A QUESTION … AND AN ANSWER

Should this industry be dismantled, then redefined and restructured?

It is an interesting business: highly fragmented, with well over a thousand entities selling similar products. Marketing to prospective customers is rather unique. It is primarily not done by industry participants; rather it is society in general which has strongly suggested, in multiple ways, that all people of a certain age must, for their own well-being, buy this industry’s product.

Pricing power is triggered initially by this unique demand characteristic; equally important is the ready availability of government monies to assist buyers (through access to considerable amounts of debt) to pay the on- going price of the product.

This combination of favorable induced demand and external funding characteristics means there is minimal need for the industry to care about its cost structure. Moreover, there is little self-analysis because there is a virtual absence of price competition.

Many of the individuals working in the industry are more like independent entrepreneurs than true employees as they have wide leeway in how they provide their services to the customers. Industry personnel often exhibit the soft arrogance of power — slow to return communication from the customer (or no response at all), and an ability to be unembarrassed at not showing up for a meeting with a customer. There is no apparent fear of being reprimanded by a superior.

To be fair, customers have access to those on staff who may recommend different designs within the overall product framework; unfortunately, they do not score highly when customers are asked about their usefulness.

Industry participants almost universally look for add-on revenues, which they obtain either by aggressive direct pricing on ancillary components related to the product or through profitable outsourcing relationships with suppliers of said components.
A large percentage of the industry’s customers apparently are dissatisfied with the product judging from the rate at which there is a complete consummation of the relationship. Meanwhile, the governing boards of these businesses are comprised of extremely important and busy people who are seemingly too self-occupied to hold management accountable for the shortfalls. In addition, those responsible for the flow of public monies to these businesses have been under little pressure to ascertain the effectiveness of this support.

One constant is that the industry’s pricing power facilitates consistent above-average inflation in product cost irrespective of general economic conditions or the number of disappointed customers.

**

With respect to the future of this industry, it is believed that the number of customer prospects for its product is rapidly approaching a peak. In a normal industry, this might be expected to bring a shakeout, with weaker vendors calling it quits, maybe turning over their book of business to a stronger entrant, perhaps converting their vacated buildings into mini-museums or employment retraining centers or community multimedia libraries.

Downsizing is resisted in part because it would require the aforementioned individual entrepreneurs and staffers alike to transfer their talents, undoubtedly at lower levels of wages and benefits, to other, more competitive, types of businesses. Simply cutting published prices to gain market share and drive competition to the sidelines is of questionable utility given the fact that most purchases are not based on list price considerations. Even if some entities were to completely quit, those actions by themselves might do nothing to the modus operandi of those players remaining in the industry.

Given the unexciting outlook for the customer prospect count, it is stunning that many of the players in this industry are adding to their physical plant (often through government endorsed bond issues), either to increase capacity (which can only be profitable through greater market share) or to modernize components which need not be directly connected to the product being sold.

Like every industry, this collection of businesses is also spending significant money to enhance their high-tech capability, without any real evidence that technology per se is key to the product becoming more of a success in the marketplace.

On the brighter side, those industry participants who have accurately sensed an important shift in the composition of their customer prospect base are altering some of their traditional strategies. Their primary initial step is nonetheless conventional: they vigorously reinforce to newbies the societal message that what they sell is something the prospective rookie customers must have.

What they have found in the beginning phase of the unfolding changes in customer composition is that it is difficult to sell a Lincoln Continental and a Honda in the same showroom. Remembering Economics 101, they unsurprisingly would rather promote the high-priced Lincoln, which means space and support for the different needs of the Honda prospect/customer receive less attention. This leads to increased dissatisfaction among the discount buyers and, inevitably, a high percentage of incomplete transactions.

**

Considering all the aspects of this industry as described above, it seems that any objective observer would conclude the industry needs to be …
Dismantled, then Redefined and Restructured.

 

 

 

ONE GOAL: MULTIPLE PATHS

Even if we tend to forget the truism in a country characterized by both unprecedented affluence and huge disparities in income, everybody, student and non-student alike, wants the financial ability to meet basic needs: a roof over one’s head, some clothes (let’s not have a debate here about “needs” versus “wants”), and food on the table (not of the portion size which eventually brings big health bills). These are the tangible essentials, made more enjoyable by the presence of a supportive family, good friends, hopefully a special relationship, and a connection to some variant of the concept of community.

Question: Would it be advantageous to have this simple, honest imagery replace what seems to happen at present in high school guidance counselor offices when a freshman makes the required initial contact: either no message about the multiple ways to achieve a good life or a collection of words which convey the impression that it is college or bust for every student.

Why not offer the mother of all educational information spreadsheets: an array of alternative life paths and some inputs on the variables associated with each path.

This spreadsheet would have the sole purpose of providing information and guidance connected to the individual student. It would not be used to either promote a particular course of action nor to suggest that a high school freshman typically knows his exact future path. Instead the spreadsheet would be used as a reference point, perhaps with a scheduled check-in date, e.g. every six months as a freshman or sophomore, every three months as a junior and every two months as a senior.

The guidance counselor would use the student’s spreadsheet commentary to enhance the latter’s dialogue with that counselor, a marked improvement over current practice, where entirely too many students reach their senior year in high school without having had a thorough discussion about their next step.

The above combination of changes could produce a more thoughtful, smoother decision-making process, in many cases distinctly different from what is often in today’s world a stress-producing modus operandi when it comes to thinking about life after high school.

Moreover, there could be a collateral benefit of this attempt to somewhat de-stress the incremental education decision, namely a reduction in the high school drop-out rate. The proposed changes address two of these five most common reasons behind the decision to prematurely exit high school:

• An inferiority complex triggered by the message that “college is for everybody.”
• The family budget requires another wage-earner.
• Because of documentation issues, aspiration is diluted or defeated.
• Negative behavior, regardless of the reason, that brings expulsion.
• Inadequate attention given to the marketable skills (otherwise known as Career Technical Education) path to economic sustainability.

Within the category of higher education per se, in today’s environment of high tuition rates, burdensome debt levels for college graduates, and persistent underemployment of recent diploma recipients, a cooler look at the numbers is advantageous. While 70% of high school graduates pursue some type of incremental education, only 30% earn a four-year degree and 10% a two-year degree. Does it not therefore make even more sense to devote additional attention to all of the metrics of enhanced education, particularly those pertinent to the under-analyzed 60%.

These thoughts are not laid out because of economic ignorance. There is full awareness that the lifetime income benefits of greater education are substantial:

• Less than a high school diploma $900,000
• High school diploma 1,400,000
• Some college 1,600,000
• Associate’s degree 1,800,000
• Bachelor’s degree 2,400,000
• Master’s degree 2,800,000
• Doctorate 3,500,000

To put the data differently, assuming a 35-year working life, the annual economic difference between a high school drop-out and a Bachelor’s is about $40,000 before taxes, unadjusted for debt. Obviously, this is a big differential, even when debt repayment is considered.

