Crucial Minutiae

Yesterday, Barack Obama outlined his plan for education reform, which includes standards, like sending more kids to college and holding schools accountable for student performance, as well as more innovative initiatives like merit pay for teachers, removing limits on charter schools and extending the amount of time that kids spend in school.

Considering that we’re in the midst of a major financial crisis, some in the media are looking at Obama’s domestic agenda in education and health care and wondering: is the president doing too much too soon?

Shouldn’t he just concentrate on the economy? they ask.

To me, it’s obvious that reforming education and health care is about fixing the economy.

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I feel kind of like a die-hard Red Sox fan after the 2004 World Series–excited that my team won, but thrown off by the reversal of my “underdog” status.

If you were ordering me as a drink in a bar, you’d ask for confused straight up with a twist of happiness.

These are metaphors, of course.
“Winning the World Series” = $150 BILLION in education spending in Obama’s new stimulus plan

“Dire Hard Pre-2004 Red Sox Fan” = grad student specializing in issues of educational equity

“Confused Straight Up w/a Twist of Happiness” = my state of mind

Just as the recession was threatening to limit spending on education–especially on financial aid for college students–the Obama administration goes ahead and announces that it will MORE THAN DOUBLE THE CURRENT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BUDGET.

Schools, from pre-K through college, are getting everything but the kitchen sink!

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When I look back on my early childhood years (follow me back to circa ‘81-’83), one of the things I’ve noticed is how blissfully androgynous I was as a little girl. I wore all kinds of colors–including blue and brown!–and darned just as many pants as I did dresses. Looking at our baby pictures, my husband and I have noted that we seem to have had the same haircut for a few years–the super cute “bowl” of the day.

OK, I guess I am technically wearing a rose colored terrycloth jumper in this picture but I promise I wore other colors as well. And, believe it or not, I actually remember having negative associations with the word “princess” when I was growing up. Trust me, when my parents used to call someone a “princess,” it wasn’t a compliment.

But living in strollerville Brooklyn today, it’s not uncommon to see girls in princess costumes strolling around on a summer day. In the winter, these little ladies are almost always swathed in pink–pink hat, pink gloves, pink shoes. And it’s no big deal for a 2-year-old to sport pink nail polish from what I can tell.

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Arguments about the future of teachers’ unions aside, I think the biggest challenge facing the Obama administration and our Secretary of Education elect, Arnie Duncan, is the persistent racial/ethnic achievement gap in American schools. Having written a book on the fat envelope frenzy (my term for selective college admissions mania), I can tell you that American high schools graduate thousands of super stars every year. The problem is not that we don’t educate students.

The problem is that we don’t educate all students.

You’ve all heard of the term “achievement gap” but what does it actually look like? Why should you care about it?

The Education Trust summarizes the gap as such:

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You know you’re in for a major recessionmas when Oprah Winfrey—whose “favorite things” from the 2007 holiday season included necessities like a $3,800 refrigerator with a built-in, high-definition television—instructed her followers last week to “grow your own gifts” using backyard garden tomatoes to make jars of salsa and spaghetti sauce.

In these tough times, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to save money during the holiday season. So, I’m here to present you with a tip for a great DYI gift that keeps on giving. After all, nothing says “good long-term investment” like a college education.

How do you give the gift of college? I’m so glad you asked. The following is a step-by-step guide to giving the “it” gift of the 2008 holiday season.

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What’s wrong with kidz these days?

Well, for one thing, it seems that they are not getting enough playtime. In fact, kidz today get 8-12 fewer hours of weekly playtime on average than they did in the 1980s, according to USA Today. This trend has caused considerable alarm among developmental psychologists who note the importance of playtime for healthy child development.

Some experts assert that lack of playtime is producing “a generation of socially inept young people” and can lead to “high rates of youth obesity, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and depression.”

To combat recess restrictions, the National Parent Teacher Association launched the Rescue Recess campaign in 2006 along with advocates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Education Association (believe it or not, the campaign is also co-sponsored by the Cartoon Network without a hint of irony).

But why do we need to rescue recess in the first place? Why is recess at risk?

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When I mention solid public universities like CUNY or Rutgers, I always find it a little sad when people ask me, “Is that a good school?” Maybe it’s because I’m nearing completion of my doctorate and I realize how lucky I would be to get a good tenure-track job at one of these places. Maybe it’s because I am frustrated by the needless restrictions that many students put on their college search.

