Blog 14: Advisor, “I need a fitness class to graduate.”

Do you remember which classes you needed to graduate from college? I do and physical education wasn’t one of them. In a aggressive move to curve the obsieity epdicmic facing the youth of our country, specifically the black community Lincoln Univeristy is requiring overweight students to take a fitness class. According to the USA Today article written by the AP, “Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community”.

The requirement is a three credit fitness course that what put in place four years ago for all incoming freshman. It requires students to get tested for their body mass index, a measure of weight to height. If students are above a healthy weight then they are required to take a class that consist of , “Walking, aerobics, weight training and other physical activities, as well as information on nutrition, stress and sleep” said, James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln's department of health, physical education and recreation.

In the article it stated that certain health experts agreed that something needed to be done but felt the move by the college is, “distasteful” because issues such as healthy choices in the vending machines could be addressed by the college.

Tiana Lawson, a 21-year-old senior, wrote in this week's edition of The Lincolnian, the student newspaper, that she "didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range. I came here to get an education."

Again, I ask do you remember what requirements you had to take to graduate? Is this discrimination? Is this being proactive? Many colleges require students to take a diversity credit to enrich their minds so why not make requirements to improve the body?

I applauded this college for taking a stand on a sensitive issue, but I want to know what you think.

Blog # 13: Is out of state tuition for illegals a thing of the past?

In 10 states a student that is undocumented and/or illegal can be given in state tuition and the Common Wealth of Massachusetts is now considering a bill to do the same. What does this mean to higher education? Well, it means millions of dollars pumped back into colleges that are in and economic downturn. According to USA Today article, “The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates that 400 to 600 students might enter Massachusetts schools as a result of the bill and that it likely would result in $2.5 million of extra revenue”.

The issue is a hot one in Massachusetts and a similar bill was voted down in 2006. A reason given by Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, D-Barnstable, “believes it will make the state's college fee structure meaningless and will take away the incentive for undocumented students to legalize their status”.

Recently, bills in states like Georgia (where some of our classmates live) have passed legislation that bans undocumented students to enroll in colleges using in-state rates. Steve Kropper, co-director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform, a group that seeks immigration restrictions, has stated, “"It doesn't make economic sense to us," Kropper said. "If they can't get a job when they're done (with college), then it doesn't make sense for the state to invest in them,” referring to the fact that they are not allowed to have drivers licenses in his state which makes employment difficult.

Since most states that have passed some sort of bill allowing in-state tuition to illegal’s are in conservative controlled states people cannot argue that is it a political issue for the left to gain votes. It really is an issue that both parties are tackling with illegal immigration at the fore front.

So what does this mean to you and me your wondering? Well, I see it as an unfair advantage given to undocumented individuals so colleges can cash in. It is no secret that colleges can make huge profits from out-of-state students attending. For example at Bismarck State College, residents pay $112 per credit hour while non-residents pay $299. The money made from non-residents cover a lot expenses for higher education.

On the other hand, one could argue that undocumented students need assistance to lift themselves up and start a new life in American and this is one way to do it. If that is the case shouldn’t citizens that are non residents be able to use the same agreement for improving their lives?

This isn’t about discrimination it is about what is fair to all students that want to attended college , tax dollars, and politics.

What do you think?

Blog #12: Are you teaching students to fail?

Well, if you are not teaching them to fail maybe you should, according to Justin Pope, of the Associated Press. In his latest article titled, “Analysis: College students need a lesson in failure”, Pope brings to forefront how colleges tend to bring in the best and brightest speakers to enlighten the student body. He states that the blogging being done about shamed ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair at the college of Washington & Lee University in Virginia will prompt colleges to rethink the issue of failure.

Pope says, “But if the cheap irony of a famous fabulist lecturing on ethics was too much to resist, perhaps it could also prompt colleges to think more seriously about something they often shy away from: the value of exposing students to, and preparing them for, failure”.

Is he right? Did your college expose you to failure?

I can’t think of one guest speaker while I attended University of Nebraska-Omaha that spoke about their failures or were even considered failures.

The article in USA Today goes on to Generation Y is intrigued by individuals who fail because they were always given the medal, always told how to succeed, and are frighten of being a disappointment. “That's understandable — but too bad. Teachers say failure is something so-called Gen Y students want to hear more about,” said Pope.

Of course teachers can talk about failure in literature and point students to people that are failures but how do you construct a lesson on failure? The key according to some professors is critically thinking and discussing with a class what that individual did and be honest about it, maybe they learned something from the failure or maybe they didn’t, should it matter? The exposure should be there.

Writer Timothy Noah lamented how many new college graduates were getting commencement advice from the accomplished but boring. Success is admirable but uninstructive, while failure is far more informative — and interesting.

"People typically have a much easier time recounting, in often vivid detail, where they screwed up in life than they do explaining what they did right," Noah wrote.

The only time I talk to my class about failure is when I am relating to a troubleshooting problem and it didn’t work the way I wanted to. I think it would be interesting sit down one day and discuss what failure means to students and then turn it into a learning experience by showing them failure is a part of life and how to accept it.

Maybe some of my classmates that teach in the English areas could help me come up with a good set of directions so is I would attempt a writing assignment I would recieve honest work.

Blog #11: Should Bill Gates be deciding where the money goes?

Some individuals, teachers, teacher unions, state educational boards and maybe even some within the Department of Education are wondering how his influence and more importantly his money will effect education. Of course Bill Gates won’t be the next Secretary of Education but his ideas, founded through The Gates Foundation, might push his agenda for a better educational system into the states that you teach. The Foundation has spent $200 million on elementary and secondary schools in the forms of grants already.


The co-founder of Microsoft, “Is taking unprecedented steps to spend millions to influence the way the federal government distributes $5 billion in grants to overhaul public schools” according to Libby Quaid and Donna Blankinship of the Associated Press.

How it works is state educational agencies can apply for the sum of $250,000 from Bill Gates to help them go after federal stimulus dollars set aside for education. The catch is that if your state is awarded federal money you will then follow guidelines setup by the Gates Foundation.

Don’t worry because the Obama Administration and the Gates agree on many similar strategies to improve education like, “Paying teachers based on student test scores, among other measures of achievement; charter schools that operate independently of local school boards; and a set of common academic standards adopted by every state”, the USA Today article said.

How do you feel about your pay being based on student test scores? Or charter schools? Or common academic standards?

Obviously many organizations and unions are questioning this agenda and many think that since two of Bill Gates former employees sit on the Sec. of Education inner circle there is some wrongdoing.

“It's no secret the U.S. education system is failing," Gates said. "We're doing all kinds of experiments that are different. The Race To The Top is going to do many different ones. There's no group-think,” was his response to these accusations.

If you’re unfamiliar “The Race to the Top” is the government program, not the Gates Foundation program.

Another issue is, “The foundation's rising profile comes as the recession has gutted state and local budgets, which spend more money on education — roughly 35% — than anything else. Many states and districts can't keep all their teachers on the payroll, let alone spend money on a high-stakes application for federal money that includes some 44 pages of rules.”

The most interesting part of this article for me was that when the Gates Foundation started this program it was only open to 15 states but other states found out and complained that they needed money also to apply for federal dollars so Gates opened it up to, “any state that meets eight criteria, including a commitment to the common standards effort and the ability to link student data to teachers.”

Finally, I think Bill Gates heart is in the right place for trying to help schools acquire more money and if he wants to set guidelines for it and the schools are willing to accept them so be it, but I worry about the schools that don’t want to follow his guidelines, they will be a huge disadvantage when the stimulus money is doled out. I am not sure what the solution is but why not try this and see what the results are.