NRU education

A local school district has implemented an ethnic studies requirement ... and the CA legislature is trying to pass a law that would require it of all school districts.  Hmmm.... is this another middle finger to Arizona or real policy to help students?  I would like to believe in this "requirement" but I wonder that the schools couldn't just on their own figure out how to best reach their students with a variety of classes that both hit the standards and use relevant material.  Perhaps I am dreaming to believe that is possible.

These two stories combine to tell the tale of *public* higher education in California: lowering state funding requires the school to find funds from students *outside* of California and to lower the number of spaces available in general to students.  The Cal State System, that coincidentally is scheduled to spend millions to update the faculty, will limit enrollment growth AGAIN this year. Nearly a third of the most impacted [read hardest for California students' to get accepted] universities will be from outside the state.  Although the numbers in this piece are quite confusing ... a trend seems to put the most exclusive schools at much higher percentages of out of state students.  At what point will these two state schools effectively become private schools catering to those out of state and foreign students who can afford to pay the bulk of the tuition?  This is exactly what comes from underfunding higher education -- and allowing the price to get so high.  How long before the community colleges are also looking outside the state to fund its programs?  I do wish there were stats from Texas' system as it is the most closely related, size-wise, to the UC system.  Comparisons to Michigan and Virginia do not provide useful comparisons.

Um... apparently replacing state funding to universities can get much worse than just losing the local students.... state legislatures, is this really what you want?

Have you noticed that NRU education posts make me long-winded? Yeah, me, too...

This is one that I need to share with friends widely. I am not sure if it is properly placed in an NRU Education Edition because it falls out of the traditional education system.  It also gives me ideas about the kinds of work I could do ... when I am thinking about how to ditch my own educational program.  It is true that there is a definite need ... beyond just teaching, though, there is a need for places where children in dual language programs can continue to use their skills outside of the classroom before they go to college or work.

It may seem ironic, but this little piece on anger, and how to teach your child to deal with it, brings some sunshine to this news round up. I wholeheartedly agree with the author's notion that we need to be real with kids ... whether they are our birth children or those entrusted to us during the day.  Anger scares us in this culture so much ... and I think the epidemic of exaggerated responses (school shootings and other rampages) are a symptom of not talking it out -- or processing it after the shouting match.  One thing is for sure, tamping it down is never going to be productive.