Liberal Arts in Low Times

For one of my current courses, called something to the effect of the History of 20th Century Policy in Higher Education, I read Our Underachieving Colleges by Derek Bok (2006). An article in The New York Times this week about the viability of humanities departments in economically challenging times quotes Bok. The article basically poses the question of whether students will major in humanities fields and what do those departments have to offer at a time when students need to find a job in a tight market. Bok wisely points out that the liberal arts do serve students who are career-oriented and that higher education is about more than the economy. This reminds me of the question Dr. Loss posed in class today, one that we all search to answer, “What is the purpose of undergraduate education?”

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

Mid-terms here already?

It seems like I was just skiing in Colorado over the New Year, and now, the sun is beginning to peak through the dark winter skies, bringing a hint of warmth with it. So what does this symbolize? Ah- the emerging arrival of Spring and mid-terms. As grad school progresses, my nervousness and anxiety about exams decreases. I find this most likely be the result of working more closely with clients and getting more real-world experience. In essence, as school progresses, the academic portion reveals itself as not being the only aspect of school that is important. For many HDC students, they will go directly into the field of counseling after receiving their masters degrees at Peabody. Experience is sometimes valued equally, if not, higher than exam taking. Although I think both academic learning and practical experiences within school are equally important, I happen to be one of the few students who are going forward into a doctoral program; therefore I happen to enjoy the academic and research-based part. But again, the tension that usually accompanies exams has diminished for me as my program has moved forward, and I account the change to the increase in contact with clients and my own maturing development.

-Kristina DePue

United States Department of Education

 

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

I just read Arne Dunca’s biography.  *sigh*  Helping his mother tutor when he was a teenager helped him understand the struggles of urban education.  *double sigh* Click here to read.

Oh well.  I was kind of hoping against hope that there would be an actual teacher in there.  As far as I have been able to determine (please correct me if I am wrong) there has only been one secretary of education that served in a public K-12 classroom.  Two served some time teaching in universities before taking on the post.  The rest were politicians, lawyers, educational analysts, etc.  Since the Department of Education oversees higher education, I can take the two with university experience.  The rest, well, maybe I’m wrong, but it just doesn’t seem like the best idea.

For example, would we put someone in as the secretary of labor who had never worked?  Or secretary of energy who didn’t believe in using electricity?  What about a secretary of state who has never traveled overseas?  It just seems that the people who are in CHARGE of making decision, policies, etc, should have some experience in that area.  Not experience overseeing other things – but actual experience doing that which they are about to control.

When Spellings was in charge, I looked through the bios of all the people who worked in the department of education.  One had a teaching credential, but had never used it.  I found two others who listed teaching as something they had done.  One had been a life-long educator, moving up into administration, etc.  The rest had jobs as political activists, speech writers, etc.

I’m not saying those people don’t have really great ideas.  I’m not saying there aren’t plenty of jobs in the Department of Education that require absolutely no teaching experience to do.  I am saying two things that when people are making policies that affect the teaching that is happening in the classroom, I think those people ought to have had some experience.  

To be fair, the Department of Education has started a neat fellowship program where they pay teachers to be kind of like a think tank.  The Teaching Ambassador Fellowship is actually accepting applications right now.  If you are interested, be sure to click here and apply before March 16th.  

Perhaps that will be the best way to combine the expertise of navigating the red tape that bureaucrats have with the expertise teachers can bring to the table.  As for me, I am going to be crossing my fingers that the empty slots in the Department of Education waiting for appointments will include more than four educators.

-Ted Murcray

Bass Fishing: The Next Big Collegiate Sport?

I will preface this entry by admitting two areas of extreme bias that I have on this issue. First, I love fishing of all sorts. I’d rather fish than play golf or hunt, which is saying a lot for me. Second, the individual in charge of the program I am about to highlight is a good friend of mine from college. There, I have disclosed any areas of bias I may have, so now for the results of my research: bass fishing is cool…and it may be coming to a college near you.

FLW Outdoors has recently developed a tour called College Fishing, which is sponsored by the National Guard. The College Fishing tour allows for college and university students to develop club teams at their respective institutions and compete on the regional and national levels, just like the pros in all the other FLW Tour options, except that the College Fishing tour is essentially free for students. Travel allowances are awarded, boats are provided, and the tournaments offer prize money that can go back to the club team AND their associated institution’s scholarship fund. Students interested in competing just need to develop a club team that will fall under official college or university guidelines for a student club, buy some fishing tackle, and hit the lake. The national winners of the College Fishing tour are even invited to compete in the $2.5 Forrest Wood Cup in 2010.

The primary purpose behind the College Fishing tour is to help FLW grow the sport of bass fishing within the ranks of college aged students. I believe this is a good first step towards doing that. The program allows for students to represent their college or university on a national level, doing something that they probably would have done in their spare time anyway. If you love to fish, you fish as much as you can, even if there is no chance of winning anything. The FLW College Fishing program will allow students to compete in a sport that they enjoy, and offers benefits for all parties involved.