It is less clear that the steps from high school diploma to associates degree are life-changers; a foregone positive differential of $10,000 per year before taxes could be acceptable to a person who develops a marketable skill without incurring more than a minimal amount of debt. Note that the income data above does not have a separate calculation for earnings of individuals with marketable skills not directly tied to the level of educational attainment.

There are of course other benefits associated with more education: for example, a high school drop-out is three times as likely to be unemployed as an individual with a Bachelor’s degree or more. Unemployment rates for those with an Associate’s degree or some college courses are roughly double those with a four-year degree or higher.

Bringing every macro and micro input together in a single comprehensive spreadsheet would be an informational way to move away from the “college for all” message which seems so pervasive. This tool would be relevant to the prospective next steps in every student’s life.

Better decision-making and planning should be the procedural goal of all concerned, from high school administrators to guidance counselors to parents and students.

BobHowittbooks.com/?page_id=22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Andrea:
I cannot express how proud I am when telling people that my lawyer was a member of our foundation’s very first education program, which means we have interacted since your eighth grade. And I now disclose to you everything pertinent to my multiple activities. My joke that includes a great deal of truth is that I am allowed to be crazy, but you stop me from being insane.

Everything below is absolutely factual, as it happened and was verbalized at the time. Comments in parentheses were not spoken, only thought—by me, either at the time or in looking back on the events of the night. I leave it to you to separate the components into the above mental categories.
**
For some reason, I awoke at 4:30am on Tuesday, August 14. Perhaps it was because I was thinking about an errand I was going to run for a very special person or maybe I was a touch uneasy about an impending x-ray to see if my left hip implant was still in the right place. Who knows. I do know that I was a touch groggy when I went to the great Hunan restaurant in Denville for dinner with a long-time associate. We met up at 7:20pm and left around 10pm. I had ample food and my usual single bottle of Heineken.

Leaving Hunan, I made the turn necessary to put me on Franklin Road. Noticing a policeman behind me, I kept my speed down. On this street, which runs through a lake community, I did what I do too often, which is that I encroached on the yellow lines instead of staying tight to parked cars, from which people could suddenly emerge at any hour. (I paid for this transgression in nearby Wharton a couple of years ago; for a time, I contemplated measuring everything, lanes and cars, to fight the issue, but common sense prevailed … reluctantly.)
Nearing the curve for the underpass, the policeman put on his lights and I pulled over. I asked what was the issue and he responded with the yellow line violation, a $185 violation. Then he asked if I was intoxicated, to which I replied with the information on the lone beer. He said my eyes looked bloodshot and I told him perhaps it was the result of being an old guy at the end of a long day. He asked for my identification and when it took a while to find the insurance card, his thesis was probably strengthened, in his mind that is, not in actuality.

He noticed my front bumper situation, some problems caused by years back concrete barriers in a parking lot. If I cared about cars, the ugly optics would have been fixed. To him, it probably reinforced the point of view he already had about me. (I totally forgot that in my wallet is a “friend” card from a Dover policeman I have known since he was a teenager; I wondered later whether showing it would have changed anything, but the odds are 50-50 whether it would have been positive or negative, given the differences between the two towns.)
I did quietly complain about the number of speeders in front of my home at 50 Smith Road; he said that using radar, he had ticketed two people there in the past week, which is two more than I have seen ticketed in 38 years of living there.

Anyway, said policeman requested that I get out of my car, whereupon he gave me the “keep your eyes on my pen” sobriety test for multiple times, all while his car light was shining in my eyes. He was polite, calling me “sir” repeatedly (he looked to be in his low twenties; I subsequently learned he joined the force a year ago, which maybe explains the feeling that he was proving his bona fides to the older policeman who had joined the situation.)

Next came the leg tests. When I am nervous/anxious, my legs tend to soften and shake. I did terribly on those facets of the drunk driving test, which reinforced the prevailing assertion of the cop.

His next direction was succinct, “face the car, put your hands behind you.” He read me my rights and put the metal handcuffs on. It was the first time in handcuffs for me; they are uncomfortable for sure and they make navigating into the backseat of a police cruiser not easy.
Off to the Denville police station we went, with me being almost completely mute; I had cursed only once, when I was put into the car. (Regardless of my certainty that I would pass the breathalyzer test, I thought of certain negative headlines, as in “leader of non-profit foundation arrested.” Ugh.)

The breathalyzer in Denville was not functional, so we went to the station in Rockaway. The machine that is used needs a 20-minute warm-up. Fortunately the cuffs were off by then but to have this policeman attempting to make small talk was not something I cared about. I did ask what would happen to the paperwork when I was declared innocent. He assured me that nothing would show on a criminal record, but I was totally unconvinced that the episode would not live in some file cabinet accessible under a public information request.

Finally, as it approached midnight, I took the test, twice breathing into the tube as required. He did not announce the results until I asked: “Zero evidence of alcohol in my blood.”

(Question: if somebody had snapped a picture of me in handcuffs up against a police car, would they have stuck around for a picture when I aced the breathalyzer test. How many employers of low-level wage-earners would be patient enough to know the whole story.)
We got back in the car and returned to the Denville station for paperwork. While he was so occupied, I gazed at the police department group photo: 38 white males (who could have been clones, they looked so similar), one guy named Fernandez and four white females, three of whom appeared to be in administrative positions. (I got to thinking, given my views on the desirability of diversity, why was I living in this white town.)

When the policeman returned, he gave me the news – when he had said earlier they would take me back if the test was okay, he meant to my house, not my car. Because the latter had been impounded!

I was dismayed and posed the question of why my car was impounded if I was innocent. Standard procedure was the answer. I attempted a comment along the lines of Catch 22 and thought better of it. I refused his offer of a ride home — no way that my emotions would not boil over being cooped up with him. I told him I would walk home; he suggested it was a long way (about five miles). I stormed out and let loose a sufficiently loud f……. that it could have been heard throughout the town.

Yes, it was a touch late, but It was a nice night for a walk, which I like to do. Only a CVS was open to provide some sustenance, in this case, an energy bar. My only real concerns in walking at this totally dark hour were whether it would rain or whether a sudden noise would convince a homeowner that a prowler was afoot and he or or she would exercise their God-given right to fire away.
I had reached Route 10, climbed over the median barrier to walk facing what little traffic there was, and was less than a mile from my home, when – a police car pulled off the road in my direction. I laughed, thinking this was really my night. It was the same policeman.

After expressing amazement that I had walked this far, he was insistent about taking me the rest of the way. I briefly contemplated total refusal (could I be arrested for walking against the advice of the authorities) but said, “enough,” and climbed in.
Finally I hit the bed at 2am, rising entirely too soon at 8am. Shortly thereafter I called a Dover cab (Denville is apparently too affluent to have such a convenience and I have not yet signed up for Lyft.) Naturally he was twice as long as promised in coming for me and then asked where I was going –I had already provided that information multiple times to the dispatcher. When he asked for directions, I was speechless; then he went to one of his iDevices to guide him.