When it comes to colleges, we’re trained to look at rankings and reputation. It’s a massive investment, so I understand the pull of prestige. However, it’s a massive investment, so I wish people had better information.

For starters, how much do you think it matters where you go to college? Will you get a better education at a highly ranked college? Will you be happier and more engaged at First Choice University than Last Choice University?

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Admissions season is in full swing so I thought I’d post the second installment of a series of blog entries that I wrote for the Kaplan Co. website last spring. In this second piece, I share some thoughts about the potential impact of social networking sites on college admissions applications. To those of you who are gearing up for Early Admissions–GOOD LUCK! Hope some of these posts are helpful.

With the massive growth of social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace, many students today have grown comfortable posting personal information about themselves on the web. You know you’ve seen pictures of underage drinking, inappropriate public displays of affection, or rude gestures on your classmates’ pages. Maybe you even have some of these shots up on your own Facebook or MySpace page. If so, take them down.

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On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, proposed that the federal government make some long-overdue changes to the Federal Application for Student Assistance (FAFSA)–the 145-question long form that many of you know and hate.

At the event, which was held at Harvard, Secretary Spellings actually waved all ten pages of the current FAFSA form in the air and announced that “It’s red tape like this that keeps 40 percent of college students from even applying for aid — that’s eight million students. And we believe most would have been eligible for assistance.”

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking that all this talk about financial aid forms is about as interesting as reading through the tax code. But these simple changes really do impact millions of students in tough times.

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According to the latest survey results that were just released by Sallie Mae, here’s how the average American student pays for college: students borrow 23 percent, parents borrow 16 percent, 15 percent comes from grants or scholarships, 10 percent comes from friends/relatives and 32 percent comes from parental income.

So, on average, students and parents borrow 39 percent of the cost of college.

Unfortunately, it’s no secret that our buy-now-pay-later philosophy may not be such a great idea after all. Excessive debt has overwhelmed ordinary Americans and sunk the greedy institutions that not only lured us into borrowing more than we could afford but convinced themselves that betting on burdensome debt was a no brainer.

The whole sub-prime mortgage fiasco was predicated on the idea that housing prices will always increase in value and that those who can’t afford the adjustments on their adjustable rate mortgages can always sell their house to repay the bank. Unfortunately, we now know what happens when the value of your home plummets at the same time as your no-money-down home loan skyrockets.

Could the same thing happen to students loans?

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If you live in New York City, go see this movie at the IFC this weekend.

I just got back from a fundraiser/screening, and the film absolutely lives up to its critical acclaim. After the screening, the producers described how difficult it was for them to get a distribution contract, despite winning Sundance. They were told more than once that the film isn’t marketable because they don’t have a main character who is white.

If you do not live in New York, call your local art house film and ask them to show it.

You can find out more at the Trouble the Water website. I had problems uploading the movie trailer but you can check it out on the website.

This morning, I heard someone on NPR say that Sarah Palin was lying about her support for special needs children by citing the fact that she supposedly cut funding for special needs programs while governor of Alaska. Considering that many of Pain’s comments have been proven truthy at best, I was inclined to believe this.

However, I just read this column in Ed Week that demonstrates how Palin actually increased funding for special needs children and that the media’s accusation stems from a misreading of the Alaskan budget. Chalk it up to my own neuroses, but I felt kind of bad for believing the false information and decided to share the real deal with Crucial Minutiae.

One of the coolest things about having the opportunity to publish a book is that you get to meet all kinds of interesting people. Paula Bishop is one such person. She emailed me after reading Fat Envelope Frenzy and told me all about her own experience with college admissions and financial aid.

Originally from Boston, Paula went to Wharton as an undergraduate (with the help of financial aid) and got her MBA at Berkeley on her way to becoming a CPA. She now lives in Washington state, where she puts her accounting skills to good use as a certified college planning specialist. Paula helps families estimate the amount of financial aid for which they are eligible to inform their decisions about postsecondary education.

I asked Paula to share some of her advice about paying for college with Crucial Minutiae.

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When it comes to politics, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction.

Does Sarah Palin have as much experience in public service as Barack Obama?

Did John McCain actually vote with Bush 90 percent of the time?

Will Obama raise my taxes?

Was Palin connected with an Alaska succession movement?

Did Biden plagiarize?

Luckily, there’s this great website, politifact, that does the fact-checking for you. Fact-check it out and forgive the terrible pun.