Choosing Great High Schools
Posted on Sep 28, 2010 03:35:02 AM
If you have lived in the same place for a very long time, you already know where your child is going to go to school until graduation. Unless you are willing to move, you don’t have much choice in the way of what high schools you want them to attend. Your choices are usually the public and private options in your community. However, if you are planning to move, but you are not sure where you are going to end up yet, you can look into all of the schools in the general area to decide which you think is the best. There are many things to look for in a school and many questions to ask.
High schools are not all the same. Some are large, some are small, and some are going to disappear. If you had a bad experience in school, you may be looking for a high school that is the opposite of what you experienced, but you can never judge any school by the size. Smaller schools have more close knit classes, but that can be a problem. However, some children get lost in larger high schools and their educations suffers because of it. A middle sized school may be the best all around bet.
High schools can only work with what they have. There are many districts that have had to cut back on many programs that were standard when you went to school. Big changes have happened in some high schools in the last five years. If you have been out of high school for quite a while, the changes are even bigger. When you are choosing among various communities, request information about the the school budget and changes that have been made. This information alone can help you cross some bad high schools off the list right off the bat.
Take a good look at the sports programs at each of the high schools you are considering. A good program has plenty of options, but you also want a school that is not all about the sports. It is great for kids to play end enjoy sports for many reasons, but some high schools focus on sports too much, leaving education in second place. Even worse, those students that are not into sports may suffer in such a school. Look for an active and funded sports program that is a part of education, not the entire story.
Lastly, the most important thing in any high schools is the track record of graduates and what classes they offer their students. Go into the school and talk with the principal and anyone else that can help you. Walk through the school to look for cleanliness and see how the school feels. Some schools just have a better feel than other high schools. You can tell a lot about a school just by walking through with someone from the school during school hours. No school is perfect, but make sure the one you choose has what you want and where you feel your child will be safe and valued.
The United States gives hope to thousands and to its self through education loans
Posted on Sep 25, 2010 03:33:25 AM
In a democracy, through their vote, the people decide what issues should be set before them, what side of an issue will prevail, and what their, and their children’s future will hold. Citizens are expected to be conversant on the issues of the day, expected to use their minds and knowledge to seek and discover the concerns that will shape the destiny and form of their nation. Successful democracies depend on the wisdom of their people, and wisdom comes through discipline, training, experience, and education. Through education comes the higher skilled workers that no robust economy can do without. A strong and healthy economy is the backbone of a strong and healthy nation. No democracy can afford to ignore the importance of education if that democracy is to survive, to thrive and flourish, if it is to be a democracy capable of justice. It is the responsibility of a democracy to assure its citizens the right to an education. It must make it widely available and affordable. Education loans are one important vehicle.
Having long recognized the necessity of an educated populace, and recognizing as well that education comes with a price tag, the people of the United States have heartily embraced the practice of education loans. Education takes up time that might otherwise be used for work and profit. A citizen must live while yet attending a school or a college, and the education facilities and its teachers and staff must all be paid. Unless the citizen is wealthy, most citizens are unable to refrain from work in order to obtain an education. A part-time job will only cover so much. To cover the rest, the people of the U.S., through their government, make the first twelve years of a citizen’s education free, and for higher education, student loans are available.
Education loans in the United States have been supported by the federal government since 1965. Our government subsidizes banks and institutions such as Sallie Mae, enabling these institutions to provide student loans to citizens in need. The government encourages lending institutions to make student loans by reducing risks to the lender. The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) project, the government program responsible for backing student loans, will pay out 97 percent of a student loan that goes into default.
With this incentive in place, lending institutions have little trouble giving out education loans. There is money to be earned from the interest charged, and the risk is low. Granted, there isn’t the opportunity for lenders to make the highest possible profit from their capital: since 1993 the federal government has been making student loans directly to the student, putting a competitive cap on interest rates the private sector lenders may charge. FFEL has worked very well for students and lenders alike, but, under the FFEL program, the people have been expensed at about $6 billion a year. This is money that could be applied to student grants for low income students, to the Pell grant. To reduce these expenses and make the saved money available for grants, and for junior colleges, the federal government is now retiring FFEL and making education loans directly to its citizens under the Direct Loan Program.
