Students Wanted for Colleges - Welcome to the USA

I figured since my last blog was about middle school I better talk about higher education this week. The current economic downturn in the United States has caused many American families to rethink sending Jonny and Sally to college right now. This in turn has caused a financial shortfall for many community colleges.

Some community colleges are going as far as Vietnam to recruit students to help bring the money in for their institution. According to a USA Today article, “about 23 U.S. schools participating in last year's Asian recruitment tour organized by the American Association of Community Colleges.”

Why do you ask are they visiting a communist country? It is simple. The middle class in this Southeast Asia country is growing. The country of Vietnam is roughly of the twice the size of Arizona and, “more than 5,000” visas are issued to students that attend two-year colleges. If that doesn’t entice a recruiter to travel half way across the world nothing will.

So the question I am posing is should U.S. recruit foreign students?

In my opinion there are two major issues. One, are American students losing tuition scholarships and housing on campus to foreign students? Second, if colleges stop recruiting outside the U.S. does the diversity experience of college life lesson?
First, there is no evidence that indicates that housing is being loss to foreign students and even though colleges do provide scholarships the economic impact that, “International students contribute more than $15.5 billion in tuition and living expenses to the U.S. economy, through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses, making U.S higher education one of the country's largest service-sector exports”.

From my own experience the Millennials would rather live at home if they can and as far as scholarships go our community college has had trouble giving money away because students won’t take the time to fill out a simple one page form. It drives me crazy. I even make copies of easy $500 general scholarships to my students and get this; many say they don’t care, “because mom and dad are paying for it.”

My second question, concerning the learning of diversity at college and does it lessen the experience with few foreigners there. According to Patricia Gurin’s, “Students come to universities at a critical stage of their development--a time during which they define themselves in relation to others and experiment with different social roles before making permanent commitments to occupations, social groups, and intimate personal relationships”. She goes to state, “In addition, for many students college is the first sustained exposure to an environment other than their home communities”.

I tried to find some information on colleges or a student body that might be against foreign exchange students and couldn’t find any facts. I have heard rumors that some student body governments complained that colleges were losing their identity but I couldn’t find the details for sure.
I am in favor of colleges recruiting foreign students to study abroad because it sends a positive message of the United States and democracy back with them to their home countries. It also brings money into the U.S. which allows faculty and staff to have jobs. Lastly, it gives American students the opportunity to visit with other students and learn things about their cultural differences.

On a side note, I should mention that background checks for visas are extremely tough to get for the U.S. since 9/11. This should make us feel a bit safer that the State Department isn’t just handing them out.

Blog #5: Dress For Success at Public Schools

Does the term dress for success mean anything anymore? The current lawsuit filed by the Cheyenne Sioux tribe against the public school in Eagle Butte, South Dakota is another attempt by lawyers to waste taxpayers’ money on an issue that has proven successful in other districts. According Carol Moran, whose daughter attends the school, she and, “other parents have joined the tribe in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the school district from enforcing the dress code, which requires students to wear black, white or tan shirts, pants, skirts or shorts”.




The school district insists that the school has a gang problem and many of the students wear gang colors to school, “daily”. Many educators may think of a gang as something they see on TV or in the movies but according to the School Safety and Security Services a youth gang can be considered young adults who:

• interact frequently

• are frequently and deliberately involved in illegal activities

• share a common collective identity

• and typically adopt certain methods of identification and/or claim control over certain areas



I would assume that the teachers and administrators at Eagle Butte have seen these behaviors for some time and decided to take action. They didn’t do it overnight. They sent letters home explaining the new dress code and published the rules in the local paper over the summer explaining the reasoning behind it. The district, which has failed to meet the standards from No Child Left Behind has stated, “we hope that an increase in safety will increase our academics for all students." Can you blame them for trying something new?



An example that this policy does work is Long Beach, California. Since 1994 the school has kept records and the stats have shown that school crime has dropped 76%, while attendance has reached an all time high.



