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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 11:07:22 GMT -5
I don't necessarily mean half the years, but half the time. We currently do the book work of high school in 2-3 days a week. Leaves a lot of time for other things. Travel, interests, exploration, etc...
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Oct 17, 2014 11:23:11 GMT -5
I don't necessarily mean half the years, but half the time. We currently do the book work of high school in 2-3 days a week. Leaves a lot of time for other things. Travel, interests, exploration, etc... I'm not sure that the "regular" HS experience is actually that different. The only difference maybe that in a hs band, shop, nhs, sports ect may be classes that meet at set times and come with grades. My DD's favorite year was her senior year. She had only two classes she needed so really 1 day a week. The rest of the schedule was made up of classes she wanted and clubs like latin club art club. She also got to go on lots of field trips. I will say her HS counselor put her in two AP classes where she would have happily played her year away with advanced. I was just happy she did it instead of me.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Oct 17, 2014 11:23:16 GMT -5
I don't necessarily mean half the years, but half the time. We currently do the book work of high school in 2-3 days a week. Leaves a lot of time for other things. Travel, interests, exploration, etc... Not to get OT but the same thing can be said for work in general. It seems like I can get my work done in half the time it takes others who do the same job. I don't know if they are just inefficient, have bad time management skills, or are just pretending to be overworked. Either way, at times it irks me that I am forced to have my butt in a chair while all my work is actually done but it is something I have learned to deal with over the years. While I completely understand what you are saying I do think there is some merit to kids/young adults learning that the world is "different." There is a certain structure in most places you have follow. This type of thing will evolve over time but I can't ever see me buzzing my supervisor's phone and saying "hey, all my work is done for the day and I think I am going to head out to the zoo for the afternoon."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 12:37:05 GMT -5
Actually some places do work that way.
Maybe I'm wrong. The system is awesome and we won't see any changes going forward...
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Oct 17, 2014 17:25:12 GMT -5
This came through today.. I thought it was interesting. www.usnewsuniversitydirectory.com/articles/colleges-experiment-with-competency-based-degrees_14383.aspx#.VEGUlOdYY0x Broader Understanding
This increased pressure to define competency accurately may benefit more than the experimental programs, Jamie Merisotis, president of the Lumina Foundation, tells NPR. A lack of clarity about what degrees actually signify may be hurting students, he says, who sometimes go deep into debt to finance their education.
The foundation is working on what it calls a Degree Qualifications Profile, which attempts to set out exactly what knowledge an associate's degree represents versus a bachelor's or master's degree. More than 400 schools have already used a draft of the document to inform decisions about their own degrees.
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Formerly SK
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Post by Formerly SK on Oct 18, 2014 9:50:57 GMT -5
I can come up with probably a thousand improvements for the college system - including scraping it altogether. I could say the same thing about K-12. That said, I believe school is supposed to prepare kids to successfully enter the work world and right now the work world wants degrees (whether traditional BA/BS or trade certs). A few people may be able to get around those requirements and have a great life. But for the majority of people who are looking for a job to support themselves, a degree is really important (now more than ever). So, I'd be hesitant to have my kid pursue some sort of college alternative - even if I thought the program was fabulous. I'm passionate about education and believe learning is a lifelong process. Going to college is for learning a skill so you are employable. If employers want a piece of paper with a transcript, that's what I'll push my kids to get.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 18, 2014 10:01:02 GMT -5
Actually some places do work that way. Maybe I'm wrong. The system is awesome and we won't see any changes going forward... I didn't say that either. I really don't have any opinions on how education should work. I don't have a problem with how it is - because it worked for me. I'm the person that went to a decent public school, and then went onto a decent state university, and came out and got a great job, that has provided me with a great life. My whole world has similar stories - birds of a feather and all. So, I don't see the need to bang the drum of change. It certainly doesn't mean I am right. All I'm saying is that "standards" and having a simple, single, understandable scale of performance is very important to me - even if I know it is flawed. I need things short-handed. Probably because I'm lazy...or as I like to call it "busy." As someone else mentioned - your GPA is not the only thing used to evaluate you. Cover letters, portfolios, resumes, references and the interview are all used to ferrets out your qualifications, skills and experiences. GPA is just a tool. And replacing it with something else might only serve to take something away. Or, maybe it would be awesome. I don't know - but it would be a pain in the ass to make the change, and there would be a long period of time where it would be a disaster because no school would do it the same way, and there would be no "best practices" and I suspect a bunch of people would get screwed in the process.