If you read this and know of college students that might be interested in competitive fishing at the collegiate level, send them to the FLW websites hyperlinked above. I only wish that something like this would have been around when I was in college. Then, I could have classified all those afternoons I spent fishing instead of studying as “practice.”

- Landon C. Clark

There are no missing objects…only unsystematic searches

If you have ever misplaced your:
 
Keys
Wallet
Cell phone
 
then this blog post is a must-read for you
 
What I’m about to tell you will change your life. If each word of this posting were valued at the current rate of gold per ounce (as of the close of market today, it was trading at $1,002.20); this blog would be priceless!
 
In the span of a lifetime, all people will misplace something with most people routinely losing items…Sadly, I reside in both categories.
 
Very recently, I’ve just lost something so very significant – I’ve lost my USB thumb drive
 
There, I’ve said it. I’m so embarrassed, anxious, lost. Personal files, files for class, multiple posts I was working on for Peabloggy. Gone. I’m completely crest-fallen and have been despondent for some time now. Any graduate student on the planet knows what I’m talking about (It will definitely cheer me up if you post a consoling comment, a story of something you once lost, or a tip you routinely employ for finding lost objects – thanks guys!). 
 
Naturally, I turned to the internet for helpful tips and strategies on how I might remedy this problem.

 

I will share that valuable information with you here:

Strategies for discovery. First thing’s first – here’s a gem on “how to find lost objects“.  Be sure to watch the instructional video.

Strategies for the minimization of vulnerable dossier. After exhausting multiple strategic searches, with no success, I focused my attention instead on finding reliable ways to avoid this type of situation in the future. Again, the internet dazzled and charmed. Most folks are familiar with Google Docs; the recent enhancements are noticeable but the functionality still seems a little crude. A couple of good options for comprehensive data storage are Evernote and Google Notebook. The most noteworthy thing about Evernote (sorry for the pun) is that it allows for the saving of multiple forms of media (scans of documents, webpages, photos, etc) through multiple means (apparently you can text or email your items to the site to be stored) and easy filing options. Google Notebook is what I’m currently using. There’s a nice labeling option and sharing capabilities – great for file management as well as collaborative projects.  I’m in technology heaven!

 

If you know of any other great archiving tips, please share them. If you’ve found my USB thumb drive, please contact me. And, if you’ve noticed my misuse of the word “dossier”, please don’t call me out – I was pretty excited about using that word.
 

 -April L. Mollerberg

President Helps. . .Uses Hurtful Language

Really, President Obama? Perhaps before speaking in public you ought to ask your speech writers to think carefully about the words they are putting into your mouth. Maybe a few interviews with real people who have been really hurt by the economic crisis would steer you clear of judgmental and angry words.

In revealing his new housing plan today, Obama said, “”[The plan] will not reward folks who bought homes they knew from the beginning they would never be able to afford,” said Obama. “In short, this plan will not save every home.” (taken from CNN Money article. To view, click here.) By lumping these two statements together, the implication is that those whose homes will not be saved are somehow “irresponsible” (word taken directly from the story.)

“Who’s not eligible. Homeowners whose property values have dipped severely, putting them underwater by more than 5% are out of luck.” Are you kidding? Have you been to California? That’s everyone! Fortunately I sold my home in California a year ago this month. Since that time the house has lost half of it’s value. P.S. It had already lost 30% of it’s value at that time. Are you saying that the person who bought my home, who made a great deal buying something listed at 60% of it’s value, was irresponsible? If so, then you don’t know the half of what it was like and has continued to be like in economies like California’s.

For several years the price of houses skyrocketed so quickly that many families were left renting because they simply could not purchase anything. Even if we had been able to sell our home, we would have paid huge prices and higher taxes on anything else around us. Many people thought the rising prices would stop, so they waited to buy. Two and three years later, the prices of houses were still going up. Afraid they might get stuck not ever owning anything, they bought. In California. Not because they wanted the fancy house on the beach. Just because they wanted to not have to worry about their rent being raised several hundred dollars every year. These were the people who were told by banks they could afford it. And they could. And for a while everything looked fine. Prices were still going up. They felt like the got in just in time. And then – Wham!

Prices fell so quickly, we all felt like we were in freefall. Neighbors and friends started losing their houses, their jobs. It was a nightmare. Those of us who were lucky enough to get out still feel sick for those of our friends who are losing everything. Stuck completely upside down in mortgages $100,000 or $250,000 more than their homes are worth. Again, these people aren’t living the high life on the beach. They are living in two bedroom houses in the middle of the desert. They aren’t evil investors bent on making millions off the backs of taxpayers. They are teachers, police officers, and handymen who were caught in a market that did not favor renters and then bit those who bought.

I am offended and angry for these people, many of whom are personal friends of mine, who are consistently villainized by media hogs who spend little time examining the facts and plenty of time laying blame – calling these people greedy and irresponsible, without having a clue of what it’s like to live through that kind of rise and fall in the market. I find it reprehensible enough that I have to listen to hurtful language from those who do it to create ratings for their tv shows. I certainly do not expect to hear this kind of language from the leader of our country who was elected to represent us all.