Other positive things that uniforms bring to the table stated on a public school parent website are:

1. Eliminates opportunities for the ridicule of less popular or less fortunate students based on attire.

2. Decreases theft and violence

3. Help students resist peer pressure

4. Help officials recognize intruders



I have visited Eagle Butte and have been in their high school within the last year. The town of Eagle Butte is poor and when I was there the atmosphere just seemed depressing. For those of you not familiar with the reservation in SD it is very similar to the ghetto in a large city. There are buildings that need fixing, a swimming pool with no water, basketball courts with no nets, and individuals just hanging out. The school is nice but run down in areas such as maintenance and grounds. It was summer when I visited so no students were there but I did meet some staff members that were very positive and hardworking. It must be somewhat disappointing to see youth gangs and violence increasing in your district and not being able to do much to curve it. That is why they passed a school dress code policy. They needed to act quickly and take stand in the one place students should feel safe…the school. Good for them.

I understand the cost of new uniforms will be difficult for some families but I am sure if there is a way to tie it to NCLB and success rate maybe a discount can be offered. I also understand the claim of civil liberties and freedom of expression should be allowed in a public schools and it can be, at sporting events, school clubs, and dances. I would ask any parent in Eagle Butte if they have a better idea of stopping the gangs in the schools then they should step forward and speak up.

Blog #4: Should teachers be "friends" online to students?

Many people use MySpace and Facebook to socialize online and teachers are no different, but should teachers have current students and former students as "friends".  For those that do not use the two most popular social networks MySpace and Facebook  (This link shows who runs Facebook, check it out!)  According to Kathryn Linder in an article in Faculty Focus, teachers should ask themselves three questions if they are on these sites:

1) How much do you want your students to know about you?
2) How much do want to know about your students?
3) Some students may not use social networking sites?

The first question should be obvious and should be easy to protect since both sites have privacy settings that can be used, but if they are not, students might see pictures or read things from your friends.  In most states teachers have moral codes that they need to follow to keep teaching and in some states thus lines can become blurred because teachers have rights like the public.  In some state the unions have made suggestions to stop teachers from getting fired for inappropreate discussions and post on thier sites.

Moving on to question #2, this is can be a fine line too depending on which type of students you are allowing to view your page.  For current students you should think about things you might see that you don't want to see, like pictures of them drinking or smoking.  I once was shown a page from a coworker that had my some of my students from a couple of years ago drinking and at the time I knew they were underage.  You might start to view them differently. 

Lastly, you must remember some students do not have access to a social network site and if you "friend" one student and not others you might be setting yourself up to favor some students over others.   You might even make comments about the network and make those that don't have a page feel isolated.

The key to being a professional is to set boundaries and explain to the class on the first day what the site is all about and why and how you use it.  Of course, this may vary depending on what level of education you are teaching at.  Currently, at my college there is no policy in place on social network sites and instructors using them.  We do recieve updates on from our adminstration about acting properly and other things to be aware of when socializing with students. 

Teachers also much be aware of former students contacting them and how that will be precieved.  I do not use a FaceBook or MySpace because at this time I feel like I want to keep my privacy to myself and listening to my students talk about it all the time has sort of turned me off it for now.  I do see the positive things that come from them, such as staying in contact with old friends, but I do a pretty good job of this through email.  Plus, if I show and tell them everything online they will never have to visit me in person.  Just kidding.  Let me know what you think by taking my poll or posting a comment. 

Blog # 3 Should Schools Be Open Longer and Do Parents Need To Step Up

Hello fellow bloggers,
The title of this blog is coming from statements the new Seceratary of Education, Arne Duncan made recently during an interview with USA Today.  So what do you think educators?  Well, let's start with his first comment about schools being open longer.  He says about our students,"They're competing for jobs against children in India and China. And the fact is that many of those young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30% longer than our students here".  According to the website ChinaDaily.com, students "go to school from Monday to Friday, nine hours a day," and in some schools in China students are in the classrooms 12 hours day with the weekends devoted to homework and  maybe music lessons or another learning activity.
We all that the students in China are passing thier Amercian counterparts in testing and according one site on internatal testing, "the tests showed U.S. fourth-graders performing poorly, middle school students worse. and high school students are unable to compete. By the same criteria used to say we were "average" in elementary school, "we appear to be "near the bottom" at the high school level. 
I believe that testing does say a lot about how schools and the nation are doing but I don't think we have reached the full circle with NCLB regardless of what some information says.  I don't think NCLB is the complete answer but I don't think pushing students to the point of sucide and cheating is the answer either.  Both of these are major issues in China becasue of the pressure put on young people to succeed on thier college entrance exams.

