Student Occupiers: It's the Debt, Stupid
College students have, to some extent, always been poor and hungry. But in the past few years, undergrads' plight has become truly dire. It's not hard to see why the Occupy Wall Street movement has struck a chord on campuses. Just check out these stats: Unemployment among college grads is twice what it was in 2007. An analysis by The New York Times of Labor Department data about college graduates aged 25 to 34 found that the number of these workers employed in food service, restaurants and bars had risen 17 percent in 2009 from 2008, though the sample size was small. Earlier this week, students from an OWS offshoot called Occuppy Student Debt pledged to refuse to pay back their student loans. I was one of those kids who always pushed hard and dreamed big. More stats on the dire financial straits of America's college students: Sticker Shock Average tuition (in $ thousands) at private and public colleges has climbed steadily over the last decade: Deeper in Debt School vs.
Google investeert in talent
14 december 2011 - Google schenkt 750.000 dollar aan het Platform Bèta Techniek. Nooit eerder gaf een bedrijf zo'n groot bedrag. Het geld gaat naar Eerst de Klas wiskundedocenten en betatech-studiesucces en -keuze acties. "Bedrijven zitten nu al te springen om jongeren met een technische opleiding en dat wordt in de toekomst alleen maar meer. Google laat met de gift zien een vooruitziende blik te hebben." Marja van Bijsterveldt is daarom zeer te spreken over de investering die Google doet in onder meer haar initiatief uit de vorige kabinetsperiode, Eerst de Klas. Taak weggelegd voor Google Het geld gaat ingezet worden om meer jongeren te interesseren voor vooral wiskunde en informatica. "Vanwege de toenemende rol van technologie in onze samenleving zal het aantal vacatures op het gebied van informatica, technologie en wiskunde blijven groeien. Vier op de tien "Nederland dient het belang van bètatechniek scherp in beeld te houden.
WP: A primer on corporate school reform - The Answer Sheet
This is an edited version of a commentary given by Stan Karp, a teacher of English and journalism in Paterson, N.J., for 30 years. Karp spoke on Oct. 1 at the fourth annual Northwest Teachers for Justice conference in Seattle. He is now the director of the Secondary Reform Project for New Jersey’s Education Law Center and an editor of the 25-year-old Rethinking Schools magazine. A video and fuller version of the commentary can be found here. By Stan Karp “Corporate education reform” refers to a specific set of policy proposals currently driving education policy at the state and federal level. *increased test-based evaluation of students, teachers, and schools of education *elimination or weakening of tenure and seniority rights *an end to pay for experience or advanced degrees *closing schools deemed low performing and their replacement by publicly funded, but privately run charters *vouchers and tax credit subsidies for private school tuition Or take the issue of poverty.
scienceguide: Verbind onderwijs met bedrijfsleven
23 januari 2012 - Het leraarschap heeft onder academici vaak geen goede naam. Dat is aan het veranderen, aldus ScienceGuide-student van 2011 én leraar filosofie Simon Verwer. Hij pleit voor een sterkere band tussen onderwijs en bedrijfsleven, zoals in het succes van 'zijn' Eerst de Klas’. Het in 2009 gestarte Eerst de Klas-traject van OCW is een succes. En dus wordt het stevig uitgebreid. Alumnus van het eerste uur uit dit project analyseert Simon Verwer nu waarom dit aanslaat en weet bij te dragen aan een nieuwe blik op en een nieuwe sfeer rond het docentschap als loopbaan. Leraarschap als roeping is achterhaald "Dat het onderwijs in Nederland de komende jaren voor grote uitdagingen staat, is genoegzaam bekend. Het traject 'Eerst de klas' slaat een brug tussen onderwijs en bedrijfsleven, zoals ook in Amerika 'Teach for America' en in Groot-Brittannië 'Teach First' een groot succes zijn. Overtuigend 'ja' Verbind startende leraren met elkaar
Dylan Ratigan: Americans Under 35: Going Broke Trying to Become Middle Class?
It’s a look at our nation’s future through the eyes of the folks who have to make it work for the next 50 years — Americans under the age of 35. They’re everywhere across the spectrum, whether it’s stuck in traffic on the way to their job, waiting in the unemployment line, protesting at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, or fighting our longest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Facing fewer job opportunities and high student loan debt, many 20-somethings now expect that they will do worse in their lifetimes for themselves than their parents generation. Some facts: Average tuition is three times higher today than in 1980.Two out of three students graduate with student loan debt, at an average of over $24,000.African American students are more likely to take out student loans, and to graduate with higher debt levels.The student loan default rate rose 31% over just 2 years. The full report on The Economic State of Young America is available at Demos’ website. Erica Cadell: I’ll be 20. EC: Yes.
Eerst de Klas: Met dank aan Simon Verwer...
Selling Schools Out | Corporate Accountability
If the national movement to "reform" public education through vouchers, charters and privatization has a laboratory, it is Florida. It was one of the first states to undertake a program of "virtual schools" — charters operated online, with teachers instructing students over the Internet — as well as one of the first to use vouchers to channel taxpayer money to charter schools run by for-profits. But as recently as last year, the radical change envisioned by school reformers still seemed far off, even there. With some of the movement's cherished ideas on the table, Florida Republicans, once known for championing extreme education laws, seemed to recoil from the fight. Lamenting this series of defeats, Patricia Levesque, a top adviser to former Governor Jeb Bush, spoke to fellow reformers at a retreat in October 2010. If Levesque's blunt advice sounds like that of a veteran lobbyist, that's because she is one. But Levesque wasn't delivering her hardball advice to her lobbying clients.
dennisvanravenswaaij: Project met #EerstdeKlas v...
