League of Education Funding Voters | Education supporters swap stories, news articles, and resources

You never go wrong with engineering

Another attempt to make majoring in something like engineering sexy!

Finance and business are way more appealing for a job seeker and even for a student who is currently in high school. I have been in the same situation, but if you really look at the profiles of a lot of the people who make money at the top and what it takes to even succeed in finance, an engineering background is so unbelievably useful.

Recently, it has been the story of major start-up successes with the upcoming IPOs of tech companies like Facebook and other noteworthy success stories like Instagram. The thing is you can get the prestigious engineering major which will drastically change your way of thinking and still get into finance/investment banking by being great at networking or breaking into either a boutique investment bank or a brokerage firm.

The reason I am putting this up here in this post is because it was something I never really had when I was deciding what to major in and how it will translate to industry.

Another tip that I want to share with you and I have chosen a separate line to do this because it is that important. Try to look and see what the PhD courses are and prepare yourself accordingly. The earlier you do this and I am talking about even as early as your freshman year in high school, the better it will be when it comes to how fast you can succeed and also getting more bang for your buck in college.

Additionally, the engineering degree gives you much wanted strong technical skills too!

My husband is not our principal

Our homeschooling is a family partnership, not a hierarchy.

Being a homeschooler makes you run across some pretty crazy things sometimes. No, it’s not all stereotypes—pasty-faced, sun-deprived children who kneel on rice to memorize times tables; in fact, it’s quite the opposite, with much more freedom, travel, joy, and equality between family members. Well, at least in my family, and in some of the families that I know.

But I also follow a few homeschooling blogs that seem a little weird to me—particularly the Catholic and general Christian ones, which is no surprise, since zombie worshipers seem weird to me anyway. Whatever gets you through the night—just don’t force it down my throat (or my kid’s). This practice, though, where the mother is the teacher and the father is the principal—it’s just weird and sort of creepy and completely and totally misogynistic to me. Aside from the entire fact that it’s putting his power over his wife’s (and child’s), it’s also against the very reason I—and many other families—homeschool in the first place.

Why is the dad the principal? Because he’s the head of the household in these families? I guess if you are breeding 15 kids you might need somebody to run the administrative and disciplinary sides of things, but most of the families that I know—mine included—feel that the absence of such hierarchy is a boon, just another one of hundreds of good reasons to homeschool.

In fact, many of us don’t even like to be called teachers, though that is indeed what we do—sometimes. We feel more like facilitators, especially us unschoolers, and we don’t need these traditional power-filled roles to break our children with and intimidate them with. No; it is our intention, instead, to fulfill the role of parent—to provide them with love and safety, a place where they can feel free to make mistakes, experiment, and learn without the threat of punishment or grades. Later life is for that; young learning is for trial and error. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have so many gifts that so many inventive homeschoolers—from Einstein to Edison—provided us with in the first place.

No, my husband is no principal. He and I are partners in learning—as is our child. It’s her life, after all; why should she be separate from her own development, dreams, and learning? Like one of my unschooler friends says, why even remove them from the public system if you’re only going to copy the paradigm at home on a smaller level? Administrators have always felt like rather power hungry people to me (even the more benign ones); parents embarking on the same mission with their own kids is even worse.

My experiences with education

This post is from the heart

Education is very important as it increases the human capital at the disposal of a country. In this post, I want to talk about some mistakes that I made when I went about selecting my major and how you can learn from my experiences.

The most important thing that Americans need to do with their kids is to try and expose them to a wide range of subjects and ideas from an early age. Teachers also have to be very encouraging and I think this is something that PARENTS should take note off. Just because one teacher feels that your son or daughter is no good at chemistry, it should not deter you from encouraging your child to continue to study the subject.

One bad grade really doesn’t mean anything and should not make a student fearful of a certain subject. The Harvard Mathematics website itself states that they are willing to accept students even if they may have performed poorly in a few math courses as long as they showed some remarkable improvement. Usually, if you keep working on something whether it may be math or history for that matter, you will tend to see huge gains. Trust me, I know from experience.

I think a degree in engineering, math or computer science should be really encouraged these days. In other words, STEM degrees have to be pursued by Americans as it is increasingly the case that even top business schools prefer those from a non-business background. Business majors are held to a higher standard when applying to schools like Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

I feel the problem is people tend to fear taking engineering or math courses as they may not do as well as in a business course that most people feel is easier. But I have done a lot of research on firms and how they hire and I truly believe that a chemical engineering degree with a 3.3 cumulative GPA is perceived to be far better than say an economics degree with a 3.8 GPA.

