Major Survey Finding: University is Really Expensive

DR. WATSON SCOTT SWAIL President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute

I know it sounds like an Onion piece, but this is the major finding in this week’s release of The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2009 (see the related Chronicle article). Specifically, the Chronicle noted the following:

About two-thirds of freshmen said they were either somewhat or very worried about their ability to finance their college educations. Those citing "some" concerns about money increased about two percentage points, to 55.4 percent, while students citing "major" concerns remained at 11.3 percent, about the same as in 2008. [WSS asks: increase from what?...poor journalistic writing!]

This must be the “duh” statistic of the year, and it’s only January. I don’t mean to knock HERI and UCLA; it’s just the survey finding, nor the Chronicle, who are just reporting. I guess my greatest surprise is that only 11.3 percent of those surveyed thought finance was a major concern, while over half of students had some concern. I would have thought that “major” would have been about 20-25 percent. Still, when 2 of 3 students find READ MORE...

Among youth with average reading skills, 32% of those from the lowest income households did not complete secondary school compared to 19% from the highest income households.
Source: Canadian Institute of Well-Being

THE NEWS

Program Could Help Kids Get Jump-Start in Math
Anne McIlroy, Toronto Globe and Mail
Mr. Mighton is not a certified teacher. He's a writer and mathematician who devotes most of his time to JUMP, a charity that helps youngsters learn to think mathematically. Since he founded it as an extracurricular tutoring program in 1998, he has amassed compelling anecdotal evidence that it helps struggling students. The question now is whether it also works in regular classrooms, where kids have a wide range of mathematical abilities.

In Wireless Age, Schools Begin to Offer Text Ed
Edmonton Journal
Text education is coming to Canadian schools, thanks to a new curriculum that sheds light on the dangers of sexually explicit mobile messages, textual harassment, and other potential pitfalls linked to youths' wireless communication. The pilot textED.ca course will be introduced to 100 Grade 7 classrooms across the country this month, with full program implementation in September.

Ontario Schools to Be Junk-Food-Free in 2011
Don Lajoie and Tony Spears, Ottawa Citizen
Ontario students will no longer be able to buy candy, chocolate, pop, fries and energy drinks on school property, starting in September 2011, the provincial government announced Wednesday.

School Districts Warn of Teacher Layoffs and School Closures
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver school district issued layoff warnings Tuesday to hundreds of teachers, while Prince George trustees began a difficult discussion about the possible closure of 13 elementary, middle and secondary schools. Around the province, school officials say they will enter 2010-11 budget deliberations with trepidation because small increases in provincial education grants are expected to be insufficient to cover the rising cost of teacher salaries, pensions, medical service premiums, BC Hydro and carbon neutrality.

Technology Gives Freedom to Visually Impaired
Sarah O’Donnell, Edmonton Journal
A redox titration may be the stuff of classic high school chemistry fare but until two years ago, it was the kind of lab experience typically off-limits to visually impaired students. But at Bev Facey, a groundbreaking decision to invest in a set of accessible science equipment that includes pH sensors, conductivity probes and hot plates with Teflon-coated stir-bars is changing that dynamic, giving students with visual impairments the same opportunities as their classmates in chemistry, biology and physics.

Entrepreneurs Get Marketing Lesson
Derek Sankey, Calgary Herald
The number of entrepreneurs and self-employed Canadians rose steadily over the past year as people decided to be their own bosses following layoffs, but now those risk-takers are realizing they may not always have the marketing skills to make their ventures a success.

Call Jor Jobless Budget Priority
Winnipeg Sun
The next federal budget should focus on helping unemployed Canadians and businesses struggling through the recession, say Canada’s opposition leaders. They also called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to avoid dramatic cuts in services to Canadians such as education. While Harper pledged to continue rolling out stimulus money and to build the economy, he wasn’t making any promises Wednesday not to trim spending.
 
Library Access for Blind in Danger
Kim Pemberton, Vancouver Sun
Betty Nobel is a voracious reader and a regular user of library resources. She also happens to be blind. The Vancouver teacher is one of 800,000 Canadians, including 112,000 British Columbians, whose access to library services will be compromised if the federal and provincial governments refuse to take over the responsibility of providing library services to them.

Changing Race Relations in the U.S.
Winnipeg Sun
MSNBC held a forum on the Obama presidency and race relations Monday night at Texas Southern University, a historically black college. Hardball host Chris Matthews hosted the event with black morning radio legend Tom Joyner. Panels in the two-hour live broadcast dealt with the parade of flashpoints from the past year, from the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest to the "negro dialect" debate to larger issues of cultural integration, affirmative action and education.

English Classes for Immigrants Aren't Old School
Toronto Star
Over the past five years, the number of immigrants to Ontario taking a government-funded English home-study program has jumped from 440 to 1,100 – including 150 in Toronto, where the program only became available in 2008. Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) classes are offered to immigrants at no cost, but only 20 per cent of adult newcomers take the program annually – many drop out due to other obligations.

Record Applicants Accepted at UK Universities in 2009
Gary Eason, BBC News
More students than ever before were accepted for UK university courses in 2009 - but higher demand meant applicants' chance of a place fell. There were 481,854 accepted applicants in 2009, 25,227 more than the previous year - an increase of 5.5% overall. But the number of applicants had been 8.7% higher. The rate of acceptance fell from 78% to 75%.

Ontario Schools to Be Junk-Food-Free in 2011
Don Lajoie and Tony Spears, Ottawa Citizen
Ontario students will no longer be able to buy candy, chocolate, pop, fries and energy drinks on school property, starting in September 2011, the provincial government announced Wednesday.

Fewer Schools Hit Language Target
BBC News
Fewer secondary schools in England are meeting a government target on pupils taking a GCSE in a modern foreign language. Ministers want schools to have "between 50% and 90%" of pupils taking a modern foreign language at GCSE. But a survey for The National Centre for Languages (Cilt) suggests only 40% of state schools meet this target - and that the trend is downwards.

Changing Race Relations in the U.S.
Winnipeg Sun
MSNBC held a forum on the Obama presidency and race relations Monday night at Texas Southern University, a historically black college. Hardball host Chris Matthews hosted the event with black morning radio legend Tom Joyner. Panels in the two-hour live broadcast dealt with the parade of flashpoints from the past year, from the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest to the "negro dialect" debate to larger issues of cultural integration, affirmative action and education.

Teachers Vote to Boycott School Tests
Emma Rodgers, ABC News- Australia
Public school teachers at an Australian Education Union meeting have voted unanimously to boycott national literacy and numeracy tests unless the Government changes its plans to publish the results online. But Education Minister Julia Gillard is refusing to back away from the Government's plans and has not ruled out taking action against the union under industrial relations laws if it bans the tests.

Aboriginal Learning in Canada
The Canadian Council on Learning, a research centre, has proposed a framework for measuring Aboriginal learning in Canada. Using a more holistic approach, the framework incorporates three components to measure learning: Sources and Domains of Knowledge, The Lifelong Learning Journey, and Community Well-being. Each component consists of several indicators, such as community involvement, completion rates, and school attendance. Combined, policy makers are given a more balanced picture of Aboriginal learning opportunities and challenges.