Streaming Magazine » Education

“Education President” lives up to name

andrea — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:13:23 +0000

As a person who has been in America’s public school system since pre-school, I would like to congratulate President Obama on doing something that should have been done a long time ago.

Someone of merit told American students to get their lives in order.

Since the dawn of school, students have dreaded it. I always dreaded school. I hated it! I couldn’t understand how going to school and writing research papers and studying chemistry could really have any real positive impact on my future. Sure, my parents told me that it was important, but that was their job…or so I thought.

That is why President Obama’s speech today to America’s youth gains my applause—my standing ovation even.

“Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer,” Obama told students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia and to students around the country via CNN.

In this speech, Obama put pressure on students around the country, while encouraging them to study hard, claiming that we need “every single one of you.” And he really tries to cover every… Single. One.

“At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life: what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home. None of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude at school…” Obama said. “There is no excuse for not trying.”

So, President Obama, I applaud you for taking the initiative to encourage the future of America.

Income-based repayment recent graduate’s best friend

Rob — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:00:26 +0000

Going through school these days requires either a trust fund set up by dead relatives or doing exceptionally well in high school and securing some scholarships to aid in offsetting the costs of higher education. In most cases, however, scholarships and grants don’t cover the entire cost of education for an undergraduate, and with the steep decline in fellowships for graduate students, most have to resort to digging themselves into a pit of debt. It’s the unfortunate reality of the times, with state funded scholarships and grants drying up and the rocketing cost of tuition every term, life in the poor house seemed an inevitability for future graduates.

Help is on the way with the income-based repayment plan, which started up this week to aid those who have federal student loans and to help them work out from beneath the ominous shadow of their debt.

The breakdown is rather simple. The system is based upon earners’ income, with those that make less having downward adjusted repayments. Those earning less than $16,000 a year are not required to make monthly payments. At the lower payment, any of the excess debt owed after 25 years is forgiven.

That may sound great, but not everyone would be wise to jump on the bandwagon. Those with excessive debt going into a field where jobs are extremely limited would benefit, especially if the income for those professions are low. Most people, however, will be able to pay off their federal loans within 25 years, with most loan terms actually set at 20 years. It is up to the individual to assess his or her situation and determine whether or not they can emerge from their debt as an individual, or if they should enroll in the IBR plan.

Taking into consideration the building interest with a longer term loan, the decision is an important one.

Urban school gets academic cred

Rob — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:19 +0000

When we see news reports on urban schools, usually we see incidents of hazing, reports on dropouts, violence at school, gang related incidents, or the problem of overcrowding. Rarely do we ever hear about city schools with accolades and positive success rates. It was unheard of to hear of a school graduating 100 percent of its class.

In Camden, New Jersey, MetEast High has broken the stereotype, successfully graduating its entire senior class.

The school is one that sports only 100 students in its class, and critics may claim that is simply the reason why the students have succeeded. Unfortunately, that doesn’t take into consideration the facts of the area where the school sits, as well as how the students interact with kids from all the other public schools around, associate with the same friends (some of which are gang members) and deal with all of the same problems such as teen pregnancy and becoming homeless (as students did become), and still graduated school and landed themselves in college.

Critics also need to look at the statistics of the area before brushing off the accomplishment as a fluke. Taking a look at other high schools in Camden, Camden High has a dropout rate of 1 in 7. Woodrow Wilson High is almost 1 in 11. Those rates may be conservative as well, which only makes the accomplishment of MetEast more praiseworthy.

The school itself revolves around student interaction with peers, projects, presentations and preparing for the world beyond high school. The ‘advisers,’ not teachers, are with the kids for all the years they attend and are there to reinforce learning, not indoctrinate them with the ideology most liberal public school teachers attempt to implant in impressionable minds.

This just shows America’s uneducated youth is not a problem caused by the students: its a problem of the teaching practices of those in charge of them.