More Homework Supposedly Equals Better “School Results”

But what ARE school results?

I am a big homework hater. I did hours a night growing up, as my fellow straight-A overachiever students did. We all played the game and did a bunch of boring busywork and memorized a bunch of things just to forget them later (after the test, of course!) because our teachers told us to, not because we wanted to learn anything. No, if that happened, we were often discouraged, since it wasn’t on the test, or we didn’t have enough time to cover that, etc.

Homework made me pretty sedentary. I went from a softball playing teen to an on-my-butt teen in all AP courses, doing about five or six hours of homework a night. Most of this homework had nothing to do with what I do in my life today—nor does it have anything to do with what MOST people do in their lives, their work, their families, either. I gained 60 pounds the same year I started taking all AP courses, and I completely stopped playing sports. An already round kid, I was suddenly in need of new clothing, too.

That’s not the only reason I hate homework, though. As most studies can tell you, homework has not proven to have any positive results for children in the primary or elementary grades—and such minimal positive results in high school grades that it still doesn’t bear repeating. And yet we don’t just keep prescribing it like an ineffective medication; we demand more on our kids. And when they can’t sit still, or get tired, or get obese, or otherwise suffer from their lack of play and their lack of outdoor stimulation, we medicate them or demand government interaction—and, of course, more homework.

Does anyone else not see how messed up this is?!

Despite the links I posted in the previous paragraph, a new study (released by the Department of Education, which means it’s totally not biased at alllll) is claiming that a minimum of two hours of homework a night is now linked to supposed “benefits,” or “better school results.” After reading the article, I still don't know what they mean by "better school results." Behavior in class? Understanding of the subject material? Creativity and critical thinking with the subject? Or grades?

None of these, of course, directly relate to a person’s success—whether in career, love, life, or anything important to him or her—or general happiness or future at all.

School results themselves are not enough to support assigning homework. That’s like saying we are going to put you through military boot camp even though you aren’t going into the military because boot camp produces better military results. Your school career ends after your senior year (unless you go to college, which is considerably different); is being good at school for the first decade of your life or so really worth ten to twenty hours of your childhood being squandered on meaningless worksheets every week?

I’d like to see a study that shows how A. successful (by personal definition rather than one set by the Department of Education, the government, or the media) and B. happy people are ten years after they graduate and to compare that with not only how much homework they did or did not have, but also with how much playtime they had, how much outdoor play they were allowed, how they were encouraged to follow their own interests, and whether or no they were drugged as children. I couldn’t see a school taking on this study, but if it were miraculously financed and produced, I think the results would make us turn our backs on homework for good.

International students foot the bill for higher education

International student are coming from far and farther to study in America and in the process footing much of the bill for in state residents.

At the University of Washington alone (Seattle campus), the freshman class is comprised of approximately 11 percent Chinese students. In total, about 18 percent of the freshman class are international students. Each of these students pays about 28,059 dollars for tuition, which is about three times as much as Washington residents pay for the same education. With international students paying these exorbitant prices tuition costs, they are basically funding low-income residents to receive free tuition, says Dean of Admissions, Phillip Ballinger.

UW and other schools around the country are looking to attract students from abroad to attend their schools. As state budgets continue to be slashed and many funds lost, which would have been used to aid higher education institutions, these prospective international students have become dollar signs in the eyes of college admissions. Now, admissions seem to be courting foreign students more than out-of-state residents.

Michael Young, President of the University of Washington has stated that there are now more foreign students enrolled in undergraduate at the UW than students from other states. Both the president and dean of admissions at the UW feel that with America’s heavy reliance on China (as they hold all of our debt), attracting Chinese students to come study and pay tuition is one means of getting some our money back.

Each year, international students, from China and elsewhere, add an additional 21 billion dollars to our national economy. Here alone in Washington state, international students contribute 463 million dollars.

When I enrolled in the UW in 2006, about 2 percent of the freshman demographics were made up of international students. Since then the numbers have risen significantly. It’s not only institutions of higher education on the west coast that attract students around the world. In Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, they’ve reported that nearly 10 percent of their freshman classes this year were students from other countries.

Take China alone. 5 years ago, the number of Chinese students was around 10,000 in the entire US. Now around 57,000 Chinese study in America.

