Remember at back to school night (you parents out there), and I mentioned the great book by Frank Bruni called Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be? Well HERE he is in a video talking about a new report that is out.
Very interesting interview. Personally I just hope this is part of a changing tide. I would say it is time to be on the front end of this, really.
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Friday, October 9, 2015
College Rankings in the NYT
Because of my previous recommended reading, you had to know that when I saw this article staring back at me last week at my local Peet's, that my interest would be piqued.
Apparently the Obama administration has a new College Scorecard out. In all that this scorecard does, it certainly doesn't get to the "heart of the matter" in terms of telling you which institutions are "better" for your student/you. It certainly has a bias to it - which is unfortunate.
You should definitely read the entire article by James Stewart, and I'm really glad that he got the paycheck that the Scorecard focuses on out of the way and got someone to deal with "value added" colleges.
When that is done - because all of those liberal arts majors add so much to our society (really, would you want to live someplace where everyone was a scientist or engineer???), I find it interesting that there is yet another system that gives completely divergent rankings than even Scorecard or the woeful and highly flawed US New & World Report rankings.
The "top schools" become: Cogate, Carleton, Washington and Lee, Westmont, and Kenyon for the first five. The highest ranked Ivy was Brown at no. 45.
Wild.
And the article closes with what is clearly the best quote coming from Jerry Z. Muller - who has studied the misuse of metrics in his research - saying that an obsession with college graduate earnings "is just the most recent example of a larger phenomenon, which is that the gathering of numerical information acts as a kind of wish fulfillment. If you have enough metrics and benchmarks, somehow people believe that's going to solve a major problem. It rarely does."
Such a good ending to a really interesting story.
Apparently the Obama administration has a new College Scorecard out. In all that this scorecard does, it certainly doesn't get to the "heart of the matter" in terms of telling you which institutions are "better" for your student/you. It certainly has a bias to it - which is unfortunate.
You should definitely read the entire article by James Stewart, and I'm really glad that he got the paycheck that the Scorecard focuses on out of the way and got someone to deal with "value added" colleges.
When that is done - because all of those liberal arts majors add so much to our society (really, would you want to live someplace where everyone was a scientist or engineer???), I find it interesting that there is yet another system that gives completely divergent rankings than even Scorecard or the woeful and highly flawed US New & World Report rankings.
The "top schools" become: Cogate, Carleton, Washington and Lee, Westmont, and Kenyon for the first five. The highest ranked Ivy was Brown at no. 45.
Wild.
And the article closes with what is clearly the best quote coming from Jerry Z. Muller - who has studied the misuse of metrics in his research - saying that an obsession with college graduate earnings "is just the most recent example of a larger phenomenon, which is that the gathering of numerical information acts as a kind of wish fulfillment. If you have enough metrics and benchmarks, somehow people believe that's going to solve a major problem. It rarely does."
Such a good ending to a really interesting story.
Monday, February 23, 2015
A Little Something for the Juniors Out There
One day, probably soon, your parents will start bugging you about college.
I've seen over the past 4-5 years how the manifestation of this application process has sort of spiraled out of control. Meaning, y'all get way more stressed out than you need to, and your peers and parents don't help.
Short truth, you will all get in to college.
Maybe not your first choice, but my almost automatic response to "Why do you want to go there?" is, simply, "Why?"
"Because it's a good school" is usually the response, and that is a terrible response, so my next question is almost always, "But is it a good school for YOU?"
Maybe.
Maybe not.
And that's ok. Really. Trust me.
I think this article by Scott Anderson is fantastic. He is a Senior Director at The Common Application, so he might be familiar with the process after all.
Let's cheers to no working yourselves up too much next fall!
I've seen over the past 4-5 years how the manifestation of this application process has sort of spiraled out of control. Meaning, y'all get way more stressed out than you need to, and your peers and parents don't help.
Short truth, you will all get in to college.
Maybe not your first choice, but my almost automatic response to "Why do you want to go there?" is, simply, "Why?"
"Because it's a good school" is usually the response, and that is a terrible response, so my next question is almost always, "But is it a good school for YOU?"
Maybe.
Maybe not.
And that's ok. Really. Trust me.
I think this article by Scott Anderson is fantastic. He is a Senior Director at The Common Application, so he might be familiar with the process after all.
Let's cheers to no working yourselves up too much next fall!
Thursday, September 18, 2014
National Portfolio Day Info
It is that time of year again, time for the announcements for National Portfolio Day to begin coming in.
Often I forget to remind everyone, but not this year! Yay for you.
That's the mailing I just received - which is also posted in the classroom. If you click on that image or HERE, you will be able to go to their site.
While they don't have the time listed, they do have the date set (Jan. 17th, 2015) at San Francisco Art Institute.
This is a great time for Juniors to take in some work and get feedback from a bunch of different art schools pertaining to what they like and what they think you might want to work on. If you are a senior it can still be helpful, but by that time you should basically have most of your work completed.
If you have questions please let me know.
Often I forget to remind everyone, but not this year! Yay for you.
While they don't have the time listed, they do have the date set (Jan. 17th, 2015) at San Francisco Art Institute.
This is a great time for Juniors to take in some work and get feedback from a bunch of different art schools pertaining to what they like and what they think you might want to work on. If you are a senior it can still be helpful, but by that time you should basically have most of your work completed.
If you have questions please let me know.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Some insight/thoughts on all that is AP
Here is another article I found through the interwebs of KQED.
If you have had conversations with me as a student, you know I have some strong opinions about how some academic situations are handled.
In short, I think - overall - that too many of you are taking too many AP classes and that some adults (uh, parents...sometimes) put too much pressure on you to do more more MORE.
I get it. Really.
My kids were a product of many of the AP classes here at LG. Most of them were good classes. Not all, but most. There were some very good experiences had.
Even as it states towards the end of the article, these classes can sometimes be way better than to be bored to tears in a "regular" class.
But this depends on the subject and the student combined - along with other factors.
Bottom line, they aren't for everybody. But even broader than that, I truly don't believe they really benefit students in the way most people think and want them too.
If you could only hear the teachers bemoan about the quantity of content they "have" to cover. Frustrating, yes. And you wonder why your workload is so vast.
Legitimate quantity isn't bad. Practice is good.
But isn't depth just as important? Or curiosity? Or self-directed learning? Or...
At any rate, for now I will cease my rambling so that you can read this:
If you have had conversations with me as a student, you know I have some strong opinions about how some academic situations are handled.
In short, I think - overall - that too many of you are taking too many AP classes and that some adults (uh, parents...sometimes) put too much pressure on you to do more more MORE.
I get it. Really.
My kids were a product of many of the AP classes here at LG. Most of them were good classes. Not all, but most. There were some very good experiences had.
Even as it states towards the end of the article, these classes can sometimes be way better than to be bored to tears in a "regular" class.
But this depends on the subject and the student combined - along with other factors.
Bottom line, they aren't for everybody. But even broader than that, I truly don't believe they really benefit students in the way most people think and want them too.
If you could only hear the teachers bemoan about the quantity of content they "have" to cover. Frustrating, yes. And you wonder why your workload is so vast.
Legitimate quantity isn't bad. Practice is good.
But isn't depth just as important? Or curiosity? Or self-directed learning? Or...
At any rate, for now I will cease my rambling so that you can read this:
New Report Challenges Beliefs About the Value of AP Classes
It isn't very long, so treat yourself.
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