While this may be bad news for the education loans industry, it’s good news indeed for low income students. The Pell Grant is slated to receive an additional $13.5 billion of funding. With so many people unemployed and displaced, wanting to return to school today, this change is just in time. It brings hope to thousands of people thirsting for knowledge and a better job. It is also reason to hope that the United States will win in its struggle to retain its character as democracy’s shining star. Its commitment to education ?and education loans – may very well be the means of its redemption.
Scholarships For Students
Posted on Sep 23, 2010 05:53:35 AM
College is expensive. There are loans and other ways to get money for higher education, but free money is always the best way to pay for college. If you can afford to pay for your kids to go to college, you probably made some sacrifices and good savings choices when they were young. Not everyone can do this, so if you know your child wants to go to college, encourage them to work towards scholarships for students. Not all good students are going to get these, as there are only so many to go around, but there are a few things they can do to get noticed.
Good grades are almost always a way to get good scholarships for students. Not all of them rely on this for qualification, but many do. Students should always be encouraged to do their best, but don’t push too hard. There are some students that will never be straight-A students, but they can still get into a good college because they have solid grades. It also depends on the target college. Where a student wants to go makes a difference in what GPA is acceptable. Just encourage them to work hard and to use good study habits.
Some students find that doing special projects that are not necessarily grade-orientated are ways to get scholarships for students. These special projects can come up all throughout school. It could be something as simple as a science fair project. Encourage your child to participant in all types of special projects that may otherwise be optional at school. Also encourage them to do special projects and contests that develop in the community rather than just as school. Even without a scholarship, this helps your child become much more well rounded.
Don’t forget about getting involved with the community in general. There are many scheduling committees that look at more than just grades, or give out scholarships based on single projects. Many colleges want their students to be well-rounded, and so do those that offer money to a student. Encourage your child to help the community by volunteering in a few different ways each year. They can also do things like Boy or Girl Scouts or programs like it. There are many out there, so your child is sure to find something that they will love to do.
There is a bonus to having your child go through all of these things in high school other than scholarships for students. They are going to be better people and they will grow up keeping others in mind when making choices. They are also going to know the value of hard work and keeping a goal in mind. Whether they get the money to go to college through scholarships or through loans or savings, there is always something to be said for doing your best and giving back. What they learn from your guidance will carry throughout their lives, even when it seems that they are not hearing a word that you are saying.
Courses for Continuing Education – Medical Doctors
Posted on Sep 22, 2010 03:30:56 AM
It is usually the government that tries to get in and ruin everyone’s fun when there is a conflict of interest. If there is a business making too large a contribution to some politician’s kitty, the law (not to mention the media), swoops in and has something to say about it. If someone in law enforcement accepts a gift, they get suspended. If a doctor accepts a pass to an all expenses-paid junket, paid for by a pharmaceutical major, people whisper that there is some kind of cozy arrangement at play. What about doctors-in training though? The University of Michigan’s medical school is the first anyone’s ever heard of that has decided that it will no longer accept contributions from pharmaceutical majors like Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson to help doctors engaging in continuing education, medical license renewals and so on pay for their coursework.
That’s the way it will be, starting New Year’s Day next year; and it’s a move that’s been voted for by the entire university administration. All of this comes from the outcry that’s been building up in the medical profession – medical associations, med school lecturers, law makers, medical ethics experts and so on. They worry that doctors who come in for continuing education, medical exams and so forth, who accept contributions from the drugmakers, will feel beholden to them when they step into their clinics to practice.