As I was waiting outside my front door for the cab, the developer of the McMansion in the next lot stopped by and among other items, informed me he would be moving his work trailer closer to my property and that he would need to connect to my electricity. While I mumbled something like, “how does that work?,” inside I was thinking that maybe I was wearing an invisible t-shirt which indicated it was time to be taken down a peg, to be educated about not really being in total control of my life.

Eventually, the cab did get to McCarter Towing in Rockaway. It would have been nice to have been informed by the policeman that cash was required to get one’s car out of hock. The bill was $205; of the total, $125 was simply the hook-up function. I paid and thought better of saying anything about the huge Trump sign in the office. I muttered “scam” a few times but not loudly, remembering that a member of the McCarter family is a Denville policeman.

As I drove away, I was reminded — not for the first time even though these particular circumstances were unique in my experience – of my being in a privileged position. Through the whole episode there never was a risk of ethnic stereotyping, of gender characterization, or documentation scrutiny. These thoughts mixed with the economic facts of life for the median wage-earner, whose income has not budged in many years, and for whom a $390 hit (plus two points) could easily mean severe damage to the ability to afford normal household expenses.
**
Andrea:
I know it is too late now, and the idea of calling you in the middle of the night never occurred to me (as I told you subsequently, I would have done so if the situation had escalated) – because I knew I was guilty of the driving violation and innocent of the drunk driving charge, but are there suggestions as to how I could have acted, and reacted, differently in this situation?
As always, thank you for your sage advice.

Bob Howitt

Dear Andrea: The Sequel
It has been interesting to read the various reactions to my not-quite-excellent adventure. Every person’s comments come from their own context of course, which would be equally true if the roles were reversed and I was the person making an observation. For young people (and others at different stages in their lives), this point about context is useful to keep in mind when talking with college professors and administrators, with staff at places where one is seeking an intern position or outright job, and with friends or networking contacts.
**
As a sometime writer, when a reader says, “I felt like I was right there,” it warms my heart irrespective of any commentary on the “details” of the incident. To have this appraisal coupled with “I love your style of writing” is too much. Okay, now you know, I do have an ego, even though I abhor arrogance. And I assure you that in leading with an appraisal of my writing, I am in no way trivializing the incident.

More seriously by far, minority readers were divided as to whether they would have been more aggressive but unanimous in their belief that my treatment was more gentle than they would have received. Their stories of being stopped by the police underscored the role of luck in how they were treated. They were almost of one mind in their condemnation of my midnight stroll, the exception being a social worker who accepted my premise that the walk had a perceptible calming effect.

“OMG” and “nightmare” came from those with nothing resembling a comparable experience, although they did comment about the unknowingness of life.

“Wow” was the response from more than a few who never would have envisioned yours truly being in handcuffs in a police car. Uh, me neither.

A lengthy critique of the inadequate car information provided by the policeman and the unfairness associated with the car impounding was intellectually appropriate but the timing for me to deliver such an analysis could not have been worse.
The suggestion of a selfie with the policeman — and me in handcuffs — was facetious for sure, as was the comment that the essay reader had some spare cash in a drawer in case I needed to be bailed out.

A person on a multistate journey assured me she would be more careful than heretofore.

I should have shown the “friend of a policeman” card that is in my wallet, according to more than one informed observer, but somehow that seems a touch unfair. (OK, I know that if life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all his imposters would be deceased.) In any case, the policeman’s tone was even and polite, which is good, because my distaste for undue displays of institutional power would otherwise have been reflected in verbal escalation. Not good.

Descriptors like “hilarious” and “had me in stitches” do puzzle me somewhat. Did these readers mistake the writing for fiction? Are they laughing with me or at me or is their context some similar incident in their own lives and it is funny to see another person having said experience. Or, is it that human inclination to sometimes laugh as a defense mechanism, covering up more difficult emotions?

Interestingly, the one military person who commented said he would have called his lawyer immediately. This seems counterintuitive, i.e., one accustomed to power and structure and regulations would seemingly be inclined to side with an organization having the same characteristics. Instead, perhaps it is because of this experience that he sees the warts, the inconsistencies which cry for redress.

“There are so many different ways that systems, assumptions, power, and resources impact the story” was probably the most philosophically encompassing reaction.
**
I appreciate the suggestions of fighting the violation (I could note a trivial mistake, namely the color of my car was wrong, or a not-so-unimportant error, namely the expiration date of my license), but this summer has drained that kind of energy. I have spent multiple hours with credit card/computer people because of hacking, there has been a clustering of difficult student situations, and a personal matter has made emotional equilibrium a challenge.

No, an Op Ed piece is not appropriate. The policeman, by the book, did not nothing wrong. And an essay on the unfairness of an innocent person having to pay for an impounded car does not exactly bring in a tremendous number of readers or computer clicks, even when the headline is about a car being taken to a location run by a member of the same family that includes a policeman from the sending town.

I confess that now I do notice yellow lines with a fixation that is obsessive, at least for a while. I observe that government entities – mail carriers, utilities and roadwork people – typically cause a driver to have to cross those lines, as do private companies – FedEx, UPS, garbage trucks and dozens of landscapers. The list of reasons for yellow line transgressions also includes evading potholes, turning left in many instances, pedestrians, backing out of my driveway, and … avoiding truly drunken drivers.

Did I learn a lesson from this episode? Yeah, do not cross those yellow lines, regardless of how tired I am and irrespective of any parked cars on the shoulder. Will I still have a single Heineken at dinner? Yes.

Did I gain additional insight into my level of empathy for those in more financially and legally challenged positions? I am not certain – given that I have spent 25 years attempting to assist young people fighting battles of cultural adaptation, documentation, jobs, college, and most importantly, the misconceptions and quick labeling by the prevailing ethnicity in this country of those who are different.

Peace.

BobHowittbooks.com/?page_id=22

TWENTY-ONE TOPICS FOR AN IMMIGRATION DIALOGUE
If you happen to stumble into a discussion about immigration, may I make a suggestion. Establish this as a ground rule: when person A states something, person B cannot use “but” in his or her response. Note: Ducking any foolish thought of prioritizing the points below, I have put them in alphabetical order.

