Education News: February 27, 2009

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending February 27, 2009.

Cleveland Students Receive Hands-On Introduction to Nursing
(Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 22, 2009)  Thirty-two Cleveland high school students who had previously expressed interest in health careers had an opportunity to get a feel for the field of nursing by learning and practicing on human-patient simulators in fully equipped labs, treatment areas and an operating room.  The simulators are able to breathe, run a fever, produce heart and bowel sounds, pass urine (Crystal Light) and give birth.  The students were guided by about fifteen clinic nursing instructors who volunteered to give them a taste of what it’s like to be a nurse.  The program was sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic's department of nursing in conjunction with the Health Horizons career camp program of Youth Opportunities Unlimited and with the Urban League of Greater Cleveland.

Humanities Finds Itself First in Line for Chopping Block
(New York Times, February 24, 2009)  As jobs become harder and harder to come by, increased scrutiny is being given to the value of humanities programs when entering the workforce.  The humanities, which generally includes languages, literature, the arts, history, cultural studies, philosophy and religion, are by nature not meant to prepare a student for a specific field or vocation.  While the subjects are still taught at liberal elite liberal arts institutions, the gap between those schools and others is widening.  The Association of American Colleges and Universities recently issued a report arguing the humanities should abandon the “old Ivory Tower view of liberal education” and instead emphasize its practical and economic value.  A meeting will be held to try to figure out the best course of action for the field.

New Desks Offer Students Option to Stand Throughout Class
(New York Times, February 24, 2009)  In a small school about an hour northeast of Minneapolis, MN, Ms. Brown’s class is experimenting with an adjustable-height school desk that Ms. Brown designed with an ergonomic chair company two years ago.  The chairs enable the students to stand or lean if they desire, allowing them to fidget and move around as needed.  This lets the students to expend energy in a non-distracting way and not need to focus on how to keep still.  The chairs are so popular that orders for the chairs are coming in from North Carolina to California.  The chairs put into action the theory that furniture can be just as important as instruction, while also addressing the issue of childhood obesity and lack of physical activity.  Researchers have begun two studies to test the scholastic and physical benefits of the chairs.

Schools Replace Free Lunch with Cheese Sandwiches
(USA Today, February 24, 2009)  New Mexico’s largest school district, Albuquerque public schools, has been forced to cut its free lunch program for students who can’t afford to pay, in favor of a cold cheese sandwich, fruit and a milk carton.  The switch was made in order to avoid a budget deficit.  Critics say the policy is a form of punishment, as students can be taken out of the lunch line if their parents are unable to pay. 

Colleges Begin to Offer Three-Year Degree
(USA Today, February 24, 2009)   American colleges have begun to offer three-year degrees to a broad range of students to help students save money on tuition.  While in Europe it is the norm to obtain your degree in three years, the practice has not been very popular in the US.  A bill is being considered in Rhode Island to create a standard set of college-level courses for high school students to take to enable all students to finish in three years.  When the option became available at Upper Iowa University three years ago, five students signed up, all then opted to stay for four years, and no one has signed up since.  The option does not deal with surging tuition costs and many faculty are likely to be concerned with standards. Furthermore, getting into required classes is difficult enough under a four year, let alone trying to cram them into three.

Obama’s Budget Proposal Would Vastly Overhaul Financial Aid
(New York Times, February 26, 2009)  The Obama administration recently outlined a proposal, to take effect in 2010, to overhaul the nation’s financial aid system for college students.  The proposal includes the elimination of federal support to banks and other lenders.  Grants would instead be given directly to students by the government.  Existing federal loan program would increase in size, as would the number of families eligible.  Grants to the neediest students would be increased, and would continue to rise slightly above inflation to account for rising tuition costs.  Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that the change shifts away from subsidizing banks and towards helping the most students possible.  As a result, on Thursday the nation’s largest student loan company, Sallie Mae, dropped nearly 31%.  The change will save the government an anticipated $4 billion a year.   While the Consumer Bankers Association claims that the government is not capable of servicing the loans, there will be time for the government to prepare and the administration is already hearing bids from private companies to service the loans.

Overcrowded School Makes Parents Swear that Children Belong in District
(Denver Post, February 26, 2009)  Bromwell Elementary school, located in one of Denver’s richest neighborhoods, is asking parents to swear under threat of perjury that they live within the school’s attendance boundary so they can identify students who do not belong in the school.  Parents might sneak their kid in because Bromwell is one of the highest performing elementary schools in the state.  The school already has a waiting list, is at 110% capacity and has some classes of over thirty students.  Debates remain whether students who enroll under false pretense should be kicked out, or if they should go through school choice.