So how much money are we talking about here? At the University of Michigan, it’s about a million dollars for the doctors’ continuing education; medical courses like these nationwide call in about a billion dollars – that’s about 50% of their entire budget. This is actually getting serious – with Continuing Medical Education or CME as it is known, the accrediting authority is beginning to become completely intolerant of commercial involvement. They’ve declared that no doctor attending any meeting held by an industry-employed expert is going to get any credit anymore. So what do the doctors think about this? The National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association find this an egregious intrusion in their affairs. They feel that this is their main source of continuing education, medicalknowledge and so on; and to cut them off from it would be a disservice to medicine.
Private medical education businesses that accept funds from pharmaceutical companies to run their courses completely disagree with all of this though. They claim that if they were to charge doctors for their education, no one would be able to afford it. They feel that there certainly can be a certain amount of doubt and suspicion that commercial investment can have an unwholesome effect on a doctor’s judgment; but they feel that since this is not proven, and you can’t just go about banning things on suspicion.
Continuing education medical courses are a huge business in this country, and there are more than 500 accredited providers. They claim that there is nothing in the courses that could possibly persuade attending doctors to prescribe products by any company. A survey of doctors fresh out of these courses claims that the doctors don’t see any cause for worry. But that is a survey that kind of begs the question. The ethicists wonder why on earth tightfisted corporations would spend a billion every year if it didn’t come back to them in some way. And the doctors argue right back that there is so much science that’s going on in the private sector. If they didn’t have access to it, where would they be? If Johnson & Johnson and makes a discovery or invention, how else are doctors going to know about if not from Johnson & Johnson? Good arguments on both sides. But for now, they’re shutting industry out of medical education.
Types of Affordable Online Business Degrees
Posted on Jul 15, 2010 03:23:12 PM
There are many types of affordable degrees available online. These range from associate through to PhD programs in all aspects of business. Among of them, online college degree is one of the most popular degrees online. These include:
* Online Degree in Accounting: This affordable online degree is designed to develop in students skills of effective analysis, technical accounting management and their applications. This degree can be earned in 12-24 months depending on if students chose the accelerated of regular program. Access to classes are available 24 hours per day where students can study and post classwork.
* Online Degree in Business Administration: Business administration covers all aspects of operating a business. During the online degree programs in business administration, students gains the skills of good project management, critical thinking and leadership and how best to employ them in real life situations. At levels such as the bachelor’s and higher they are afforded the opportunity to specialize in areas such as accounting, business management, finance, marketing or human resource management.
* Online Degree in Economics: Online economic students have the unique opportunity of gaining an understanding of economic policies with direct access to economic modules from different regions. This is because, online economic studies attract students from all over the world who then pool their ideas and study different economic modules and approaches. The course work features subject areas such as finance, strategic planning, accounts, macro and microeconomics.
* Online Degree in Human Resource Management: Online degrees in human resource management instill in students the importance of a sound relationship between employer and their employees. It focuses on issues that affect organizations such as labor relations, worker compensation, training, employee assessment and safety. Human resource management students also learn skills of dispute resolution that often prove vital in resolving many of the issues that develop between the general workforce and management.
How to Get College Grants and Scholarships
Posted on Jul 14, 2010 09:15:36 AM
There are plenty of scholarships that fly under the national radar, too, so make sure to scour local sources. If you work, your own company might offer tuition reimbursement, and the IRS lets $5,250 of that be treated as tax-free income. Your parent’s employer, especially large national corporations, might offer scholarships to promising students among their staffers’ children. Prominent service organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions, along with business associations like the Chamber of Commerce, often offer awards to local students as well.
Don’t forget the federal cash you might qualify for, either. They’re called Grants for college, which are needs-based and awarded to low-income applicants. To secure them you’ll need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which will determine your award based on factors like salary and family contribution.
Sure, there may be plenty of competition for all these college grants. But keep this basic credo in mind: you can’t qualify if you don’t apply.
How To Learn And Have Fun (At The Same Time)
Posted on Jun 8, 2010 02:43:00 PM
For some unknown reason, tutors love giving endless exam materials for us poor students to learn in a short period of time.