Now going back to what our Secertary said, he feels that in today's world with US parents working harder and longer that schools need to adapt and make changes so students have a "safe haven" were success can take place.  Changes do need to be made but are longer hours the answer?  I believe curriculm changes are the major issue but I do understand his point that something drastic needs to be done and adding more days to a school year by let's say 4 weeks might work. 

Moving on to the the next part of my title, "Do parents need to step up," well, yes they do.  The Secatary stated, "Parents are always going to be our students' first teachers. The most important thing I can do is to read to my children every night, to not have them watching TV and to really be a partner with that teacher".  How many of us have said the same thing or thought it when we talk to students or parents in meetings?  I would bet many of you have discussed this in the teachers lounge.  Of course were I am now is different but when I did teach at the Middle School level I met many students that did not have partental involvement.  This made teaching difficult because if the parents do not find education important more then likely the student won't either. 
How can we develop and foster such a partnership? The most important point to remember is keep parents informed, says Emmal McDondal, on the Education World website.  There are many examples given to teachers to encourage parents to be involved with thier child and I am many of you have tried them. 

The overall solution to our students test scores or performance is not simple and in young country that is always having different political parties change the agenda every four years it is diffficult.  I would like hear what your thoughts are on what a solution might be.

Have a nice week.

-Kyren Miller

Community Colleges Central in Rebuilding American Jobs

As the nation faces some the largest employment ratings in decades according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/ it has reached a high of 9.4%, the President has decided that community colleges will play a bigger role in training workers for jobs. His administration is proposing a $2.5 billion dollar overall on three key areas: building and technology, student success, and grants for online courses that could be offered free.


The article in USA today mentions that in general community colleges receive less funding and I know in ND this is true because as Bismarck State College as moved into the number 3 spot with enrollments our funding is not equal to other institutions on a dollar per dollar bases. Our college President has told us that ND largest university NDSU gets to keep 50 cents on the dollar what it takes in were BSC gets to take in 48 cents with the other profits (from tuition & other services) going into the general fund that the State Board of Higher Ed can use to disperse at their will. So basically, we bring in the students and another college could get the money.

According to George Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges, "The financial strain that our colleges are experiencing cannot be overemphasized," http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-07-14-obama-community-colleges_N.htm

He goes to mentioned that with the current Obama proposal the funding will help the community colleges improve the learning experience, "position community colleges to help sustain the nation's long-term prosperity."

The fact is those community colleges educate nearly half of the undergraduates in the country according to TIME magazine in its July issue. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1909623,00.html

The piece brings into light that for all the good a community college can do the major down side is the graduation rate is low and the US has, "it has slipped to ninth in producing working-age "sub-bachelor's" degree holders, which is one reason Obama is working on a plan to help every American get at least one year of college or vocational training."

Where do I stand on this issue you ask? Since I work at a community college in a vocation trade area I am encourage that this administration is talking about 2-year colleges and that he sees them as place that can provide quality training and a solid education for the next generation. I could list numerous facts we have on our 2-year graduates that have salaries starting in the $40,000-$50,000 a year with benefits. But, one area that concerns me about this is the funding of his new 3-step proposal. If passed it would switch subsized student’s loans to loans through the Education Department and we all know how well the government runs its programs. Notice the sarcasm. I don't like the idea of the Feds controlling other aspect of our lives and can our federal budget handle an even larger defect at this time? I don't think so. I would like to see another plan to help students and community colleges before this moves forward. I think the President owes that much to the generation that might have to pay this plan off someday.