*African-Americans until relatively recently were loathe to be critical in public about the actions of other African-Americans. Analogously, does it seem that immigration advocates rarely speak out when an undocumented individual commits a truly criminal act?
*Canada welcomes immigrants – if they have certain skills. The American system is almost the reverse, the statutory emphasis being on family reunification. Should the USA put more emphasis on skills?
*Crossing into the USA without documentation is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of six-months in jail. Many/most? plead guilty, avoid jail, and go back to their home country (to try again?)
*Do businesses want tighter scrutiny of the E-Verify system for validating the status of new employees?
*Does the average older American realize that his social security check is dependent on payments into the program, which means younger workers — which means that more immigrants, not fewer, are needed since the white population is not regenerating its numbers?
*How does ICE determine which countries participate in the diversity visa lottery system?
*How much of the blame for the criminal activity and political corruption in South and Central America should be shouldered by the USA? Is the response different for similar situations in, for example, Malaysia or South Africa or Turkey?
*If a parent, about to become illegal by walking into the USA without any documentation, loses temporary custody of his/her children – themselves illegal for the same reasons, what is their legal, not moral, claim against separation of the family? (Unaccompanied apprehended children number about 50,000 annually, 2/3 from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador [WSJ: 6-30-18])
*If a border wall was accepted as something to be constructed and DACA-holders immediately were placed on a path to become green card-holders, would immigration advocates accept the deal?
*If American schools treated blue-collar jobs as desirable alternative routes to a career, and were equitably supported in terms of both money and quality staffing, would seasonal employers have many more job applications and therefore not be concerned that the number (81,000) of H-2B visas available for Summer hires of non-Americans is inadequate?
*If I, an American from birth, rob my neighbor, will my church prevent the police from arresting me?
*Is the country’s most pressing employment problem finding more low-paid service workers, ranging from the agricultural sector to personal care and home health aides? At present, these job categories (as well as many in the higher paid but unpredictable construction trades) are heavily filled by immigrants.
*If I walk into France from Belgium and have a baby, is he or she a French citizen?
*Is the real problem/challenge behind constructing a logical immigration program that the USA is in a unique position, given its size, its job-creation capability, its historical pledge to be open to all comers? In other words, expectations of the USA are wholly different than the expectations of any other country.
*Let’s say you have a Russian, a Mexican, and an Indian who have overstayed their tourist visas? Should they be treated differently?
*Should the USA welcome all asylum-seekers from high crime rate countries, where presumably the applicants can prove that they meet all the asylum tests, perhaps most important being that they would be in imminent danger if they returned to their home country? Total seekers in 2016 were 180,000, compared with a typical annual admission count of 25,000 (WSJ 6-30-18).
*The American immigration system must be changed. Does it make sense to scrap ICE and start over?
*Were jet travel, the internet, and smartphones around during previous waves of immigration?
*What would happen if the tourist visa was shortened to three months, from the existing six?
*Which immigration policy group would be against hiring more judges and reducing what can be a multi-year wait to resolve one’s case? Right now, there are 334 immigration judges, juggling 2,000 cases apiece, with a typical resolution time of two years. The backlog is nearly 700,000 (WSJ: May 24, 2018).
*Would you prefer a completely open border? Would the neighboring states pick up the additional tab for education, healthcare, etc.? Would all states pay proportionately, based on their economies?

Bob Howitt, wkbj@att.net; 973-537-1814; not a PhD.

BobHowittbooks.com/?page_id=22

Ah yes, it’s a wonderful idea, long overdue in fact. Wait, it’s actually simply business.

With the pool of affluent white high school graduates about to peak, those non-accountable entities known as colleges and universities now are trotting out their long-hidden (i.e., virtually non-existent) commitment to diversity and inclusion (t-shirts and bumper stickers available at full retail prices at the corporate bookstore on campus).

The headlines are there: “we, the esteemed keepers of the higher education torch, want to bring to our schools more high-achieving minority students.”

And so it happens, really good kids of color, exemplary of character and motivation, possessors of seemingly attractive high school GPAs, receive nice scholarship packages and enroll at e.g., Middlebury and Lafayette and Syracuse. (This essay is not about the tiny sliver relevant to the Ivy League, although many of the points made could be apropos.) In too many instances, they find the academic rigor of their intended major beyond their capabilities, a cold realization which hits immediately, as in the Fall semester of their freshman year.
Nobody relevant to the college/initial thought process about a major ever has had a heart-to-heart discussion with these students about the academic quality of their high school preparation, nor about what a particular job requires in terms of subject matter mastered. The students had gone to decent public or private Catholic schools. They had done well. The problem – an academically inadequate high school curricula/rigor – never surfaced until the student was hit in the face at college.

The various reactions which ensue include:
*significant slippage in self-confidence *downgrading of the major, e.g., from engineering to psychology *questions about whether the right college has been chosen *criticism of the college for not being more supportive *increased interest in a semester abroad, simply to be in a different environment *irritation at the quality and quantity of guidance counseling they have received at each step of the education letter *a desire to drop college and go home to the family which loves the student no matter what has happened*an emphasis on getting enough credits to finish (the phrase “get out” is sometimes heard) in four years, to have the diploma, even if the newly chosen major is not one with which the student is truly in love … and do not ask what career/job the student has in mind.

EVERY ADULT WHO CARES ABOUT THESE KIDS MUST FIGHT FOR BETTER EDUCATION IN THE K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, WHICH INCLUDES CHARTER SCHOOLS. TO NOT DO SO IS TO BE DISENGENUOUS—YOU CANNOT ACCEPT THE CURRENT K-12 INADEQUACIES AND EXPECT LARGE NUMBERS OF “HIGH-ACHIEVING” MINORITY STUDENTS TO FLOURISH IN COLLEGE.

YOU CANNOT BE SILENT WHEN, E.G., ORGANIZATIONS LIKE THE NAACP SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE VERY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME, CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE PUBLIC!) WHICH ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY SUCCESSFUL IN GETTING MINORITY STUDENTS FULLY READY FOR COLLEGE.
TEACHING IS THE NUMBER ONE PROFESSION; K-12 TEACHERS SHOULD BE PAID MORE. HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT BE SILENT WHEN TEACHERS UNIONS SEEMINGLY SAY THAT THE DEMANDS OF THEIR CONSTITUENCY ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SUCCESS OF STUDENTS.

YOU CANNOT BE SILENT WHEN THE ADULTS IN THE POLITICAL BACKROOMS ARE SCREAMING ABOUT ADULT ISSUES AND IGNORING THE DAMAGE BEING DONE TO STUDENTS.

If you truly want more minority students to be collegians who graduate — with majors they want and are good at, you must speak out about the quality of their high school academic and counseling preparation. To not do so is to give the lie to all your warm-hearted sentiments.

BobHowittbooks.com/?page_id=22

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING …. HIGHER EDUCATION CATEGORY

 Prologue

The majority of Americans are favorably disposed toward immigration reform, including letting DACAmented young people stay here. The majority of Americans are in favor of some type of gun reform (better term than control). The majority of people, when apprised of the graduation rate at the nation’s campuses, are rather disappointed.

Remind me of any relevant broad-based legislative responses regarding these three areas.

You might regard higher education as neither a federal nor a national matter; this is true as a first look, but considerably less true when analyzing the flow of FAFSA-related funds to colleges.

The multiple defects of the K-College education non-system are known. “Nation at Risk” is decades old and there are at least a score of non-profit reform organizations with smart staffers who for many years have been able to bury one in productive insights and recommendations.

All of which is to say, “it ain’t about the research; it’s about the will” (well-known A-A education reformer Howard Fuller, a quarter century ago). True for immigration and gun reform as well.

