8-24-13 Get Schooled | www.ajc.com Obama: 'Higher education cannot be a luxury."

Obama: 'Higher education cannot be a luxury." | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Obama: 'Higher education cannot be a luxury."  

• COMMENT(15)
•  0 2 0 2

President Barack Obama speaks about affordable college education during a town hall meeting at Binghamton University, Friday, Aug. 23, 2013, in Vestal, N.Y. Obama is on a the second day of his two-day bus tour in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

By Maureen Downey

President Barack Obama  has called for a government rating system for colleges that would measure schools on their affordability and affect their federal financial aid.

As the AJC reported:

But the proposed overhaul faced immediate skepticism from college leaders who worry the rankings could cost their institutions millions of dollars, as well as from congressional Republicans wary of deepening the government's role in higher education.

The president, speaking to a student-heavy crowd of 7,000 at the University at Buffalo, said he expected pushback from those who have profited from the ballooning cost of college. But he argued that with the nation's economy still shaky and students facing increasing global competition, making college affordable is "an economic imperative."

"Higher education cannot be a luxury, " Obama said during the first stop on a two-day 

Get Schooled: Was there any silver lining to segregated schools?

Media Matters takes pundit Pat Buchanan to task for finding a "silver lining" in segregation. With the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington next week, here is what Buchanan wrote this week in his syndicated column: If we go back to the end of World War II, ...

2 18h 

Get Schooled: US Ed Secretary to DeKalb Schools: Nation is in awe of what you did.

U.S. Education Arne Duncan beamed into the DeKalb Board of Education today via teleconference this morning to discuss the drama at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy where an armed intruder threatening to kill police gained entry and forced the school into lockdown mode.  Heavily armed, 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill ...

62 22h 

Get Schooled: Do we need more guns in schools: Retired principal says no.

I am running a pro/con package today on guns related to the McNair shooting incident this week. I will be posting an opposing viewpoint shortly. First, here is Ellen Minette of Peacthree City, a retired school principal, on how our legislators have failed us on sensible gun policy.

22 1d 

AUG 22

Get Schooled: President Obama thanks McNair bookkeeper for courage, calm

The AP reports that President Barack Obama phoned the steely bookkeeper at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in DeKalb County to congraulate her for talking down a troubled young man who entered the school Tuesday with an AK-47 saying he wanted to kill police.  The president thanked Antoinette Tuff ...

100+ 1d 

Get Schooled: Georgia Tech wunderkind learns that Internet fame is followed by Internet excoriation. Now accused of plagiarism.

Internet fame can be instant and awesome, but so can Internet retribution. That is what Georgia Tech sophomore Nick Selby is probably learning today. Selby is the talented Georgia Tech orator from Arizona whose fiery convocation speech to the newly admitted freshmen class went viral this week. I posted ...

11 1d 

AUG 21

Get Schooled: Math professor: Common Core “will set our children back one to two years.” Governor in retreat.

Those thundering footsteps of late are the governor and Legislature beating a hasty retreat from Common Core State Standards, which have come under fire from both the left and the right. Gov. Nathan Deal had been in full support of Common Core, but that seems to have changed. It is ...

100+ 2d 

Get Schooled: If you want to build the Iron Man suit, you're at Georgia Tech. You can do that. Helluva of a welcome

Wow. As one person wrote after seeing this convocation speech at Georgia Tech this week, "I am 30 yrs old, I already went to college. I am married, I have a kid, and a full time job in New York...and after watching that, I just applied to Georgia Tech..." Note ...

100+ 2d 

Get Schooled: New ACT scores: Georgia students lag in math, science

The DOE released ACT scores today. In a nutshell, Georgia scores on the college admissions test did not change and still trail the national average.  The state's weakest performance was in math and science. The national average is slipping so the gap between Georgia and the rest of the country ...

72 3d 

Get Schooled: McNair bookkeeper: The right person to deal with a crazed gunman

This was one calm lady in a potentially deadly situation that would have reduced most of us to quaking, quivering blobs.  Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff said she understood that the 800-plus students in the school and the staff "were dependent upon me to keep their ...

300+ 3d 

AUG 20

Get Schooled: Any immediate lessons from DeKalb school horror? Beyond relief, what else is there?

I am not sure what immediate lessons can be learned from this afternoon's horror at a DeKalb County elementary school. Except perhaps to look behind you when entering a school so an armed intruder doesn’t slip in with you. The deep dive by the media into what happened at Ronald ...

39 3d 

Get Schooled: Three deaths and three devastated school communities

Reading a daily newspaper can be a sobering experience.  I am sure many of you are sharing my sadness over three deaths reported this week in the AJC that have plunged three schools into grief. First, there was the shocking death of talented Creekside High School football player De'Antre ...

