Posted by admin on February 6th, 2010 in College, Education
About two-thirds of incoming college freshmen have said they had “some” or “major” concerns about their ability to pay for their education. John H. Pryor, director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA says, “We expected that, given what we were seeing last year in the economy, we would see some significant changes in how finances were impacting people’s ability to pay but what was more surprising was that it goes beyond just that into other areas.”
The Survey
The survey, which has been conducted for 44 years, asked about 220,000 incoming students at 297 campuses questions on everything from beer drinking habits and religious and political preferences to anticipated major and life goals. Here are some of the results:
- the number of students who had 1 or more parents un-employed was at it’s highest since 1979
- fewer students reported working as high school seniors
- were more likely to weigh financial factors in choosing a college (41% said the cost of their school was very important reason for choosing it)
- 44% said the offer of financial aid was very important reason for attending
- factor most often cited for choosing a school wast that its graduates got good jobs (56%) Continue reading this post…
Posted by admin on February 4th, 2010 in Travel
Image by djwhelan via Flickr
Have you ever packed for a ski trip and forgotten someone’s ski jacket? That happened to us one year, and the ski jacket was mine. We had to turn around and drive back home to get it, adding an extra hour on to an already long 18 hour drive. Packing for a family can be complicated. Packing for an “action/adventure” vacation for a family can be even MORE complicated. I’ve learned a few tricks over the years that might prove helpful to someone. The obvious “help” for parents of teens is the fact that technically we have children who are old enough to pack their OWN bags and be responsible for their OWN gear. Continue reading this post…
Posted by admin on February 2nd, 2010 in Communication, Education
Image via Wikipedia
According to a recent article in the New York Times, thousands of public schools have stopped teaching foreign languages in the last decade. Chinese classes on the other hand have increased. It seems the Chinese government is sending teachers from China to schools around the world and are paying part of their salaries.
We Don’t Value Languages
Americans know fewer foreign languages than our counter-parts in other rich nations of the world. When we lived overseas I realized just how little we value languages in the U.S. For instance, in Switzerland, it’s common for kids to grow up speaking 2-3 languages – sometimes 4 or 5. Granted they are surrounded by the countries that speak the other languages but it’s not just that. There is a fundamental desire by most Europeans to speak multiple languages in order to communicate in business or simply while on vacation.
According to a recent government survey, almost 1,600 American public and private schools are teaching Chinese, up from 300 or so a decade ago. In the 1980’s there was a spurt of interest in Japanese but thousands have dropped that language, the survey found. Additionally, French, German and Russian are declining. Parents, students and educators are recognizing China’s emergence and believe fluency can open opportunities.
Really?
I question if this is achievable. For one thing, the language is very, very difficult and takes many years of solid study to be even functionally literate. There is also the issue of dialects. The dialect spoken in Shanghai is very different from the one spoken in Beijing. So although it’s a noble goal, I think kids are better off learning a language they can either stick to for multiple years or at least learn a language they can practice and use frequently at home.
How many kids in Middle America are going to become fluent in Mandarin and use that to be marketable? If exposure to the language is the goal, I guess that’s acceptable as long as parents and teens are realistic as to the trade-offs. If we’re trading away other languages that perhaps they could actually USE in every day life (Spanish almost everywhere and French in the states bordering Canada) I don’t think it’s a good idea. Just because it’s subsidized doesn’t mean it’s a practical alternative for our kids. Obviously one article doesn’t make me an expert so I’d like to read more on the subject. If any of you have experience with this, I’d be interested in hearing about it.
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