There is nothing value-added for me to bring to the reader of my ensuing complaint list, nothing that could be labeled, “here is how to fix this, here is a great idea completely overlooked by the think tanks, here is what substantive change should look like.” It would be akin to a college student tour guide attempting to bring together the administrative/managerial leaders of his school to propose meaningful alterations in the college’s modus operandi.

Maybe a few of my arrows slightly miss the mark, but not, in my opinion, when it comes to the circle that encompasses financially challenged students who grow up in households without educational attainment at the top of the family.

One thought to consider is with respect to the order of the entries listed in “Truth.” Think of a soccer image; before the kickoff, you have decided on your formation, e.g., a 3-4-3 (plus the goalkeeper). The ball is put in play, at which time you have no idea as to how the actual game will unfold, literally from one second to the next (think counterattack or any other aspect of this free-flowing endeavor). Soccer makes other sports look methodical.

Similarly the student going off to college, while he knows his first two must-dos — find the buildings where he has classes and become familiar with the school’s website — really does not know when or which of the micro factors on my list will become relevant to him, even though everyone of the micro factors has that potential. There is no rational unfolding of the happenstances on my list. (While he advisedly is able to be blissfully unaware of the macro factors, it is equally true that simply because a person is unaware of a big picture factor does not mean he is unaffected.

In New York State, the high school graduation rate is 80%. Of the incoming freshman to the huge CUNY system in NYC, 80% require non-credit remedial work. Such data cause nobody to rethink how to organize their thoughts about education, because said divergence has been known for many, many years. We accept them, as we accept kids being killed. They are no more a true discovery than Columbus’ of America.

The four-year college graduation rate is 40%; it “soars” to 59% if six years becomes the standard. Again, known for umpteen years and perused and reacted to by whole rosters of intelligent people, even including the op ed people at the New York Times.

Below is, verbatim, an email I received recently.

“Mister Bob

Good night my name is David [deleted by me] I study in Dover high school I am in 12 grade and a friend give me your email I wanted an appointment  I will begin in college en September I wanted to know if you can help me I from Colombia thank you for attention I wait for your answer”

Yes, this is an outlier in terms of its complete disregard for punctuation, but it is less abnormal than affluent, white, rational people would want to believe. With whites not replacing their own and en route to being less than half of the population, colleges are beginning to reach out to lower income, ESL, first generation, poorly educated minority students. Good, yes, but wait, for many observers, “they” are candidates for two-year schools. The headlines you see about four-year colleges going after the above demographic, because their traditional student roster cannot support their business model, are focused on those “high achieving” minorities who have been reluctant to seek out universities.

The point? There is nothing systemic about this apparent change. It is not far-fetched to say that the collective “we” do not care about true diversity, or maybe the curtain has been pulled back and it is now apparent that “we” have no values which we are willing to say connect to a greater good (when a speaker merely notes the scope of the connection between incomplete families/households and negative outcomes, he needs a bullet-proof vest to escape the onslaught of criticism).

Instead, we will let the super wealthy offer the rest of the populace crumbs from their tax advantaged foundations, while they pontificate about the need for a universal basic income — made necessary by the hollowing out of both industrial America and government-based social services. Silicon Valley’s adamant support for immigration parallels its lack of interest in longitudinally fighting the political battles pertinent to education reform.  And the revered Buffet called part of gun reform efforts, “ridiculous.”

So you ask me to identify the reader of my venting? The answer is … me. To spend time being so-called “rational” about the particulars is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Gun, immigration, and education reforms: we have no will to fight, we leave it to others, the lack of non-idiosyncratic success does not affect us. We kick the cans down the road and leave cleanup to our heirs.

So I write because I feel better afterwards, like some do crossword puzzles or Sudoku or jog or any of the myriad of activities which help a person make sense out of their day and life.

P.S. Reportedly 40% of Wall Street traders are new since the Great Recession of 2008. Question: do they have institutional or individual memory. The same issue/question applies to education reformers and those embroiled in immigration issues. Hopefully, the horror of Parkland will become an institutional memory because it stimulates significant change.

Not to be taken aback by my meandering negativity. As the phrase goes, one I have been using for a whole bunch of years to describe myself: “I think bearishly but act bullishly.”

Peace, Bob

Dear Reader of my Truth List

Please do me a favor. Exclude the Ivy League and quasi-Ivy League (e.g., Stanford) universities from your brain if and when you have visceral reactions to my ensuing complaint list. The above schools enroll only 2% of the collegians in the country, and they have both large endowments and great fund-raising capabilities. In other words, they function in a different world than mine –where the focus of my education assistance, including funding, has been financially challenged, often first generation students (frequently with documentation issues).  Thank you.

*Read the 17-page “Cutting College Costs” document prepared by some otherwise presumably intelligent New York State politicians and professors: nowhere will you find any mention of cutting college costs – the verbiage is entirely about finding more money for the customers, i.e., students, so that they can afford whatever cost is imposed by a college.

*In urban America, non-profit funders of band-aids (after-school education assistance) for broken legs (the dysfunctional school from whence came the students) are noticeably reticent when it comes to fighting the necessary political battles to create broad-based change in education. Handsomely paid leaders of universities are not reticent — they are mute.

*Do not watch the college tuition number (unless you like being sick to your stomach); shift your attention to the adjacent shell, the one which covers the pea labeled “fees.” Its inflation rate is akin to that of prescription drugs. (And if there is something called an “academic fee,” what is covered by tuition.) The after effect is a four-letter word, “debt,” – followed by deferred payments, delinquent, and … in default.

*Because of an institutional scholarship, a student is getting a “free ride.” Really, free, as in zero money from the young person is needed to spend four years pursuing a diploma. Not likely.

*Colleges are seen as businesses by around 99% of the students my foundation has assisted. Banks pay for access on campus to present and future customers, foreign investors are putting money into student housing, Barnes & Noble offsets the losses in its freestanding stores with profits from its college bookstores. However, notwithstanding these specifics (and the list of business connections could be readily expanded), the biggest tip-off is attitudinal, the softly arrogant manner in which colleges, each with a “unique” business product, treat students.

*Could college advisor whisper some – not advice per se, but raw, essential information – when the student is about to sign up for a semester abroad, it would be nice to know if the sequence of prerequisites for his or her major is affected, because not all courses are offered in both the fall and spring semesters, and certainly not in the summer and winter schedules.

*Do you want to give another still edge to those in the lucky sperm club – raise the importance of internships; for sure, well-employed mom or dad will have useful contacts. Not so for those born into disadvantage. P.S. even high school graduation rates are lower for kids in single-parent families.

*Financial cleverness, disguised as “helping the customer,” knows no bounds. Instead of having a volunteer tutor helping kids write resumes and get prepared for interviews, make it a course, yes with credits and full payment up-front.

*For the mathematically inclined collegian, their observation that the three-hour class they signed up and paid for is actually two and a half is … accurate.