6 3d 

Get Schooled: State announces first Innovation in Teaching winners. From Fannin, Camden and Henry counties.

 From the governor's office this morning: Gov. Nathan Deal today announced three winners in round one of the Innovation in Teaching Competition, a recognition and reward opportunity for teachers who demonstrate innovative teaching strategies in English Language Arts and Mathematics.   “The round one winners are among the most creative ...

200+ 3d 

AUG 19

Get Schooled: Do schools stigmatize boys as problems because of how they play?

Over the years, I have written a lot about whether modern school cultures are inhospitable to boys  and their more rambunctious forms of play. Christina Hoff Sommers writes about the topic this week in Time. Author of “The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young ...

300+ 4d 

Get Schooled: Math teacher: Inherent flaws in how Georgia and Common Core teach math

Georgia math teacher Trevor Thomas writes about the controversial integrated math curriculum that has been a subject of frequent Get Schooled blogs over the last five years. (If you search on "math," you will find many pros and cons on the program introduced by former school chief Kathy Cox.) Thomas ...

100+ 5d 

AUG 18

Get Schooled: Ashton Kutcher: Sexiest thing in entire world is being smart

Thought this was worth sharing. Wise message from actor Ashton Kutcher to share with middle school students and older, including, "Build a life. Don't live one. Build one. Find your opportunities." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XqW7BJMDq8

30 5d 

8-24-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Does Anyone Really Vote Based On Newspaper Endorsements?

The neo-liberals at the Times endorsed Quinn.I am not surprised.Some people thought de Blasio might get the endorsement.I didn't think that would happen.When you look at their neo-liberal positions on so many other issues at the NY Times, the Quinn endorsement makes the most sense - phony liberals endorsing another phony liberal.As Dan Levitan put it, the newspaper that endorsed the 2nd and 3rd Bl

by reality-based edu... / 29min 

Common Core Test Scores Are Now Accessible - NYC Parents Blog Has Some Great Advice Before You See Your Child's Scores

See that advice here.My favorite point is:Know that these tests are part of a movement to privatize public education by convincing parents that our children are underperforming, compared with other countries, and a massive restructuring of the public education system is the only thing that will save the future of the US; this would involve higher standards, better teachers (which requires a de-uni

by reality-based edu... / 47min mark as read  //  save

Anthony Weiner In Car Crash

From the Daily News: Mayoral wanna-be Anthony Weiner got in a three-car pile up on the FDR drive Saturday at 8:30 a.m., according to the fire department. “This morning, on the FDR drive, there was a chain reaction car accident,” spokeswoman Barbara Morgan confirmed. “All are OK.” She did not say who was traveling with Weiner at the time.Gee, I hope he wasn't texting while he was driving.

by reality-based edu... / 2h 

Will Somebody Explain How The NYSED And NYCDOE Are Going To Calculate These Growth Measures For APPR For Me?

From the menu from hell known as the Measures Of Student Learning that was imposed upon us by NYSED Commissioner John King, we learn that the PSAT will be used as the baseline for growth measurements for ELA and math teachers who teach classes that end in a Regents exam.Exactly how does the PSAT align to the ELA or math Regents exams?Were these tests devised to see how much "growth" students made

by reality-based edu... / 2min 

One Michigan Lawmaker Wants Governor Rick Snyder, Lawmakers And Education Officials To Take The Common Core Tests Students Take

This sounds good to me:LANSING -- With the fight over the Common Core State Standards set to resume in both House and Senate hearings next week, one opponent in the legislature wants lawmakers taking the same tests students will face. Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills), who has been vocally opposed to the standards, is sponsoring a bill that would require state officials including the governor

by reality-based edu... / 29min 

It's Time For Bill Gates To Get Out Of His Public Education Malanthropy Work And Go Save Microsoft

Microsoft is a disaster.CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement on Friday, though it seems he was pushed from the company for his many failures:The company portrayed the departure as voluntary, but it comes amid rising complaints among investors and a month after a disappointing earnings report sent the company’s share price down by 11 percent.Among the problems was a $900 million write-off rel

by reality-based edu... / 37min 

8-23-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School: Time To Sue Arne Duncan And The USDOEFrom Politico:An unprecedented set of recent Education Department decisions about No Child Left Behind waivers is at the least an overreach and at the very worst illegal, a chorus of critics say.Last week, the department declared NCLB waivers for Kansas, Oregon and Washington state “high-risk” because each state has more work to do in tyi

by mike simpson / 9h