Debt and Crisis Everywhere

ENT Audio Podcast

Ed News Ticker #11

recorded: May 11th 2012

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CODiEs in education released

The CODiE awards were announced this week by the SIIA (Software and Information Industry Association) - This year they included new subcategories in education with differentiation between K12 and higher ed. Fairing well were Pearson, McGraw Hill, BrainPop and several others. You can check out the complete list at the link on siia.net. Source: siia.net

The Top Majors For The Class Of 2022

Alex Knapp of Forbes looked into his crystal ball and gives some fictitious advice to college majors of 2022. His top majors of the future are Math, Robotics, Agricultural Engineering, Hospitality Management, Health & Biotech, Pre-Law with focus on Elder-Law, Quantum Engineering, 3D Printing and Liberal Arts. You can read the reasoning behind his picks over at Forbes. Source: Forbes

Risk-based student loans

Economist Michael Simkowitz proposed in a paper published in the Social Science Research Network that we begin offering “risk-based student loans”. Those students entering “high value” majors would receive lower interest rates than those pursuing underwater basket weaving with a minor in dance. STEM grads who will best be able to pay back their loans will most likely be paying the least, while others less STEM-inclined would essentially be penalized, just as those with poor credit scores are penalized on home mortgages and car loans. Source: SSRN

Half of college grads working full time, with less pay, deep debt

For most recent college graduates, these are gloomy times. Only about half are working full-time, with the majority starting with less pay than expected while also dealing with huge student debts. Nearly six in 10 think they’ll end up less financially successful than their elders. It’s a pessimistic outlook from the subjects of a study from Rutgers University, which this spring surveyed hundreds of people who graduated between 2006 and 2011. About 12% are under- or unemployed (many of the rest are volunteers, in the military or still in school). Workers who graduated during the recession – from 2009 through last year – earned a median starting salary of $27,000 – or $3,000 less annually than earlier graduates. Nearly a quarter of all respondents said their current job pays much less than they’d anticipated. Female graduates earned $2,000 less than their male counterparts. Source: LA Times

Spanish students strike over education crisis

Spanish students took to the streets Thursday in anger at crisis cuts in education, the first in several days of broader social protests across the country. The national Students’ Union called demonstrations in more than 50 towns, its leader Tohil Delgado told AFP, predicting that thousands of students, pupils and teachers would join in despite looming exams. As Spain fights to stabilise its public finances, schools and universities have for months been complaining of shrinking budgets for research and extra work for teachers. Since the last student marches on February 29, the government has announced a further three billion euros in cost-cutting reforms, expanding class sizes and raising university fees to an average 1,500 euros from 1,000 euros. Source: Raw Story

Getting A Job Washing Cars Is Harder Than Getting Into Harvard

Cherry is a service that sends you a car washer within minutes (20 typically). This means that the app company has a labor intensive service attached, and needs unskilled labor. There are many others like it such as Uber and Zaarly, whose success will benefit low-skilled workers more than MBAs and BAs. The hitch is that, right now, despite all these out of work people with only high school degrees, the odds of getting a job at Cherry to wash other people’s cars on the street is harder than getting into Harvard. It’s a demand squeeze. Cherry’s founder Travis VanderZanden has so many job seekers wanting to wash cars that he accepts only 1% who apply. Harvard’s acceptance rate is 6%. This won’t be the case for long if Cherry and other companies like it succeed. Source: Forbes

Science report card for eighth-graders: Not an F, but hardly an A+

The science results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress were released Thursday, and they show that the average eighth-grader's science score increased 2 points from 150 in 2009 to 152 in 2011. The top possible score was 300; the lowest was 0. "The gains are encouraging, but the racial and gender gaps show a cause for concern,” David P. Driscoll, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, said in a statement. The board sets policy for the NAEP. The test assesses public and private school students' knowledge of physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences. The results are based on a sample of 122,000 students. Source: LA Times

D.C. cutting school librarians

At a time when D.C. public schools is pushing hard on literacy education to increase the number of students who can read proficiently, officials are proposing to cut funding for dozens of school librarian positions for the 2012-13 academic year as a cost-cutting move. Under the proposed changes, schools with under 300 students will no longer have a librarian position funded from the DCPS budget. There are nearly 50 of those schools. Also, funding for librarians in schools with more than 300 will be shifted into a category that gives principals leeway on spending priorities, meaning they can decide not to have a librarian. Source: Washington Post

Argentina Will Try to Double Number of Engineering Graduates

An educational stimulus programme launched in Argentina is aimed at doubling the number of engineering graduates by 2021, in an attempt to fulfil unmet growing demand from industry. The goal set by a Strategic Engineering Plan drafted by the Education Ministry and the Federal Council of Deans of Engineering Faculties (CONFEDI) is to increase the average annual number of graduates from around 5,000 today to 7,500 by 2016 and 10,000 by 2021. Source: IPS News