*No, that particular class/major requirement was changed. Sorry that nobody told you.

*Freshman Seminar is a very important class – you pay for the opportunity to know what it means to be a freshman, as distinct, for example, from learning something which might be construed as academic.

*Yes, the door has clearly marked office hours. No, the professor is not there.

*Surprise, your class is on-line. I know … you, or somebody, paid for a dorm room thinking that physical presence was part of the deal; well, we overbooked or the tenured professor is too busy on his research project. And it will be a Teaching Assistant putting up the power point presentation which you can readily absorb lying prone in your bed.

*You expected the syllabus to be consistent with the material covered in class or on the test? Silly, did you forget the bromide that foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

*The diversity numbers fit the boxes of the EEOC and whoever else is collecting them. They bear little similarity to college classrooms.

*Which is more understandable by an employer: a credential from a known source (e.g. six weeks in a Microsoft training course) or the degree from 90% of all colleges.

*Beginning in high school, there are fewer American History classes these days: too many discredited dead white male authors. Trigger warnings are insufficient protection against their obsolete narratives.

*College professors fight hard for respectful hearings of diverse viewpoints – defined as those approved by a majority of the faculty.

*Everybody has an anecdotal success story, a poster child of the transformation that can happen when fourteen variables line up well. They are talked about at great length. They are also statistically unusual, hence the blah, blah, blah unrelated to systemic change.

*Let’s check the health aspect of college campuses (admittedly true of society in general): opiate consumption is up, as is depression, and the number of suicides. Not to worry: that thought leader called “Yale” now has a highly popular course called “Happiness.” Perhaps its humble colleagues in higher education will import the wisdom which undoubtedly will characterize this class.

*Could college administrative people answer a phone call or an e-mail! News flash to those individuals: not every piece of information is on the school’s website.

*It is hard to type this acronym with a straight face: the Prosper Act: Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform.  You’re kidding right.

*“All the above” is the default, and correct, answer to any listing of the shortcomings of American education, many of which (some would say most) begin well before the age of eighteen. In defense of higher education ( see how fair I am!), of the three million annual high school graduates, reportedly only 250,000 are considered academically ready for entry into the top 50 colleges of the country.

___________________________________________________________________________

Comment (OMG: the following flirts with being a significant suggested change):

If an outside funding entity really wanted to assist low-income students to attend college, it would put money directly in the hands of the student. This aspiring individual is typically working, is from a household whose sugar bowl is never adequate, and is trying to figure out why the school’s full-ride scholarship does not cover books, or transportation, or those outside meals so easily put on the calendar by his or her affluent classmates, or the quick recreational trip to clear one’s head of the fog induced by so many college classes.

Said entity should care less about the college’s rules regarding full disclosure of financial support. They are simply a ruse to keep as much control of money and decisions in the hands of college bureaucrats, the numbers and cost of which have grown exponentially, while the discretionary income of the student’s family has not grown for several decades.

Significant funds directly deposited in the hands of students facilitate their decision-making. If a well-constructed cohort comparison (versus funding according to the rules) was possible, it might well show that with direct funding, student stress was lessened and graduation rates were improved. Is not the latter the objective of everybody involved in education reform, specifically the goal of seeing more low income students graduating from four-year colleges.

____________________________________________________________________________

The New York City school system has over 1.1 million students.

The retiring chancellor is a 74 year-old self-described grandmother.

The mayor announced that the leader of the Miami school system was hired to be her successor. Compensation was negotiated, contract signed. The guy reneged.

The newly-appointed chancellor is, again self-described, a “mariachi masquerading as a superintendent.”

 

A series of complete jokes. Not to worry, only kids are negatively affected, you know, like Parkland and DACA.

 

 

WILL THIS TIME BE DIFFERENT?    MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL

I cried. I cursed.

No, not again!

Please, no more “our thoughts and prayers are with you” and “heartfelt condolences” and “trained grief counselors will be available for all those in need.”

Please, do not shift the focus away from gun control by ideas like, “let’s train everybody at the school in how to handle guns; let’s have nearby store personnel ready to stanch the flow of blood from wounded kids.”

Read the data, best brought together in the Max Fisher and Josh Keller article (New York Times),  “What explains U.S. Mass Shootings.” Spoiler alert: it is guns!

Below is what I wrote five years ago, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

“Inevitably, no matter how horrible an event, one hears the phrase, ‘a return to normalcy.’ It is meant to represent a positive lift to one’s spirits, not for those directly affected – because their lives will never be normal – but for all the others, whatever their degree of separation.

It is as if ‘a return to normalcy is a desirable goal for all concerned. IT IS NOT.”

It cannot be accepted as normal to have school killings as a consistent front page story and then move on. It cannot be normal to be “able to buy a gun with less difficulty than getting a driver’s license.”

It cannot be normal to think that the “NRA is the last word on interpretation of the Constitution, with its members historically having more energy than the rest of the political population and thus able to fight off changes which might have saved some innocent kids.

” It cannot be normal to “lead the world in gun ownership and the number of children killed by guns.”

“To be in favor of a return to normalcy is insane!”

Maybe this time will be different.

The walk-out planned for March 14, the activism of students (#NeverAgain, #Enough), the decision by a wealthy Republican funder to close his wallet unless there is meaningful gun control – provide hope. (I will ignore the fact that many states have ceased requiring a permit to carry a hand gun.)

There are numerous rules pertaining to guns (and to the way mental health information is handled) which can be changed without infringing on the Constitution and without hindering, e.g., the ability of hunters to pursue their sport. Americans will not suddenly become more vulnerable to terrorists (in truth, we should be more scared of ourselves!).

Maybe we cannot close the gap to our more civilized neighboring countries, but I cannot countenance the image of more kids going down in a hail of bullets.

This cannot be normal.

This time must be different!

 

 

ON BEING COUNTERFACTUAL OR COUNTERINTUITIVE OR COMPLETELY CONFUSED        

Let’s see if I can draw a logic path concerning several items of interest, while striving to ignore inside baseball machinations, memos of mixed interest, and incessant noise emanating from the Oval Office.  Careful, unemotional readers (all three of you) will observe that the listing of topics deliberately excludes character analyses of the Big Tweeter.

First, as a premise, approximately 99% of all presidential candidates make promises relating to jobs. At present, the economy is recording its eighth year of gains and unemployment is at a ten-year low.

Second, a majority of everybody likes the combination of a strong military (if no other reason than its impact on local employment) and no wars (understanding the definition of our involvement in the Middle East is beyond my comprehension). I guess one could quibble about related details, but it does seem that this duality is the current condition, irrespective of aggressive verbiage.

Third, sexual predators of all political persuasions are getting their comeuppance. The environment is good for such revelations and punishments. Women are being incrementally empowered.

Fourth, there is a plane full of NY Times board members and Harvard professors, complete with their families, en route to s…thole countries. They are taking advantage of a one-year all-expenses paid offer  from George Soros. Conveniently, they will be able to stay in the houses being left empty by residents of those countries who are fleeing to the United States.  (Trigger warning after the fact: I made this one up. The rest are like, you know, accurate.)

