenticeships” at business schools.

It is no good criticizing employers for directing investments at their highly skilled workers. They are simply aiming for the highest return they can get. And, for some types of lower-paid work, it is not always true that technological progress requires more skills. The UK’s latest Employment and Skills Survey, which is performed every five years, suggests the use of literacy and numeracy skills at work has fallen since 2012, even as the use of computers has increased. The trouble is, when the computer makes your job easier one day, it might make it unnecessary the next. Many of those affected by automation will need to switch occupations, or even industries.     3    

It is time to revisit older ideas. The UK once had an energetic culture of night schools, for adults to attend after their day jobs. These institutions have been disappearing due to funding cuts. But a revival of night schools could be exactly what the 21st century needs.     4     They can also explore interests they never had a chance to nurture before.

It is still not clear whether the impact of new technology on the labour market will come in a trickle or aflood. But in an already unequal world, continuing to reserve all the lifeboats for the better-off would be a dangerous mistake.

3 . Teaching is widely recognized to be a stressful occupation, characterized by numerous and varied challenges: administrative burdens, long hours, classroom management difficulties, to name but a few.     1     They are also paid less than other workers with similar experience and education, a gap that has grown from 4.3% in 1996 to 17% in 2015. Further, teachers face significant social and political scrutiny as to how they do their jobs . 

    2     The statistics on teacher turnover are grim: Research estimates that between 19% and 30% of new teachers leave the field within the first five years of teaching, which can reduce the team spirits of their campus community and negatively affect student learning. In the most recent PDK poll, half of teachers surveyed said they had considered leaving the profession within the last year, with low pay and high stress most frequently cited as the reasons. Of course, teacher stress is not unique to the United States. In fact, research has yielded remarkably consistent findings around the world, with roughly 20-25% of the teaching workforce reporting high levels of stress.

But if it’s clear that teacher stress is widespread, it’s not always clear how teacher stress should be defined. Traditionally, educational policy research has focused on working conditions (i.e., school administration) as the main driver of occupational health. That is, teacher stress tends to be viewed as a result of working in a stressful environment, often characterized as lacking sufficient funding or effective leadership.     3     In many schools, some teachers are stressed out while others are not; but if working conditions were all that mattered, then every teacher in the school would be equally stressed.

Chris Kyriacou and others have argued that teacher stress is better understood as resulting from a mismatch between the pressures and demands made on educators and their ability to cope with those demands. Workforce conditions alone are not sufficient to explain why some teachers are highly stressed. Rather, what matters most is how each teacher sees the demands they face in relation to the resources they have available to meet those demands.     4     And if this is true, then it should be possible to identify and intervene with teachers who are most vulnerable to stress, above and beyond efforts to improve the larger working environment.

5 . Women are still underrepresented in top academic positions. One of the possible explanations for this is the increasing importance of obtaining research funding. Women are often less successful in this than men. Psychology researchers Dr. Romy van der Lee and professor Naomi Ellemers investigated whether this difference also occurs at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and examined potential explanations.

The researchers were assigned by NWO to carry out this study as part of the broader evaluation of NWO’s procedures and its gender diversity policy. The aim was to gain more insight into the causes of the differences in awarding rates for male and female applicants for research funding. The analysis addressed an important “talent programme” of NWO, the Veni grant. “Whoever receives this grant has a greater chance of obtaining an important appointment at a university, ” says Naomi Ellemers.

Van der Lee and Ellemers investigated all the applications submitted by male and female researchers over a period of three years: a total of 2823 applications. Under the direction of NWO these applications were assessed by scientific committees consisting of men and women. The results demonstrate that the awarding rates for female applicants (14.9%) are systematically lower than those for male applicants (17.7%). “If we compare the proportion of women among the applicants with the proportion of women among those awarded funding, we see a loss of 4%,” said Ellemers.