Being sure that I am the most talented student ever, I used to think that if I read the whole material once (without bothering myself too much) I would do great on the exam.
So, before an exam I would just open my books, turn on my favorite music, put a bar of chocolate by my side and started reading. The time I spent reading was very useful, because I managed to make a few important phone calls, thought of what I was going to wear the next day and analyzed the past week.
Somehow this proved to be wrong, because at the exam I found myself unable to remember a single word from what I was supposed to learn. So I realized that my perfect learning concept was not that perfect after all.
Being the most talented student ever, I decided to find out what was the problem and moreover, how to solve it.
I thought I read the material, but in fact, my eyes ran over it, while my mind was busy with completely different stuff. This is not a thing to do. When reading something, you should think of what you read. Text is not just a string of words somehow connected to one another. Those words have a particular meaning, which is sometimes quite difficult to understand.
I developed my own technique of reading and understanding things. I first try to understand what the author meant by a certain sentence. Then I try to connect that idea to my life. It makes it more clear, and it’s also a great memorizing technique. When you link some information to your own experiences, you are sure to remember it.
Another good way for me to understand and remember things is by imagining what I read in colorful images– sometimes I even make up whole stories of what I learn.
Snow Day Productivity
Posted on Jun 7, 2010 10:02:52 AM
Sometimes you have to just give up on getting any real work done. This was excruciatingly true yesterday and today, when Seattle had some “snow days,” (I use the term loosely). Seattle is a city with little or no annual snowfall, which means there’s not much by way of snow removal equipment. Also, Seattle is basically a collection of hills all lumped together. Not as bad as San Francisco, but it’s not like driving through snow in the flatlands of Kansas, either. All of which means that a few pathetic inches of frozen white stuff shuts the whole damn city down.
This is what happens: We get a few inches of snow, which is slush by late afternoon. Nighttime comes around 3:30 p.m. (oh how I wish I were exaggerating), the temperature drops, the slush freezes, and the whole city is one giant hilly ice rink. Most Seattleites are transplants from California, like me, and can’t drive for s**t on anything but freeways (Southern Calif., not me) or foggy country roads (Northern Calif., me). Although, I’d like to see anyone try to drive up the steep hill I live on when it’s covered with a solid inch of ice.
My husband and I like to drink our morning caffeine on snow days while standing by the front windows, watching car after car attempt to make it up our hill. They always give up and have to try to look cool (and like they know what they’re doing) while trying to back—braking—down an icy hill. It’s never pretty, and that’s why we park our cars around the corner where no inept, ice-driving chuckleheads will smack into them as they slide back down the hill.
A snow day in Seattle also tends to mean that the icy roads have hosed the school bus routes. Which means delayed or non-existent school days. And while I do love to spend the day trapped inside with my offspring, I don’t get any work done. About mid-morning yesterday I started to get that panicky, today-is-going-to-be-a-complete-waste feeling. That particular flavor of panic always makes me cranky. I dislike an unproductive day. I tried to work, but it’s hard to finish a thought (intelligent or otherwise) when tiny humans are asking you a seemingly infinite number of questions.
I was this close to snapping and turning into the fire-breathing version of myself when I remembered the post Gear Fire had up the other day about implementing a Task Kill Day. It’s the holiday season, so I have an a**load of tasks to kill. I took a deep breath, gave up on the idea of getting any real work done, and told the kids it was Getting Stuff Done Day. They are 7 and almost-3, so they didn’t really have any tasks to kill other than some artwork and bouncy-ball testing. But because I wasn’t sitting in one place and trying to have long, involved higher thoughts and was instead running around the house being super busy and kicking task ass, they mostly did their own stuff and left me alone.
I crossed several items off of my To Do List that were causing me more peripheral stress than I had thought; when I took stock of how much I’d gotten done, I saw several dark Eeyore clouds lift.
My point is this: if your day is suddenly not going in the preferred productive direction, sometimes redirecting your Unplanned Non-Work Day into a Task-List Demolishing Day can make you feel better and save you time later on. And you’ll be saving others from the cranky version of you, which people always appreciate.