Fifth, the stock market moving to record highs (even with a slight blip recently) has enriched (on paper) not only the 1%, but the vast numbers who have stocks in their pension and other retirement plans.

Sixth, some kids are getting a good education, some are not. Hello, nothing new there.

Seventh, healthcare is, uh, a mess, both before and now. Perhaps Warren, Jeff, and Jamie will be able to fix it. A much higher probability is that Warren and I will have punched our timecards before there can be a definitive judgement on the success of their endeavor.

Eighth, thousands of words could be written about immigration reform (I have contributed more than a few in previous posts), but not here. In my little scorecard at the close, this area has to be considered a negative in looking at the impact of the current administration.

**

So there you have it, a totally incomplete list of contemporary political situations: four positives, two neutrals, one negative, and one irrelevant but hopefully humorous bit of insightful cynicism.

Do not leaders get credit or blame for all kinds of things which happen while they are in charge, even if nothing they did was the true proximate reason for either the positives or the negatives. Historically, that has been the case, but apparently to give any credit to the most disapproved head man this country has ever seen is something the bicoastal media/intellectual elites cannot tolerate.

(P.S. Note that this collective group is populated with some of the “best and brightest” whose advice was so disastrous in the recent presidential  campaign. In truth, the election was lost, not won, a key reason for much of the emotional thrashing — which knows no limits or end, falling short in its contribution to the pervasive angst only when compared with the erratic antics, factual looseness, and offensive verbiage of the nation’s top office-holder.)

 

 

 

WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE ALL THE WHITE KIDS ARE RUNNING

WHILE I AM STILL AT THE STARTING LINE?!

 

My High School Profile:

*I was in the top 10% of my class and earned AP credits.

*my GPA was impressive; my SAT and ACT scores were better than average.

*for four years, I was a member of multiple school clubs, including one with a volunteer focus.

*as a Senior, I had a leadership position in student government.

*I played regularly on the school lacrosse team.

 

The Reactions of Others to My Profile:

*National Honor Society membership was only one of my many honors.

*I received pats on the back from everybody in my family.

*all my teachers loved me.

*I had many offers to write recommendations for my college applications.

*diversity-seeking selective private colleges sent me numerous information packages.

*some schools paid for me to take a trip to their campus; maybe they were attracted to my life  story of triumphing over adversity – it was the centerpiece of my college essay.

 

My College Situation:

*implicitly recognizing that my high school preparation was probably not top-flight, my college provided some on-campus classes in the Summer and “how to be a college student”                                    guidance right before freshman year began.

*my financial aid package includes GPA-dependent institutional scholarship support, plus FAFSA-related monies, plus an on-campus job. Yes, I am grateful to be at my college but that                                                 does not lessen the challenges and pressures.

*as a Latina, I am typically in a minority-minority position in my white and Asian male dominated STEM classes.

*it is nice to have an advisor; it would be even nicer if she spent sufficient time to get to know me in order to make good recommendations.

*the pressure to eventually secure an internship is off-putting; I do not have a network of contacts.

*classmates would not consider themselves racist, but some commit micro-aggressions without thinking about it.

*I liked the potential opportunity at college to be exposed to new ideas and opinions, but trigger warnings about possible uncomfortable information and ideas get in the way.

*Did I mention that I am floundering; my classmates know stuff that I have never heard of. The professors assume a level of academic preparation that is beyond anything relevant to                                               me. The AP and other academic successes of high school do not always translate at the college level.

*my participation in any activity except the First Generation Club is more a function of peer pressure than commitment by me.

 

My Reactions to My College Situation:

*I participate less in classroom discussions, focusing on taking good notes instead. My grades suffer as a result, either directly or indirectly.

*much as I like the theory of feeling slightly out of my comfort zone, I have to say that right now I am flat out uncomfortable.

*my confidence has been hurt.

*I had a professor comment on my accent, which reduced my desire to speak up in class.

*the “big” financial aid package does not provide any discretionary money so I cannot go out to eat or to a movie without thinking about the expense involved.

*there is nobody who understands my situation completely.

*other first generation students can be helpful emotionally, but not academically.

*my parents are confused about why I am not doing better.

*my high school teachers, when they are in touch, encourage me to seek out tutors.

*I wonder about my major.

*it feels like all the white kids are running while I am still at the starting line.

 

My To-do List … or Not:

                *with all due respect, I believe that I am working as hard as possible. The way I put it, I have to work harder than average to simply be average in my STEM classes.

                *it looks like I may move from a prospective Engineering major to Liberal Arts, a change not unique among my true peers; note that nobody ever changes their major into STEM.

*I try hard but cannot avoid being resentful toward “the system.”

*if I become politicized, I fear my academic performance will suffer even more.

                *I will speak with an on-campus counselor.

*would I recommend my school to the same student high school profile as mine; yes, but only if  I had a full understanding of the person, particularly her tolerance for discomfort.

*at some point, it would be nice to vent about the educational system which let me think my high school preparation was sufficient to mean a smooth path in college.

*I know that some people would like me to go public and proclaim my membership in the category of those who have been underserved, those who have been victims of unfair                                               practices by those in power. What would that mean I wonder as a college student embarked on a strenuous route to a diploma? Do I demand retribution by society for its                                   past sins and receive a large mea culpa? Or, to use Gandhi’s famous dictum, should I “be the change?”

*according to Georgetown University CEW data, median earnings for an Hispanic with a Bachelor’s degree are $57,000, 60% higher than the overall median for Hispanics.                                          Should that not drive me! Yes, I want to be happy in my job and have some semblance of work-life balance, but helping my family, an important goal of mine, requires money!

*at least for now, I want to think like a typical college student: what do my actions and time management mean in terms of my studies, my prospective career, my ability to make                                                 friends and prepare for the networking that is not readily possible back in my community or within my family and its circle of acquaintances.

 

Author’s Comments

 

The Latina “voice” in the paragraphs above technically should be considered a composite. However, the match-up of the various points with the thoughts of individual students of my acquaintance is quite high. Note too that with minor changes in verbiage, this essay is applicable to numerous college newcomers of different ethnicity and gender.

If said students had the time to contemplate some possible reasons for the academic discrepancy which feeds their negative emotions, they might come up with this incomplete list:

*adults who should have known better never indicated that I was getting exceptional grades in courses which were not high in academic rigor.

*well-meaning colleges put a higher priority on their diversity goals than on an analysis of my high school’s inadequate academic rigor.

*adults have committed the ultimate sin: letting young people believe the world is different than it really is.

*teachers colleges do not adequately train teachers for the type of high school I attended.

*my parents did not push as hard as they should have.

*the education field is unique in that the concept of Best Practices is only lightly relevant.

*specifically, teachers unions often fight changes which dilute their power, even when said changes can frequently produce documentable benefits to the students.

*too little money is spent on K-12 education.