I get that the housing bill can’t save everyone. I get that people underwater by huge amounts of money can’t be saved because it is not financially feasible. But instead of adding salt to the very real wounds they have, let’s say things like, “I’m sorry. I know your situation is rough, and I don’t see the solution to your problem either. But I want you to know that we care about you. We are putting plans together to try to help the economy, and we hope that will have a positive effect on your situation. Short of being able to do anything else for you, we are here to listen.” That’s all I can do as a friend. That’s what my President should do, too.

-Ted Murcray

The Stimulus Bill

As you may have heard on the news or read in the newspaper, President Obama signed the stimulus bill he had been championing since his inauguration. You may be asking: what’s in it for higher education? Below, I present the main points based on an article from CNN and one from MSNBC:

• American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $2,500 for people making less than $80,000/year
• Maximum Pell Grant increased by $500
• $200 million added to Work-Study

Money for K-12 education includes funds for Head Start, Early Head Start, special education, Title I, as well as billions of dollars to help school districts with challenges ranging from modernization to public safety.

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

Loan Forgiveness

Hi all! For anyone in the HDC program or thinking of entering into the counseling profession, Professor Andy Finch just sent this information out. Peabody has some amazing scholarships available for entering grad students, and there are always stipends for teaching assistants and research assistants. My point is that a good bit of your tuition can be funded without having to turn to student loans. But for those of us that still needed some extra assistance, there seems to be help coming our way. This information came out last year, but they seem to have added guidelines. Hope this is helpful!

Professional counselors who have incurred debt via federal student loans may qualify for certain new loan repayment and loan forgiveness programs. Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is a new way to make your federal student loan payments more manageable, starting in July 2009. Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a new program for federal student loan borrowers who work in certain kinds of jobs. It will forgive remaining debt after 10 years of eligible employment and qualifying loan payments. (During those 10 years, the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan can help keep your loan payments affordable.) Thirdly, professional school counselors working in certain low-income schools may be eligible for the “Loan Forgiveness for Service in Areas of National Need” program. Under this program, the federal government will forgive up to $2,000 in Federal Stafford Loan or Federal Direct Stafford Loan debt, for each school year or calendar year of full-time employment in area of national need, up to 5 years, for a maximum of $10,000 per eligible borrower.

Details…
http://www.ibrinfo.org/files/IBRinfo_brochure.pdf

 Also, ACA has published a document entitled: Student Loan Forgiveness Programs for Counselors (August 2008), which is available in the members-only area of the ACA website. Here’s that link: http://www.counseling.org/PublicPolicy/TP/ResourcesAndReports/CT2.aspx

-Kristina DePue

Rise in A.P. Exams

More students are taking Advanced Placement exams, but the majority of those students are white, according to an article in The New York Times. We have learned in our Ed.D. classes, including The College Student this semester, that gaps exist between white and African American students in terms of testing and access. Although, it is interesting that more Hispanic students are taking A.P. exams than are African Americans, according to the article.

Geographical differences also exist with fewer students passing A.P. exams in Louisiana and Mississippi. Perhaps there is a disconnect between what the students are learning at school and what the tests cover, I am not sure. Meanwhile, the percentage of low-income students taking A.P. tests actually increased slightly since last year, which is interesting because this group of students seems least likely to have access to information about the tests, transportation to the exam sites, and money to pay the testing fees. This is a great example of an article that ties directly into what we are learning in class.

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

Video-Game Schooling

I got a Wii a few months ago.  Wow!  That’s fun!  Besides being fun, it is a little addictive.  Well, at least the MarioKart portion is for me.  I love to race those cars.  So, I find out that the Wii can connect to the internet and I can play against people from all over the world.  This is awesome!  I hook myself up and promptly feel great about myself by smashing the competition from all over the United States and Europe.  (My wife says, Great, Ted!  11-year old boys all over the world are crying because of you.  You must feel great!)  Then up comes these two people from Japan.  They completely blow me out of the water.  As in, I don’t even get to finish the track because they finish more than 30 seconds in front of me.  How do I feel?  Humiliated!  Suddenly I don’t feel so great about myself.  Not that I stopped there, because I totally stayed up a few more hours trying to beat those two, but I couldn’t get close.  I was frustrated, and not sure that I wanted to return to the online world of entertainment.

How do kids feel when we place them in age-graded classrooms with peers who can knock the socks off of them in every subject area?  When everyone around them gets it, and they don’t even get to be part of the group because they are still working on remedial skills in front of all of their friends?  Humiliated?  Frustrated?  Ready to give up?

A school district in Colorado is looking to change that.  They are getting rid of grade-level classrooms and adopting a standards-based education on steroids.  Kids have to work to master a level before they can move on.  The superintendent likens it to video games because kids only have to stay on one level long enough to master it.  If it is easy for you – move on.  If it is hard for you – stay a while and make it work.  For more information, click here.

When I read this article tonight, it immediately made me think of my Wii experience because, like those races, we have been chasing the ghost of Japan’s educational system for years.  I wonder if we are ready to bite the bullet and do something drastic to catch up – like learn how to use the drift boost!  It would appear Adams 50 is ready.

-Ted Murcray