“Global Classrooms-Going Of To College For Less ( Passport Required)”

There has been a growing trend with college bound students going overseas to get their college education. This article in The New York Times (  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/education/01scotland.html?pagewanted=2&em) focused on the University of Edinburgh  and St. Andrews, both in Scotland. They are alluring to American students for many reasons, the major one probably being there is not as much red tape and administrative problems as there tends to be with colleges in the US.  “Scottish universities have a different approach from American institutions to education. Students apply to the department they wish to study in, and specialize from the beginning, with no requirement that they take courses in many different fields, as is generally the case in the United States.” Wow! Look at that! Scottish schools have figured out that college age kids actually do need a bit of directed guidance. They also have a seemingly much simpler admissions process. Its more straight forward, almost as expensive as the local college, and you get to experience a completely different country. American universities better start doing something to curb the desire of college bound students from fleeing to a foreign land.

“Drawing the Line on Drug Testing”

I found this article on The New York Times webpage.  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/nyregion/new-jersey/23Rparent.html?_r=1&ref=education

It is about random drug testing in school. I really dont know what to make of this. How can teachers complain about parents wanting them to raise their children for them? Isn’t this basically what a policy that gives schools the right to test students for drugs doing just that? Isn’t that a parents job to decide if they want to drug test their own children. And really, what good is that going to do? I guess maybe if I was a parent, I would want to know if my child was getting drunk before school, but I would hope that a drunk teen would be noticeable. If someone is under suspicion of using drugs, they probably are. I just don’t think it is wise for schools to start parenting their students even more than they already do. Parenting takes practice. That means mistakes will be made. So let them make their own mistakes. I think the reason that the Supreme Court passed the law saying that students could be drug tested was so that athletes wouldnt be taking performance enhancing drugs. Lets leave it at that, shall we?

“How Will Obama Help College Costs?”

This article, found on NPR’s Education webpage talks about the rising cost of college and what will or will not be done to help the problem of trying to afford a college education. It is a sad fact that education in this country is becoming less and less affordable. I was recently talking to a woman I know who went to school  in her native country, India. She has been living in the US for nearly 11 years and cannot believe how hard it is for people in this country to get a good education. She was baffled. Before she came to this country, she had the idea that education was most important to citizens. We were talking about the troubles that befall those seeking college degrees and she said something that struck me to my core. It was obvious to her that this country clearly didnt care about educating its future as much as it should. Her perception is that the difficulty associated with obtaining a degree is a direct reflection on the lack of concern people today have about becoming more educated. And really, I think she is right. At the end of the day, it is much easier to manipulate people that are uninformed than people that are. So what is Obama going to do? What can one man really do? We all just need to wake up and understand that the more you know, the more power you have.

For Two Pa. Teens, Two Paths To College

I heard this report on NPR’s All Things Considered show, and NPR found a transcript of it at npr.org. The segment followed the lives of two  college bound teens who had graduated from the same high school. They were interviewed at their high school graduations, and then were revisited every two months. Both of these kids had plans for going to college. Both had gone to an elite high school, and the girl had graduated 3rd in her class. However, she never made it to the college that had given her a 15,000 dollar scholarship. Her family couldnt come up with the 17,000 dollar balance. She was attending the local community college instead. What amazed me about the interview was how different her voice was from her interview at her high school graduation in May to the last interview in November. Her spirits were broken, and you could hear it in her voice. Here was a gir that wants to be a nurse and had worked so hard to get there that now was contemplating dropping out completely. The other student that they interviewed had actually reached his goal of going to college. He was happy and successfu; having the time of his life. In the end, the university that the boy attended offered the young lady a scholarship. She will be attending   4 year university in January. But it just makes me think about all the young students in similar situations that dont get the publicity of NPR behind them to help send them on their way. She was lucky and determined. Unfortunately there are many more young adults out there that dont have the wil to make college a reality.

“Why Johhny Can’t Write”

I came across this article at www.edarticle.com. It talked about the phenomena of students learning how to write creatively, but never learning how to write to fit a certain form.  When writing comes from the imagination, there are less parameters, less restrictions, and therefore more leeway for the writer. They don’t have to learn how to fulfill a certain requirement, so when they need to write an essay to fulfill an assignment they don’t know how to organize their thoughts to form a cohesive essay. What I found confusing about all this was the idea that imaginative and creative writing doesnt need form or rules. Writing a fairy tale well recquires a cohesive plot, adequate details, and a solid structure. Creative writing can absolutely transfer into more directed writing, students just have to be given the tools to be able to connect the writing style they know with a style that may be more intimidating to the students.

