What made your no. 1 college choice stand out from the rest?
Over the last 45 years, the most popular factor in choosing the right college is still the institution’s academic reputation, according to the Chronicle. However, according to preliminary evidence from a new study by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, today’s college students have many changing factors and demands than students did 40 years ago.
New college graduates have an average annual starting wage of $27,000, an amount that is hard to live off and down $3,000 from 2007. In order for professionals to make a higher wage in the new economy, Â LZ Granderson says “hustlers” will become the norm, in the article “The fastest-growing job in America.”
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A new program in Baltimore aims to bring more technology to the classroom by bringing technologists, educators, and students together to become a community of technology trainers and experts, according to the article “Closing the Loop Between Students, Teachers, and Technologists.”
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Some schools choose to ban technology, saying it’s not that complicated and kids will learn it later. Other classrooms fully embrace technology to open windows to new worlds, including their own. But for many schools, financial restraints make the choice for them. Recently a group of inner-city students from Los Angeles who were fated with a technology depleted school decided instead of accepting their circumstances, they should set out to to start a revolution and change them, according to the Mind/Shift article “Students Demand the Right to Use Technology in Schools.”
In 2011, an unprecedented study found forty-five percent of students made no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during the first two years of college. Many were stunned by the number of college students entering and graduating from college without critical thinking skills, a core 21st century skill necessary for making smart personal and professional decisions.
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The average employee admits to spending two hours a day doing non-work related tasks, according to the New York Times article “Overwhelmed, And Prone to Procrastinate.” What are they doing? They’re watching YouTube, checking Facebook, Tweeting, Pinning, Stumbling, and doing anything else they can find that will keep them away from finishing that dreaded email, phone call, or next phase of their project.
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Of the following two options, which would be your preferred way of learning how to change a tire? Â Option 1: You attend a lecture on how to change a tire and then have to change your first tire in a real-life scenario. Option 2: You take a hands-on class where you learn about changing the tire by actually changing a tire. Then, you’re confronted with a real-life scenario. Which option do you think would have better prepared you for the real-life scenario when you need to change your own tire? New research would say option 2.
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America’s unemployed youth each take $40,000 a year from the economy and cost the government $14,000 in taxes, according to the article “What Does One Jobless Youth Cost Taxpayers? $14,000 a Year.” The “lost generation” is projected to cost taxpayers $437 billion over the next five years, and possibly $1.15 trillion in their lifetime.
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In recent years, closing the achievement gap has been high on the priority list. Among many signs, the achievement gap is evident in things like poor test scores and grades, higher dropout rates, and limited class participation. As legislation, educators, and parents look for ways to close the gap, improving literacy has proven to be a popular choice to tackle these problems.
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The recession has changed the way many Americans live, causing some to file for unemployment, go back to school, relocate, or downsize. The economic downturn is also showing effects of changing how the next generation of young adults will adapt to the changed economy they are inheriting. According to the NPR article “US Jobs Between Young And Old Is Widest Ever,” a new study by the Pew Research Center shows, in record numbers, young adults are choosing to live with their parents longer and delaying marriage to raise kids out of wedlock, if they choose to have them at all.
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