Although the rigor of secondary schools in China and other countries, and their students’ performance continues to surpass our own performance rates here in the states, our higher education institutions remain some of the best, if not the most expensive in the world, drawing thousands to study abroad in America.

Arne Duncan announces new competition targeting teachers

Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced on Wednesday that a new “Race To The Top” style competition is being proposed in Congress and is directed at increasing teacher quality and overall performance.

The new 5 billion dollar program is a part of the new budget proposal Obama submitted to Congress this past Monday, February 13th. The administration’s proposed competition will target teachers and require states and districts to compete for the grant money which can be used to increase teacher’s salaries, provide bonuses and compensation for teachers that perform well or indicate progress, and is also targeting colleges and programs that educate future teachers.

Although the overall budget proposal that Obama introduced to the House earlier in the week is a long shot in a Republic controlled House, many are still hopeful that a new program geared toward improving education in America will not be looked over. Obama’s last initiative, Race To The Top has already given some 5 billion dollars in grants to states who have adopted and implemented administration approved changes in their school districts.

Secretary Duncan has stated time and again that almost one million baby boomer teachers will be retiring here in the near future, leaving many jobs open for younger and high performing educators. If approved, the proposed competition would target teachers already working by using methods that increase their performance and motivate them to progress their teaching methods. As for future teachers, the program will help fund training and recruitment programs that attract young and dedicated educators.

Economists Say Next Debt Crash Could Be From Student Loan Debt

There's little relief for borrowers, even after bankruptcy.

In 2008, the house of cards that was the mortgage-backed securities imploded, sending the U.S. (and most of the rest of the globe) into an economic recession. This was a result of sub-prime mortgages and other mortgage-related financial products that were too volatile, and when the debt caught up to people, they simply stopped paying. What has many economists more worried than the present mortgage swamp? Student loans. Student loan debt is now worth $1 trillion nationally, but does not allow for the same kinds of releases that other debt does. This makes student loan debt, in the words of some economists, a ticking time bomb.

In fact, William brewer, president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, told US News, "Take it from those of us on the frontline of economic distress in America: This could very well be the next debt bomb for the U.S. economy,” comparing it to the debt threat that mortgages imposed only several years ago. This crisis is made worse by the fact that in an economic downturn many people, particularly those that are unemployed, turn to furthering their education as a way of making more money or getting back into the workforce. With that extra education comes more student load debt, sometimes at startlingly high interest rates. In addition, many traditional college students (those that have recently left high school) are bringing their parents, who co-signed on their loan, into their debt woes. The recent graduates struggle to find work, and their parents are on the hook for the balance in the meantime.

One of the major problems with student loans is that they are not relieved in the same way as many other kinds of debt. Bankruptcy courts can only deal with student loan owners that have met with “undue hardship”, which is the only provision that may relieve some of the debt burden. In the meantime, parents that are saddled with their kids debt, as well as other kinds of credit debt (including mortgages) are less able to pay back and more likely to go into default. This could have serious ripples in an economy that just now seems to be getting back on its feet.

John Rao, and attorney of the National Consumer Law Center, told US News that there has to be some “common sense” reforms within the legal system that will allow some of the over-burdened student loan owners to lighten the burden. Deferments, which have been a common release valve in the past, still accrue interest and make the burden even more difficult to pay back later on. Instead, there need to be more extenuating circumstances included within the law that allows recipients to lower their payment, forgive some of the loan amount, or file bankruptcy under leaner restrictions. Roa points out, "We need to make some common sense reforms, something like creating an escape valve to relieve some of the pressure before the whole thing blows sky high.”

Know the F.A.S.T. act and vote on it.

Write your state senators today and ask them to vote yes on bill 1597. the Fix America’s Schools Today Act.

So far the F.A.S.T. act is being referred to a committee and has a long journey through the Senate and House before it can be signed by Obama. However, now is the time to write your senators and implore them to pass this bill.

The F.A.S.T act would provide additional funding for the repair, renovation, and modernization of elementary secondary public schools as well as community colleges through the United States. Our children must have the opportunity to learn in environments that are healthy and conducive to their learning.

Also, in this great recession the bill could really help people searching for work secure jobs and boost our economy. The senate bill would provide schools, K-12 and community colleges 30 billion dollars for modernization efforts. Five billion dollars of this will be distributed to community colleges in the country based on a given state’s student enrollment. This money will help colleges add additional space which allows more students to enroll into trade and training programs, thus providing knowledge and skills to future workers.