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Oct 18, 2014 10:52:52 GMT -5
The rising costs are going to drive change sooner rather than later. I doubt there are enough students whose parents can pay the full ride to fill every school in America. And even those who borrow or cash flow... the higher that tab gets, the less the ROI. The idea of starting your working life with $200,000 in debt to only make $40k/year seems poor.
Some employers seem happy to participate in work-study programs. They get an employee for far less than they'd have to pay a full timer. The student gets some real life experience and exposure. So long as they use the student for more than stapling packets and error-checking excel sheets. Colleges that are willing to give course credit for internships definitely do the students a service. Its hard to hold down classes and an internship simultaneously.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 18, 2014 11:15:43 GMT -5
If anything needs transformation, it is the low-quality, expensive schools with poor graduation rates and high loan default. They are the ones that are screwing the most vulnerable. I love that US News & World Report included a ranking of "Worst schools" along with their "Best Schools" this year. For so many, you don't have to go to a top 50 school to improve your life, but avoiding the bottom 50 is so important.
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TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Oct 18, 2014 12:02:02 GMT -5
If anything needs transformation, it is the low-quality, expensive schools with poor graduation rates and high loan default. They are the ones that are screwing the most vulnerable. I love that US News & World Report included a ranking of "Worst schools" along with their "Best Schools" this year. For so many, you don't have to go to a top 50 school to improve your life, but avoiding the bottom 50 is so important. I think the issue is sometimes they are seen as the "only" options. Not that they are but are seen as that. Also they are the ones "promising" a job at the end of your studies, easy, convenient schedule, study from home, great commercials etc. People will always fall for what they consider "fast and easy", look at the whole weight loss industry.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 18, 2014 12:19:47 GMT -5
If anything needs transformation, it is the low-quality, expensive schools with poor graduation rates and high loan default. They are the ones that are screwing the most vulnerable. I love that US News & World Report included a ranking of "Worst schools" along with their "Best Schools" this year. For so many, you don't have to go to a top 50 school to improve your life, but avoiding the bottom 50 is so important. I think the issue is sometimes they are seen as the "only" options. Not that they are but are seen as that. Also they are the ones "promising" a job at the end of your studies, easy, convenient schedule, study from home, great commercials etc. People will always fall for what they consider "fast and easy", look at the whole weight loss industry. I agree. But the more press the faulty schools get, the more likely someone will be deterred. Every little bit helps.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Oct 18, 2014 13:49:21 GMT -5
I think the issue is sometimes they are seen as the "only" options. Not that they are but are seen as that. Also they are the ones "promising" a job at the end of your studies, easy, convenient schedule, study from home, great commercials etc. People will always fall for what they consider "fast and easy", look at the whole weight loss industry. I agree. But the more press the faulty schools get, the more likely someone will be deterred. Every little bit helps. I think they should lose their ability to have student loans to go to them. It really is simple to me. To my thinking ihe sucky graduation rate leads to student loan defaults. So no student loans for them. At the moment the only person whose feet are held to the fire is the 19 year old who was sold a bill of goods and believed it.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 18, 2014 13:51:51 GMT -5
I agree that once their graduation rate go below a certain amount and their loan default rate goes up to a certain amount, they should have all their loan pool instantly evaporate. But, I'm sure someone would say that is racist in some way.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Oct 18, 2014 14:03:29 GMT -5
I agree that once their graduation rate go below a certain amount and their loan default rate goes up to a certain amount, they should have all their loan pool instantly evaporate. But, I'm sure someone would say that is racist in some way. I saw a report, 60 minutes I think, don't judge! , that said these schools are crazy good at keeping students student loans out of default for exactly as long as they need them to be to be considered off the hook. I think it was 3 years and they had mad skills for knowing exactly what to do to make sure that didn't happen while it could come back on them. I think it included them putting some SL's on deferment type of thing for those three years. Could you imagine what they could do if they used their powers for good?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Oct 18, 2014 14:10:31 GMT -5
I agree that once their graduation rate go below a certain amount and their loan default rate goes up to a certain amount, they should have all their loan pool instantly evaporate. But, I'm sure someone would say that is racist in some way. I saw a report, 60 minutes I think, don't judge! , that said these schools are crazy good at keeping students student loans out of default for exactly as long as they need them to be to be considered off the hook. I think it was 3 years and they had mad skills for knowing exactly what to do to make sure that didn't happen while it could come back on them. I think it included them putting some SL's on deferment type of thing for those three years. Could you imagine what they could do if they used their powers for good? They play those same games with employment rates. They have what amounts to temp contracts to give new hires jobs for a few months, claim they have huge employment rates and then the company dumps them all just in time to bring on the new crop of graduates.
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