Monday, April 13, 2015
Should colleges be judging rapes?
I have been saying in this space and elsewhere, until I'm blue in the face, that they should not. Now, at long last, it seems that a consensus is emerging that this is not only bad practice, but the government's requiring it may be illegal.
http://chronicle.com/article/Should-Colleges-Be-Judging/229263/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Find my April, May and June Webinars and CLE Program here:
https://jamescastagnera.wordpress.com/ned-mcadoo-2/
http://chronicle.com/article/Should-Colleges-Be-Judging/229263/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
https://jamescastagnera.wordpress.com/ned-mcadoo-2/
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
Linked-In is moving further into the higher education industry.
The company just paid $1.5 billion for a course provider.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/10/linkedin-continues-move-higher-education-purchase-lyndacom-15-billion
As the late Senator Everett Dirkson famously said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/10/linkedin-continues-move-higher-education-purchase-lyndacom-15-billion
As the late Senator Everett Dirkson famously said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money."
Is the Corinthian College debt strike the start of a larger movement?
In the wake of the DOE's decision to deep six Corinthian College last year, former students are refusing to repay federal loans, claiming they are victims of fraud.
http://chronicle.com/article/Activists-Hope-to-Turn-a-Debt/229235/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Knowledgable observers are wondering if this could be the start of a national rebellion against repayment.
Meanwhile President Obama has proposed free community college for all capable Americans.
For my part, I believe that every US citizen should be assured:
1. Food, Clothing, Shelter
2. An opportunity to obtain meaningful work
3. Medical insurance
4. Education
Here's what I said about #4 seven years ago and I haven't changed my mind:
He went on to explain that for him that meant offering parents and students a choice among public, private and charter schools. That choice, of course, only has meaning if parents and students have a variety of schools from which to choose and the financial ability to buy into their schools of choice. More broadly, while the GOP presidential candidate is right about education’s central significance in the new century, his simplistic solution hardly scratches the surface.
In many major cities, high school graduation rates hover around 50%. In a few they dip below the .500 mark. This dismal fact ensures the perpetuation of what Karl Marx called the lumpenproletariat, which is to say, the ragged or rabble lower class. And this, in its turn, ensures perpetuation of the drug wars, gang wars and random killings that characterize our inner cities.
Meanwhile out in the land of suburban sprawl, teen obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, and the random shootings that periodically plague our schools all suggest that affluence alone does not ensure successful students. Taken in this context, the issue of education expands to include family issues, such as divorce rates.
Labor policy, likewise, must be included in the mix. One of the great ironies of our new century is that, while millionaire professional athletes have strong labor unions, workers on the bottom rungs of our economy are often as exploited as their 19th century counterparts. Labor organizations, such as the Service Employees International Union, have a hard time organizing these folks, given the lopsided way in which our National Labor Relations Act is interpreted by the federal courts and bureaucrats. Union prevention and union busting are only another cost of doing business for many major corporations, which also outsource what were once the better-paying positions to Asian and Latin American sweatshops.
Immigration policy also must be addressed in any comprehensive approach to American education. The Supreme Court has said that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to attend public schools. The law remains unsettled as to whether or not such students are also entitled to attend public colleges and universities and, if so, whether they are also entitled to in-state residents’ tuition breaks.
More broadly, are immigrants filling jobs that Americans don’t want to do? Or are Americans declining those jobs because of the low wages, lack of benefits, and miserable working conditions? The use of immigrant labor, legal and illegal, at the bottom of the economic barrel perpetuates the conditions that make these jobs unattractive to anyone but immigrant and migrant workers.
Last but not least is the rising cost of a college education. Too many of our young people are graduating with “mortgages” on their diplomas. Inefficiencies plague the higher education industry. Despite being the only major sector of the economy that can call on its past customers —- its alumni—to continue supporting its operations, and despite substantial gifts and grants from donors and foundations, higher education’s tuition rates continue to outpace inflation significantly. Thus, the proliferation of large student-loan debts.
Yes, Sen. McCain (and Sen. Obama), “Education IS the civil rights issue of the 2ist century.” And it is a complex issue, entangled with equally complex and challenging issues of family, labor, and immigration policy.
Home Page Subscribe to The Progressive Populist
Copyright © 2008 The Progressive Populist.
http://chronicle.com/article/Activists-Hope-to-Turn-a-Debt/229235/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Knowledgable observers are wondering if this could be the start of a national rebellion against repayment.
Meanwhile President Obama has proposed free community college for all capable Americans.
For my part, I believe that every US citizen should be assured:
1. Food, Clothing, Shelter
2. An opportunity to obtain meaningful work
3. Medical insurance
4. Education
Here's what I said about #4 seven years ago and I haven't changed my mind:
Education — Civil Rights of the 21st Century
By James Castagnera
From John McCain’s acceptance speech, the line that stuck out for me was, “Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century.”He went on to explain that for him that meant offering parents and students a choice among public, private and charter schools. That choice, of course, only has meaning if parents and students have a variety of schools from which to choose and the financial ability to buy into their schools of choice. More broadly, while the GOP presidential candidate is right about education’s central significance in the new century, his simplistic solution hardly scratches the surface.