It is stated that one of the best ways to protect yourself against an economic hardship is to have a college education. Last month we found out that the nation’s unemployment rate had dropped from nine to 8.6 percent which is a light at the end of the tunnel but still not the end of tough times. However, it was also reported that people that held college degrees had an unemployment rate of only 4.4 percent. Now that’s a promising figure.

If we can get the F.A.S.T act passed it means better quality schools for our children and a better chance for those out of work to get a college degree (even an Associate’s degree) which offers a better future for us all.

Urge your members of congress to pass this bill here.

The Sanctity Of Athletic Programs To Low-Performing Schools

..and why they insist on maintaining sports despite the threat of closure.

A recent story in The Atlantic highlights the plight of a small rural school district among the threat of school “reorganization” rules. For many rural communities around the country the school is a kind of nexus; providing jobs, an identity, even a weekend’s entertainment in the form of athletic events. However, far too often state mandates require that low performing schools be closed or consolidated to provide their students with a better education. This begs the question, “What is more damaging to a student’s chances; the loss of academic opportunities, or the loss of their community?”

According to the rules laid down in the No Child Left Behind Act, persistently low performing schools face closure and “reorganization”. Texas’ Premont Independent School District, the superintendent is faced with the possible closure of his school due to low student achievement. The school serves the 2,700 residents of Premont, Texas, and as Frank DaVilla, the county constable and SRO told AP reporter Christopher Sherman, “The school shuts down in this town, the town dies... This is all we have." In an effort to save the school, and possibly the community, the superintendent has decided to cancel all athletic programs, which will save about $150,000 annually (a significant chunk of their $400,000 total operating budget). By devoting this money entirely to academics, the district hopes to raise student achievement in time to prevent the school’s closure.

What struck me as odd is that many of the state and local officials opined the loss of the athletic programs (though acknowledging the necessity in this extreme case). In many such situations, however, athletics programs seem to guide the decision-making process. In one such case in Iowa, several small towns were forced to consolidate for both financial purposes. However, rather than relocating two under-performing schools to the third, which had the highest student achievement rates in the area, the communities voted to relocate to the school with the strongest football program.

As communities are forced to make fundamental decisions about their purpose, their importance in the community, and their continuing existence, why are athletic programs considered such a sacred cow? There’s no question that athletic programs teach students values in teamwork, community, and leadership. However, if the school’s very existence is in jeopardy, as it is in Premont, Texas, shouldn’t they be cut? Fine arts programs, clubs, and other extra-curricular activities have seen major cuts from financially strapped schools, yet athletic programs often persist to the end. It’s a misallocation of a struggling community’s resources to think that it’s the football team, or the baseball team, that is holding the community together, and not the school itself. At least in Premont, the superintendent seems to understand that.

Know the new 2012 education funding bill

At the end of 2011 our politicians finally got together and passed something productive. The education funding bill for the fiscal year of 2012 covers quite a bit but of course some items were left unaddressed and remain at risk of being cut. Here are the highlights of the 2012 funding bill and what is left to be resolved.

Here’s what will happen:

There will be small increases funding to grant programs like the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and Title I, which ensures that students with disabilities receive fair and equal education.
It will preserve the $5,550 (maximum) pell grant award and works to shore up the pell funding deficiencies
Ensures funding will continue to aid programs that improve schools like Promise Neighborhoods, and other valuable resources likes school counselors, literacy programs, arts, and institutions that serve minority students. These were all programs that would have been eliminated in a previous House bill.
Continues funding for Title II which offers recruiting and training programs for high quality educators and principals.
Rejects any House initiatives that aim at reducing or eliminating the rights of workers in the field of education.
Also, the bill blocks a House proposal that went against regulating federal financial aid. If financial aid and the institutions it goes to is not regulated, students would face the risk of graduating with lots of debt if their institution did not suitably prepare them for careers after college.

Although the funding bill that passed promises dollars to many programs in need, it didn’t go far enough. The Super Committee was unable to establish a deficit reduction deal automatically forces cuts that will go into effect January 1st 2013, unless we take action in 2012. If this goes into effect, billions will be cut from education. Along with cutting education programs and facilities, its projected that 71,000 jobs could be slashed in America. We have a year to take action, tell Congress to protect education, and avoid these debilitating cuts.

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