Page 78 - EW-January-2026

International News

UNITED STATES But not everyone who wants to go old-school can. Par-
Handwrittten exams coming back ents can’t easily opt out of edtech. And Derek Vaillant, a
professor of communication and media at the University of
Michigan, says that while there is a consensus that teach-
ers need to “get back to basics” by prioritising original, in-
person, pen-and-paper exams, large public universities are
not providing resources commensurate with the challenge
by hiring enough teaching assistants. Administrators are
“speaking out of both sides of their mouths”.

Purdue rejecting ‘adversary nation’

students

URRENT AND PROSPECTIVE PURDUE University
graduate students say the institution rejected a slew
American students: blue book making a comeback Cof Chinese applicants from its graduate programs
for this academic year. Also, one grad student says the uni-
IN 1857 A CENTURY AND A HALF BEFORE Apple versity told admissions committees in the past couple of
marketed iPads to schools, a Greece-born Harvard months that it’s highly unlikely to accept students from any
professor, Evangelinus Apostolides Sophocles, “adversary nation” next year.
held a bonfire of newly introduced “blue books”, bound Faculty were told those countries are China, Cuba, Iran,
exam booklets for pen-and-paper tests that (to his ire) were North Korea, Russia and Venezuela, said Kieran Hilmer, a
to replace oral recitation. He lost. These booklets would teaching assistant on the leadership committee of Gradu-
torment generations of American students before yielding ate Rights and Our Wellbeing (GROW), a group trying to
in turn to computerised testing. But now the blue book is unionize Purdue grad workers. That list broadly matches
making a comeback, with booklet sales more than doubling the commerce secretary’s catalog of foreign adversaries.
from 2022 to 2024, according to Circana, a data firm. And Purdue isn’t commenting on the allegations. The uni-
oral exams appear ripe for revival too. versity has faced scrutiny from members of Congress about
From high school to university, teachers are playing its ties to China. In May, the Trump administration briefly
defence against classroom tech that enables cheating and said it would revoke Chinese students’ visas nationwide.
foments distraction. Laura Lomas, a literature professor at The president has since changed his tune and said he would
Rutgers University, now requires students to attend a play welcome more students from China.
whose ending changes every night, so she knows if they A Chinese student who wishes to remain anonymous be-
were there. She assigns oral presentations rather than more cause he’s still trying to get into Purdue told Inside Higher
AI-friendly PowerPoints, and allows no bathroom breaks Ed he received an offer to be a research assistant last Febru-
during blue-book exams so students can’t peek at their ary, meaning his funding was secure to become a Purdue
phones. grad student this academic year. But, in April or May, he
The reason is not just ChatGPT and the mass cheating it said, the Office of Graduate Admissions told him that his
makes possible. Teachers are worried about mass distrac- application was denied. The redacted two-paragraph letter
tion as well. In 2025, 56 percent of educators said laptops, that he provided to Inside Higher Ed said admission “is
tablets or desktops are a major source of diverted atten- competitive and many factors are carefully considered,” but
tion, according to an EdWeek Research Centre survey. At “we are not able to provide specific feedback.”
Bowdoin College, a private liberal-arts college in Maine, If Purdue is responding to the committee’s pressure,
the dean says that “many faculty had already marked their it’s another example of a selective American institution
classrooms as, for the most part, device-free spaces” even bending to the federal government’s efforts to reduce in-
before “the recent ubiquity of AI”. ternational enrollment and to particularly target Chinese
Rigorous studies have shown that classroom tech can students and scholars. During President Trump’s first term
help pupils learn algebra, but evidence of improved out- in office, the Justice Department launched the controversial
comes in other areas is thin. By contrast, the benefits China Initiative, which investigated faculty ties to China.
handwriting offers for cognition are gaining new respect, Republicans say the initiative is sought to counter espio-
even beyond the humanities. A computer science teacher at nage, but Democrats, education lobbyists and Asian Ameri-
Hunter College High School in New York recently reinsti- can advocates argued it is ineffective and instead justifies
tuted handwriting for coding assignments because it helps racial profiling and discrimination. A study suggested the
with retention as well as critical thinking. initiative’s investigations may have caused valuable re-

78 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2026