*there is insufficient emphasis on what majoring in a STEM discipline entails.

Overall, in my view, the collective “we’ can encourage, support, assist, etc. a student but we cannot replace inadequate high school academic preparation.  And the aggregate of educational stuff available on the Internet, from multiple study aids to the Khan Academy, cannot either.

In the past, the idea of using five and six-year timetables to measure college graduation rates has been anathema to many, including myself. The implication was that the overall system would simply accept K-12 mediocrity and charge the students for the dereliction of the adults running the behemoth.

Now, having seen too many students from urban high schools struggling, trying to figure out whether their GPA or their cumulative credits or their stress levels should drive their energies and decision-making, maybe a rethink is in order.

When the students fall behind on their GPA, their scholarships may be at risk, as noted above. When they fall behind on credits, which is a function of either a failed course or a withdrawn course, they tend to look to summer or winter break opportunities to catch up. In some ways, this seems like asking for  stress that is continuous instead of “only” in the school year itself.

An additional factor, ironic as it may be, is that the definition of full-time (12 credits per semester) is such that a student attending “full-time” does not graduate on-time, when the latter means four years.

So …. deep breath, perhaps it would be advantageous at the outset to think of attending a four-year college as a five-year, 12 credits per semester proposition, producing the 120 credits typically necessary for graduation. (An alternative idea is to insist on only 12 credits in the first semester and then make a plan that reflects success, or lack thereof, in cultural and academic adaptation to the brave new, and often cold and unfeeling, world of higher education.) An added plus in this five-year approach would be the absence of summer or winter courses, enhancing the student’s ability to both relax and work, and hopefully save some money, because …. this approach is significantly more expensive, and all involved would have to contort themselves to fit FAFSA and individual college scholarship rules.

While the added cost is a real problem, that scenario, like any investment, must measure cost versus prospective income. Would that equation be more off-putting than the current situation? In 2015, only 62% of Hispanic college students returned to their initial school and 28% did not return to any college, according to recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The cost to society of lost aspirations and economic mobility dwarfs the additional outlay needed for the five-year plan.

BobHowittBooks.com; link to Bob’s Latino College Assistance Guide Blog wkbj@att.net; 973-537-1814

 

 

Some Stuff to Think About and Maybe Use

Below is material on various educational subjects. Note that some of it   might be more relevant to high schoolers whom you are trying to help.

• Just what you always wanted – more questions!

Not to worry, the purpose is simply to give yourself feedback that helps you better understand where you are on your higher education path.

*How would you describe the assistance received from your college academic advisor?

*Has your self-confidence increased or decreased since you entered college? Why?

*Is the level of classroom diversity higher/same/lower compared with your expectation?

*Are you happy/neutral/sad about your GPA? Why?

*What is the most important lesson you have learned about life as a college student?

*Have your parents and siblings adjusted to the reality of “The New You?”

 

• Eight suggestions for success at college (NY Times: 5-24-07)

*Find or form a group of students to study with, so you can master the material.

*Whenever the opportunity arises, sign up to be a tutor.

*Try not to be disturbed if people are surprised by your academic success.

*For those pursuing STEM degrees, start with the introductory courses, even if the college is telling you to skip those courses based on your AP performance in high school.

*Go to the tutorial center and to professors’ office hours often – before you need help.

*Get to the class before the professor, sit in the front row with other students in your study group and ask plenty of questions.

*Look for opportunities to work as teaching assistants in the classroom.

*Just because you don’t get an A doesn’t mean you’re doomed.

 

• Would you believe only 41% of students at 4-year colleges graduate in 4 years.

The six biggest reasons for problems in graduating on time:

*Working too many hours: 40% are at a job for 30 hours or more per week.

*Only taking 12 credits per semester instead of 15.

*Transferring (done by 1/3 of students) results in a significant loss of credits.

*Not having the best sequence of courses for the major.

*Not being involved in an activity brings social isolation, which hurts academic progress.

*High school is 80% class time, 20% homework. College is reversed, a challenge both academically and with respect to time management.

 

Additional reasons, as suggested by a current college student:

 

*Having a baby

*Financial aid not accessible

*Lack of clarity about their path

 

• A quick help list of websites

Collegescorecard.ed.gov                    Compares schools: cost, graduation rates, salary outcomes

FAFSA.ed.gov                                    Pell Grant, Federal Direct Loans

Finaid.org                                            All kinds of financial aid information

Fiskeguide.com                                   Highly respected guide to colleges

Cappex.com                                        Find colleges and scholarships

Glassdoor.com                                    Jobs and salaries

Studentclearinghouse.org                   Verify educational attainment, student outcome research

 

As always, having a trusted person with whom to discuss your search is valuable. The combination of website information, your desired characteristics in a college, and multiple thorough discussions with experienced people should produce a positive situation.

 

• Some more websites

 

College Measures                               general

Payscale                                              as name implies

College Reality Check                         return on investment

Edvisors                                               private student loans

College Scorecard.ed.gov/data           analytical data supposedly; website is messy

Students Matter                                  litigation

NJTransfer                                        credit transferring

Glassdoor.com                                pay levels and other information

HiSet                                               new test comparable to the GED

CEW.Georgetown.edu/whatsitworth             return on investment

First Five Years Fund                     early childhood development

Verizon Family Base                      usage controls

Common Sense Media                  analysis of media usage

 

• The proactive student

 

(I am not sure where the thoughts below came from exactly – and they are not in any particular order: probably the answer is that there were multiple sources, including the writer thankfully.)

 

The high school student who is on a path to success is one who is proactive. The people with whom they interact – guidance counselors, parents, mentors, siblings, friends –  are assistants or coaches or supporters, but —  they cannot do what you must do for you.

 

Therefore, High School students (and others as well), here are some must-dos:

 

*Practice self-discipline: distinguish between needs and wants.

 

*Regard real reading as central to gaining knowledge.

 

*Recognize that parties can happen anytime, unlike required school papers.

.

*Take initiative: do research on college requirements, talk with everybody who can contribute    to your understanding of the higher education or job world path.

 

*Learn the basics of personal finance and begin to gain an understanding of college debt.

 

*When you are meeting somebody during a college tour or applying for a scholarship or interviewing for a job, arrive early and have some questions for the other person.  You     gain more from a conversation than from a monologue.

 

*Get involved on a consistent basis with a school activity or outside volunteering commitment.

 

*Take responsibility: tell your parents if they are doing too much for you.

.

*Avoid being addicted to social media.

 

*Understand that everybody is nervous about college: time management, becoming         independent, roommates, money, homesickness, academics (!), networking.

 

*Realize that these same students are like you: eager for new experiences, new friends, new      environments, new levels of independence, new subjects of interest, new activities, new        academic accomplishments.

 

Being proactive helps you in two fundamental ways.

First, it means you are taking ownership of decisions which are yours to make.

Second, it makes you better prepared for those times when you need to talk

 about important issues with those in your support group.

 

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