U.S schools’ foreign enrollments soar

USA Today published an article detailing the rise in exchange students US universities have seen in the most recent years. Enrollment of foreign students is up 10.1% since last year! That’s a large increase. And while I enjoy the idea that there is an increase in any kind of pursuit of higher education, this article left me wondering why it is more difficult for people in this country to go on to pursue a higher level of education than it is for people who come from other countries. Our weakened economy has made the cost of tuition more affordable. But honestly, no matter how you cut it, it is expensive for exchange students to come to school here. Maybe it is that they are willing to make the sacrifice. I mean, many of them have to travel far away from everything and everyone they know and love in order to acquire an education. They sacrifice and so they appreciate and hence work hard to succeed. The point in education is that it is a choice that each person has to make for themselves. If they dont want it, they cant hardly put down the people that risk all to get it. At the same time, I think it is time this country looks at the reasons why young minds of today might not place much value on obtaining a higher level of education. Could it be that we are a bit spoiled? Could it be that we take all our advantages for granted? Ill be the first to admit that I am guilty of not appreciating the quality of life that I have, and so I cant blame someone else for coming along and seizing an opportunity that I may have passed up.

“Combat to College”

I just read an article from the New York Times “Education Life” section titled “Combat to College” by Lizette Alvaraz ( http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/education/edlife/vets.html?_r=1&ref=edlife ). This article talked about the G.I. Bill and how it would help sent war veterans to college after they returned home from combat. This has always been an issue that I have been interested in. I wonder what all those kids that go off to war do when they have to come back home. How do  they deal with all that they have seen as they try to figure out where they will go next? It always seemed unfair to me that veterans were expected to come back home, and pick up where they left off before they left. As if they hadn’t just been in a place where death and fear constantly surrounded them.

To treat veterans with the same hands that one would treat a non veteran is shortsighted. Improvements in the system for the GI bill have been made so that veterans will have a better chance at affording a 4 year college as opposed to a 2 year community college.  Alvaraz notes thatmany colleges have started to raise their awareness about the differences that a veteran student may have as opposed to a non veteran.

I think all these steps are admirable, and can only help make the long road back to normalcy easier for a returning veteran, however, the point in this article that hit home for me was when Alvaraz writes, ” Veterans, for the most part, do not have an easy time getting into four-year colleges and universities, particularly selective private ones. Boredom or frustration with high school — often accompanied by mediocre transcripts and SAT scores — led many into the military in the first place.”

We can’t choose to ignore the fact that many people join the army because they are done with school. We make joining the military seem like a good alternative to getting an education. At the end of their time spent serving the country, are these soldiers all the sudden suppose to see college as the right path for them? Maybe if they wanted to got to college in the first place, they could have skipped the whole war thing all together. Im not saying I dont appreciate the military, but I feel that it abuses its soldiers, uses theit bodies as weapons, and then dumps them off and lets them fend for themselves back in the real world. It isnt fair, and it isnt right. The least the government can do is offer them a respectable education so that they can one day have children that will find an alternative to solving problems that doesnt involve going to war.

“For $40K, Consultant Gets Students Ivy-League Ready”

An article I found on NPR’s Education page talked about the help that students receive when applying to college. The subject of the article focused on a woman named Michelle Hernandez, who has made a career out of extensively helping students prepare to apply to college. Hernandez has used her experience as an admissions adviser,  to become a consultant for students who are focused on getting admitted into Ivy league schools. She charges $40k for the program that starts with 9th graders, and also offers a $14k, 4 day boot camp. Basically, Hernandez used her job as an academic adviser to gain knowledge about the admissions process and then quit so that she could disseminate this information to the masses for an exorbitant sum. I see multiple things wrong with this. First and foremost, this fee that she charges eliminates a majority of students from receiving her services. I think its good that she works to keep the student’s own voice in their essays, but how can she then promise a 90 to 100% acceptance rate then . I mean, lets face it, all students are not Harvard material. She claims that the students do everything, and that she just gives them guidance, but I find it hard to believe that for $40k she is simply holding their hand through the admissions process. What I wonder is how these kids feel once they have gotten into their Ivy league school, and realize that they did it on someone else’s back. I wonder if they ask themselves if they could have done it on their own, and then feel terrible when they realize they will never know the answer to that question.

“Amid Foreclosures, A Rise In Homeless Students”

Homelessness is a subject that is never pretty or easy to discuss. There is no cut and dry way to solve the problem, and multiple reasons for its existence. This article by NPR, at www.npr.org concentrated on the increasing affect homelessness is having on students. It brought the issue to a place I think many of us don’t think about often. We stereotype homeless people, and forget to realize that more and more families are becoming homeless every day. Kids that we see in schools on Monday might have had their house fall into foreclosure over the weekend and are now living in the family van. School might have just become the one safe place that student has in the world, and to think that these students are seen as a detriment to state tests as opposed to a child in need is appalling. Has the NO Child Left Behind Act warranted teachers to not only teach without creativity, but also with no compassion? It is a sad day for teaching when kids are seen more as test scores than human beings.

DPS superintendant

I just read an article in the Detroit Free Press about the “reprimanding” of the DPS superindentant Connie Calloway. It was a brief article, apparently the Detroit school system isnt that much of a big deal to the city, but I thought what was most interesting is that her punishment was that she wouldnt be getting a 30,000 bonus to add to her 280,000 yearly salary. How is it possible that someone who has, by most accounts failed at her job, be able to still be gainfully employed? I believe things can change for DPS, but not if they continue rewarding people for failing to do their job at even a satisfactory level.