In many major cities, high school graduation rates hover around 50%. In a few they dip below the .500 mark. This dismal fact ensures the perpetuation of what Karl Marx called the lumpenproletariat, which is to say, the ragged or rabble lower class. And this, in its turn, ensures perpetuation of the drug wars, gang wars and random killings that characterize our inner cities.
Meanwhile out in the land of suburban sprawl, teen obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, and the random shootings that periodically plague our schools all suggest that affluence alone does not ensure successful students. Taken in this context, the issue of education expands to include family issues, such as divorce rates.
Labor policy, likewise, must be included in the mix. One of the great ironies of our new century is that, while millionaire professional athletes have strong labor unions, workers on the bottom rungs of our economy are often as exploited as their 19th century counterparts. Labor organizations, such as the Service Employees International Union, have a hard time organizing these folks, given the lopsided way in which our National Labor Relations Act is interpreted by the federal courts and bureaucrats. Union prevention and union busting are only another cost of doing business for many major corporations, which also outsource what were once the better-paying positions to Asian and Latin American sweatshops.
Immigration policy also must be addressed in any comprehensive approach to American education. The Supreme Court has said that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to attend public schools. The law remains unsettled as to whether or not such students are also entitled to attend public colleges and universities and, if so, whether they are also entitled to in-state residents’ tuition breaks.
More broadly, are immigrants filling jobs that Americans don’t want to do? Or are Americans declining those jobs because of the low wages, lack of benefits, and miserable working conditions? The use of immigrant labor, legal and illegal, at the bottom of the economic barrel perpetuates the conditions that make these jobs unattractive to anyone but immigrant and migrant workers.
Last but not least is the rising cost of a college education. Too many of our young people are graduating with “mortgages” on their diplomas. Inefficiencies plague the higher education industry. Despite being the only major sector of the economy that can call on its past customers —- its alumni—to continue supporting its operations, and despite substantial gifts and grants from donors and foundations, higher education’s tuition rates continue to outpace inflation significantly. Thus, the proliferation of large student-loan debts.
Yes, Sen. McCain (and Sen. Obama), “Education IS the civil rights issue of the 2ist century.” And it is a complex issue, entangled with equally complex and challenging issues of family, labor, and immigration policy.
From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2008
Home Page Subscribe to The Progressive Populist
Copyright © 2008 The Progressive Populist.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
No surprise that my fraternity plans to sue Rolling Stone
Yes, I was a Phi Psi: at Franklin & Marshall College (Pennsylvania Eta Chapter) and I heartily applaud my fraternity's decision to sue the magazine for what must be one of the most blatant violations of journalistic ethics and sound practice in the history of the profession. Here's the fraternity's press release:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/261035839/PKP-Columbia-Report-Release-4-6-15
The Neo-Puritanism that is permeating American higher education today is creating a multitude of unfortunate outcomes. The Rolling Stone travesty is the most blatant and widely publicized of these. But it is only the tip of the iceberg. And only the tip of the litigation iceberg, as well.
A recent report from United Educators gives us a glimpse of just how deep the iceberg litigation "iceberg" runs:
https://www.ue.org/sexual_assault_claims_study/
http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=77271&cid=5&concordeid=312466
http://www.scribd.com/doc/261035839/PKP-Columbia-Report-Release-4-6-15
The Neo-Puritanism that is permeating American higher education today is creating a multitude of unfortunate outcomes. The Rolling Stone travesty is the most blatant and widely publicized of these. But it is only the tip of the iceberg. And only the tip of the litigation iceberg, as well.
A recent report from United Educators gives us a glimpse of just how deep the iceberg litigation "iceberg" runs:
https://www.ue.org/sexual_assault_claims_study/
Journalist Francesco Sisci on trying to please both China and Israel regarding Iran
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8:25 PM (11 hours ago)
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http://atimes.com/2015/04/
Author: Francesco Sisci April 6, 2015 0 Comments
Without knowing much of Middle East dynamics I tend to like Dr. Codevilla’s analysis, in particular because by trying to engineer a result you often end up with unintended consequences, even in best case scenarios. Look at what we do with children: we want them to go in one direction and if we only push them a little too hard or a little soft, they spin out of control. Societies and states I am afraid are even more so, and the recent history of direct or indirect intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Syria seem to prove the point.Having said that I believe that two constraints are better than one. The parent at home is better off with his child if he is on the same page with the teacher at school. (The analogy is over simplistic, but it is an illustration).So it is very absurd to try to engage both Israel and China in a confidential dialogue over Iran? The Chinese are worried about instabilities in the region and are eager to do anything that could guarantee the safety for the passage of their One Belt One Road. They are rational, maybe too rational for the crazy Middle East, but being rational are also extremely cautious with something they do not understand. Perhaps they could help in “stroking” Iran to normality, and as extra value US-China collaboration on a sensitive issue (the Middle East) could be a bonus. Israel, perhaps could be more comforted in having China in the picture. With the Chinese the Israeli are growing a good collaboration on many issues.As for the players in the region, there is hardly anybody worth trusting, so mistrust them all equally, and equally manage them, with some extra support. At the end of the day, the Chinese need peace in the region for their railways, not the Americans, so this is a card Washington could play well, and the Chinese I guess would be willing to play along.
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