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Posts Tagged ‘Education’

Potential major chages to financial aid

12:09 pm By la Macha · Education · 1 Comment

18 Sep 2009

kids In a move that looks sure to help out Latinas struggling to get through university, the House has ok’ed a bill that makes more positive changes to government sponsored financial aid since the 1960s.

The House has voted in favor of the biggest overhaul of college aid programs since their creation in the 1960s — a bill to oust private lenders from the student loan business and put the government in charge.

Thursday’s vote was 253-171 in favor of a bill that fulfills an array of President Barack Obama’s campaign promises, ending subsidies for private lenders, boosting Pell Grants for needy students and paying for community college reforms, among other things.

I’m not a huge fan of Pell Grants–when I was in school, I found that the more money you got through Pell Grants, the more school tuition was raised. I think caps on the cost of university in conjunction with Pell Grants would be more beneficial to students.

At the same time, however, I can’t tell you how pleased I am that private companies would no longer have control over student loans. As a teacher who saw many of her poorer students being forced into private loans out of desperation (i.e. a crisis during the middle of semester), I know that private loans target those who need the money most but are some of the most marginalized and under protected (think: homeloan crisis we’re now in).

What I would really *rather* see over anything in this bill, however, is the ability for students to declare bankruptcy returned. As much as it sucks for homeowners to have to declare bankruptcy and lose their houses–at the very least, they know once the deed is done, their economic burdens are considerably lightened. Students do not get that–they are forced to take out a type of loan that is the ONLY type of loan in the U.S. that can not be dismissed in bankruptcy. Which effectively means that no matter how bad things get, no matter what hospital bills you rack up or what jobs you lose or how life messes with you–your school loans are going to be there with you.

It’s not clear yet if this legislation will also pass the Senate. If it does, it looks as if Obama will sign it (I got this article off of Obama update on twitter!), which is good. But there’s still a long way to go–too many U.S. citizens are working there way into permanent debt simply because they wanted an education.

Alberto Gonzales Emerges from the Shadows to Teach You a Lesson

7:04 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bizarro| Celebrities| Education| Politics · 1 Comment

10 Jul 2009

gonzales-and-bush Just when you thought it was safe to go back to school after summer vacation: ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is back and he wants to be your professor. At least that’s what the fine young men and women of Texas Tech have to look forward to this coming school year. According to Amarillo.com, Gonzales will teach the course “Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch,” and will also help the university recruit Latino students. Um…yeah…

While he may have been heckled at the University of Florida back in 2007, it appears that Albertito is beyond all that now and ready to take on his new post:

“I am long past the time of worrying about criticism,” said Gonzales, 53, in a Tuesday evening telephone interview.

“When you are involved in the most controversial issues of the day, you draw some criticism,” he said. “I am excited to be in an environment where ideas are debated. I will open a dialogue for a discussion about the policies of the previous administration.”

Be sure to check out Andrew Cohen’s CourtWatch blog for some cutting commentary on the new “Professor Gonzales”.

Via / Amarillo.com

Bilingual Education: The Debate Continues

10:52 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bilingualism| Controversia| Education| society · 1 Comment

18 Jun 2009

MSNBC has an interesting piece on how increased immigration to formerly non-Latino areas of the country is affecting the educational landscape of public schools, and the contrast with areas of the country where English Only has succeeded in being instated and has subsequently failed students.

Have a look at the video and let us know what you think about this continuing debate. What’s best? Bilingual education? Immersion?

Via / MSNBC

NYC Public Schools Pay $35 million per Year for Nothing

11 Mar 2009

I was dumbstruck after listening to last week’s episode of Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life program this morning. The episode featured a story so Kafkaesque I first doubted its veracity and then just sat shocked. It’s simple enough to sum up in just a few words: the New York City Public School system sends teachers who “misbehave” or are suspected of having done something wrong to what amounts to detention hall for teachers. Teachers are told they will be going to a “reassignment center” and when they arrive, wait to meet with district authorities.

But there will never be a meeting. The teachers sit in rooms for hours doing nothing. Those hours turn in to weeks. Weeks into months for most. And for some into a year or more than one year. Doing nothing.

A culture emerges within this confinement. It is reported by those who have been in what is called “the rubber room” – the informal name for the facility — that the overwhelming boredom and depression felt by the teachers translates into childlike behavior, violent fights and territorial squabbles. In effect, they become a lot like children in detention.

Teachers awaiting their fate — a decision by the NYC school system on whether they will be reinstated and return to teaching or terminated — continue to earn their full salary, even though they are doing absolutely nothing in the rubber room day in and day out. The estimated cost to NYC taxpayers? Some 35 million dollars per year. Read more…

Number of Latinos in Schools Doubles

7:48 am By Maegan La Mala · Education| Immigration| children| society · Comments Off

27 Aug 2008

story.hispanic.students.ap.jpg A lot has changed in the world since 1990, and over the past 18 years, the Latino population has grown exponentially. The Pew Hispanic Center has released a new report titled “One-in-Five and Growing Fast: A Profile of Hispanic Public School Students” which, as its name suggests, shows that one in every five public school students is Latino.