The study reveals that women are less positively evaluated for their qualities as researcher than men are, “Interestingly the research proposals of women and men are evaluated equally positively. In other words, the reviewers see no difference in the quality of the proposals that men and women submit,” says Romy van der Lee.

In search for a possible cause for the differences in awarding rates and evaluations, the researchers also investigated the language use in the instructions and forms used to assess the quality of applications. This clearly revealed the occurrence of gendered language. The words that are used to indicate quality are frequently words that were established in previous research as referring mainly to the male gender stereotype (such as challenging and excellent). Romy van der Lee explains: “As a result, it appears that men more easily satisfy the assessment criteria, because these better fit the characteristics stereoty-pically associated with men.”

In response to the results of this research, NWO will devote more attention to the gender awareness of reviewers in its methods and procedures. It will also be investigated which changes to the assessment procedures and criteria can most strongly contribute to more equal chances for men and women to obtain research funding. This will include an examination of the language used by NWO. NWO chair Jos Engelens said, “The research has yielded valuable results and insights. Based on the recommendations made by the researchers we will therefore focus in the coming period on the development of evidence-based measures to reduce the difference in awarding rates.”

6 . How do companies decide who to send overseas?     1     Just find someone with the right background, ask them if they wanted to go, and that was it. So an engineer just needed to be able to offer the technical expertise required to do the job, a manager simply needed to know the right people, an accountant needed to know how the books worked and nothing else. If they could speak English, then they could probably do the job.

But times are changing. More and more overseas assignments are failing. The reason? Lack of intercultural competence. Companies have discovered that finding the right person for the job is much more than simply identifying the person who could have done the job if it had been in their home country.     2     And this failure is more than irritating. It costs companies a lot of money to replace someone who does not fit in.

So how do companies judge if someone has the right competence for a job in another country?     3     Are they interested in other ways of doing things? Can they see advantages and disadvantages, or only their own viewpoint? Sensitivity is a key factor too. Is the person able to deal with other ways of looking at a problem? How do they deal with authority? What about motivation? Are they willing to treat others with respect and understanding? Such questions can be answered partly by the use of questionnaires and interviews, but of course only real experience can give the final answer.

So what else can a company do to make sure that a person is right for an overseas assignment?     4     Experienced colleagues can also be used to ease someone through the first stages. And another key area is to make sure that the relatives receive similar backup and training: it’s no good having a happy employee who is under pressure from his or her partner to come home.

7 . Once you choose to become an actor, many people who you thought were your closest friends will tell you you’re crazy, though some may react quite differently. No two people will give you the same advice. But it is a very personal choice you are making, and only you can take responsibility for yourself and for realising your ambition.

There are no easy ways of getting there — no written examination to pass, and no absolute guarantee that when you have successfully completed your training you will automatically make your way in the profession. It’s a matter of luck plus talent.

I have frequently been asked to define this magical thing called talent, which everyone is looking out for. I believe it is best described as natural skill plus imagination — the latter being the most difficult quality to assess. And it has a lot to do with the person’s courage and their belief in what they are doing and the way they are putting it across.

Where does the desire to act come from? It is often very difficult to put into words your own reasons for wanting to act. Certainly, in the theatre the significant thing is that moment of contact between the actor on the stage and a particular audience. And making this brief contact is central to all acting, wherever it takes place — it is what drives all actors to act.

If you ask actors how they have done well in the profession, the response will most likely be a shrug. They will not know. They will know certain things about themselves and aspects of their own technique and the techniques of others. But they will take nothing for granted, because they know that they are only as good as their current job, and that their fame may not continue.

Disappointment is the greatest enemy of the actor. Last month you may have been out of work, selling clothes or waitressing. Suddenly you are asked to audition (试镜) for a part, but however much you want the job, the truth is that it maybe denied you. So actors tend not to talk about their chances. They come up with ways of protecting themselves against the stress of competing for a part and the possibility of rejection.

10 . HOW TO GET A PAY RAISE

Advice from organizational psychologist Liane Davey, author of You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done.