“
We’ve been hearing a lot about the war on women, which is real enough. But there’s also a war on the young, which is just as real even if it’s better disguised. And it’s doing immense harm, not just to the young, but to the nation’s future.
Let’s start with some advice Mitt Romney gave to college students during an appearance last week. After denouncing President Obama’s “divisiveness,” the candidate told his audience, “Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”
The first thing you notice here is, of course, the Romney touch — the distinctive lack of empathy for those who weren’t born into affluent families, who can’t rely on the Bank of Mom and Dad to finance their ambitions. But the rest of the remark is just as bad in its own way.
I mean, “get the education”? And pay for it how? Tuition at public colleges and universities has soared, in part thanks to sharp reductions in state aid. Mr. Romney isn’t proposing anything that would fix that; he is, however, a strong supporter of the Ryan budget plan, which would drastically cut federal student aid, causing roughly a million students to lose their Pell grants.
So how, exactly, are young people from cash-strapped families supposed to “get the education”? Back in March Mr. Romney had the answer: Find the college “that has a little lower price where you can get a good education.” Good luck with that. But I guess it’s divisive to point out that Mr. Romney’s prescriptions are useless for Americans who weren’t born with his advantages.
… What should we do to help America’s young? Basically, the opposite of what Mr. Romney and his friends want. We should be expanding student aid, not slashing it. And we should reverse the de facto austerity policies that are holding back the U.S. economy — the unprecedented cutbacks at the state and local level, which have been hitting education especially hard.
Yes, such a policy reversal would cost money. But refusing to spend that money is foolish and shortsighted even in purely fiscal terms. Remember, the young aren’t just America’s future; they’re the future of the tax base, too.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste; wasting the minds of a whole generation is even more terrible. Let’s stop doing it.
” —Paul Krugman, The New York Times, “Wasting Our Minds.”
Go read the whole damned thing.
(via inothernews)
(via sarahjenness)
At an urban L.A. school, nature grows — and test scores too
Hopeful story from LATimes: At an urban L.A. school, nature grows — and test scores too
“At Leo Politi Elementary, workers ripped out concrete and planted native flora. The plants attracted insects, which attracted birds, which attracted students, who, fascinated by the nature unfolding before them, learned so much that their science test scores rose sixfold.”
What a great story to wake up to! Read the rest, here.
Seriously, this was our favorite story yesterday.
“A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies - just to make a difference. Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn.” — President Obama (via apsies)
(via apsies)
“It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works—that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.” — Carl Sagan (via brightthings)
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As many as 15 percent of freshmen at America’s top schools are white students who failed to meet their university’s minimum standards for admission, according to Peter Schmidt, deputy editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education. These kids are “people with a long-standing relationship with the university,” or in other words, the children of faculty, wealthy alumni and politicians.
According to Schmidt, these unqualified but privileged kids are nearly twice as common on top campuses as Black and Latino students who had benefited from affirmative action.
” —Ten myths about affirmative action (via linzyxxxxx)
well well well look at that.
(via piddlebucket)
OH HEY
OH HEY COLLEGE REPUBLICANS/YAF
OH HEY WOULD YA LOOK AT THIS
(via viviopsis)
telling everyone everywhere.
HEY LOOK AT THIS
(via wateroftheclearestblue)
how predictable… :/
(via feministdisney)
(Source: sociolab, via marierantoinette)
The First Grader is based on a true story about an 84-year-old Kenyan who fights to attend school for the first time.
For every trailer viewing on YouTube, Capella University will donate $.50* to the following organizations to expand learning opportunities worldwide: Reading Is Fundamental, South Sudan Institute, and Kakenya Center for Excellence.
Watch as many times as you can, and share with friends and family — let’s get to 100,000 views together!
*Contribution maximum is $50,000.
Fox News: California’s LGBT Education Bill Is Lying Propaganda
Those gays and their agenda, destroying the normal way of teaching history the way it happened: by white heterosexual men only.
Yep. And oh ho ho Mr. Tucker, don’t you DARE try to turn this around and say that this is frivolous for focusing on sexual preference. Just implying that gay history=OMG SEX LIFE GAY SEX I DON’T WANNA HEAR is bullshit in and of itself.
I guess we’re oppressing the straight white man yet again. Oops~
Ugh, Fox News. And Tucker Carlson…just…get out. I can’t talk about this.
(Source: youtube.com)
If you’re going to have Michelle Rhee speak at AU and put her on a panel, please make sure the other panelists are qualified to be there.
I like people, places, things, and Daniel Radcliffe in sweaters.