A majority of Hispanic students — about 75 percent — live in what the study calls “established” Hispanic states: Texas, Colorado, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In Texas, more than 40 percent of enrollments from 1990 to 2006 were Latino students.

Almost 20 percent of the nation’s Hispanic students — nearly 2 million — live in Texas.

From 1990 to 2008, the Latino public school population grew from 5 million to 9.8 million.

Via / Chron.com

Chilean Teachers Protest Against Education Inequality

4:30 pm By Maegan La Mala · Activism| Chile| Education| Latin America · Comments Off

17 Jun 2008

An on-going series of public manifestations against the state of the Chilean education system came to a head yesterday as hundreds of school teachers took the streets, and at least 20 broke into the Palace of the Moneda, throwing about pamphlets expressing their opposition to the “Ley General de la Educación”. 12 teachers were arrested when they tried to submit a document with their demands to the government at the palace.

The National Organization of teachers has called for a strike which was set to begin yesterday and extend into Thursday, and its spokesperson said that 90% of the schools in the Santiago metropolitan area would stop classes, while the Chilean Minister of Education debunked the claim, saying that 1800 schools in the capital were having classes.

Meanwhile, several schools and universities have been taken over by student protesters, and according to Mexico’s La Jornada, at least two — the University of Santiago and the University of Valdivia — have been “vacated” by the carabineros.

The new Chilean education law at the center of this public backlash is said to perpetuate the breach between rich and poor with regard to education, and is costing president Michelle Bachelet some major popularity points. For some background on the LGE, check out Chilean college student-blogger Ernesto Manriquez’s analysis of the legislation and what it will change.

Via / La Jornada

Image via Arriving at the horizon on Flickr

12 year-old to study medicine in Mexico

5:11 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education| children| mexico · Comments Off

16 Aug 2007

A “super cerebro” — a real-life Doogie Howser — has emerged in the Mexican state of Puebla: a 12-year old named Andrew Almazán just finished high school and is off to study medicine and psychology at the university level.

The University of the Americas in Puebla announced today that they have accepted little Andrew, and that he has received a grant which covers all of his costs, including providing a home on campus where he can live with his parents.

The university has also created a special program for him given his young age, which for now would not require him to perform autopsies or dissections.

Via / El Universal

Struggling students opt for medical school in Cuba

11:45 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Education| Politics| society · 1 Comment

25 Jul 2007

2007-07-24t225109z_01_nootr_rtridsp_2_health-cuba-usa-doctors-dc-1.jpg In what may be Fidel Castro’s best PR moment of the year, and, coincidentally, excellent promo for Michael Moore’s new film Sicko, 8 American students have graduated from medical school — in Cuba. Reports the International Herald Tribune:

Four New Yorkers, three Californians and a Minnesota native, all from minority backgrounds, have studied in Havana since April 2001.

The six women and two men made up the first class of Americans to graduate from the Latin American School of Medicine since Castro offered free medical training to U.S. students after meeting with a delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus seven years ago.

“I’ve learned that medicine is not a business,” said Toussaint Reynolds, a graduate from Massapequa, New York. “I will be a better doctor in the United States for it.”

New Latino Scholarship Directory released

2:13 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Education| Money · Comments Off

9 Jan 2007

Live in California and need money for college or know someone who does? The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute has just announced a new directory for Latinos looking for college dollars:

The directory, which was originally released in early november 2006, has been viewed online more than 15,000 times and quickly sold out its initial print run.

Now in its second printing, the directory has been expanded to include more than 20 of the largest national scholarship funders, providing millions of dollars of additional scholarship opportunities for California’s Latino students.

Printed copies will be distributed through the Sallie Mae Fund’s national “paying for college” bus tour, which launches its California tour today. Additional scholarship directories will be distributed by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, and by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund at their programs throughout Southern California.

Get more info and download the online version at LatinoCollegeDollars.org.

Thanks to reader Cindylu for the tip!

Black and Brown

7:48 pm By Maegan La Mala · Education · 2 Comments

28 Aug 2006

Historically Black colleges are recruiting Latinos. According to an AP report earlier this month covered by both CNN.com and USAtoday.com

A great move for historically Black colleges since:
a. the country is moving towards becoming a greater mixture of colors, to embrace that fact is to embrace a more realistic sample of the population,
b. the creation of a more united minority front is just what the colored population of this country needs (especially in terms of voting and economic power) and,
c. learning how to understand Black culture (all Black people are not drug dealers), and Latino culture (all Latinas aren’t sluts who liked to be called “Mami”), will only lead to a greater understanding and respect of each.

And who knows, maybe both Latinos and Blacks will realize the fate of one minority group in the United States is the fate of them all? Maybe they’ll do something about it?

But is it a great move for Latinos?

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