Adult Scholarships explained in brief
Posted on Jun 7, 2010 10:02:15 AM
There is no age limit for education. So if you are an adult wanting to return to education there are many adult education centers available for your help. There can be numerous reasons for not pursuing education at the right age. While it can be frustrating at a later stage, you can easily do away with that frustration with adult education. However, not everyone is financially sound enough to fund for their education. This is where Adults Scholarships can be of great help. But you do need to qualify for a particular scholarship before you can start taking its advantage. Details such as your previous qualifications, the subjects that you want to pursue etc are required to be registered in order to become eligible for an adult scholarship. The internet can be your best resource while looking for adult scholarships. You can always look for scholarship information online and register for them. You will be automatically informed once you qualify for a specific scholarship.
Play Doh-Smeared Credentials
Posted on Jun 5, 2010 10:03:03 AM
While I understand the need every parent has—on a weird, biological level—to do as much for their child as is feasible in order that said kid’s life path can be as smooth and highly elevated as is everly possible, I have never been able to be anywhere near fine with the insane pressure and bizarre hoop-jumping some parents put their kids through.
Succeeding in life is super great, don’t get me wrong. Going to college for the sake of the education and the life experience is not something that can be duplicated. I’m pro-success and pro-college, absolutely. But I really (a whole damn lot) can’t fathom how working your ass off from preschool on through grad school to be in the top 5% of your cohort for any and all school and extra-curricular activities is either necessary or healthy. Plus, it can’t be all that fun.
Is it peculiar and freakish that I lump “success” and “happy” in the same pile? Perhaps. I love my kiddos, and I really do believe the high-pressure helicopter parents love their kiddos, too. We have different ways of showing it, however. I have some grandparental units who showed their love for me, for the first 25 years of my life, in ways similar to the hyper parents of today; they wished me every success, including unfounded dreams of sending me off to medical school because that’s what they had done and that’s where all of their friends’ grandkids were obediently marching off to (like cranky little lemmings, I might add).
My grandparents’ way was to coddle, protect, pressure and prepare me for the future until I was incapable of getting their lecturely tones out of my head. For the most part I’ve let it all go and have moved past the self-doubt and the second-guessing and the perfectionist tendencies I harbor. I put a lot less pressure on myself and I don’t intend ever to crush the souls of my own progeny, turning them into miserable beings, incapable of happiness or contentment. (It’s conceivable that I haven’t moved on entirely.)
My way is to support my kids and the choices they make, and to make sure they have a rich, well-rounded education, both in the classroom and at home. My main goal is to have happy kids. I honestly don’t care where or if they go to college, and whether they go right after high school or never. That sounds incredibly slackerly of me, I realize, but there it is.
The older I get (I just turned 35) the more I realize how hard it is to be a content and beatific adult. I’m happy, but only after letting go and unclenching a little. I’m fine with giving my kids an education (one where they are not expected to kick everyone else’s ass) and following their lead as to where they want to go in life. In this day and age, that’s a pretty revolutionary statement. I’m supposing people will respond with, “That crazy b**ch is going to let her kids do what they want with their lives!”
Anyway, this spew was brought on by Eduwonkette’s guest blogger, Hilary Levey. She’s a PhD candidate at Princeton, and wrote her dissertation on the whole high-pressure parent phenomenon, specifically the credentials those parents expect, want, and need their kids to acquire and achieve. The post is basically a summary of her dissertation, “Playing to Win: Childhood, Competition, and Credentials Bottlenecks.”
It’s a great article, and in it Levey does such an excellent job of explaining what the motivation is behind these insanely gung-ho parents, that I was able to open my mind up a smidgen more and maybe, a teensy bit, see the parents’ point. However, as much as I’d love to read the actual dissertation and all of her research (because her papers and her research sound fascinating), I think it would either enrage me or curl me into a ball that I wouldn’t want to come out of for a few days.