How the Recession Changed the Reasons Students Go to College - Education - GOOD

http://www.good.is/post/how-the-recession-changed-why-students-go-to-college/

I've been in college during economic times both good (mid-late 90s) and bad (2009-current). According to a UCLA survey, more students are now saying they're attending college to ready themselves for the workforce, instead of indicating they're there to pursue their interests. I don't know if there's a causation argument to be made, but simply the increasing cost of college is surely causing more students to think about the financial return on their investment.

Advocates fighting to keep music playing in Colorado schools - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19849195

My participation in a music program was an important part of my education, particularly in high school. But if you were JeffCo schools and had to cut 70 million dollars, what can you do? What if there's nothing else to cut?

The Research Works Act: asking the public to pay twice for scientific knowledge. | Doing Good Science, Scientific American Blog Network

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/2012/01/06/the-researc...

It's nice that the Research Works Act isn't some 1000-page monster. We don't have to look so far to find its faults. The RWA would define "private-sector research" to include "research funded in whole or in part by a Federal agency and to which a commercial or nonprofit publisher has made or has entered into an arrangement to make a value-added contribution, including peer review or editing." I hadn't noticed it before, but technically it doesn't even seem like publishers have to make an actual contribution -- they merely have to have "entered into an arrangement" to do so. The RWA is even bolder (and more evil) than I thought.

Plagiarist or Puppet? US Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s reprehensible defense of Elsevier’s Research Works Act

http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=846

An interesting and combative post by Michael Eisen (a co-founder of the Public Library of Science) accusing (with reason) Representative Carolyn Maloney of being either "a plagiarist or an Elsevier puppet."

Research Bought, Then Paid For - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/opinion/research-bought-then-paid-for.html

I'm jealous of researchers who benefit from the distribution their articles will receive due to the NIH open access policy. The Research Works Act is exactly the wrong step: instead of limiting or eliminating open public access to publicly-funded research, we should be making it all open. There's plenty of opinion against the RWA on the net, but this NYT piece summarizes it quite well.

Scratching the Surface of Obama's Education Rhetoric | The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165843/scratching-surface-obamas-education-rhet...

I think Dana Goldstein summed up Obama's education portions of the State of the Union pretty well here: "long on platitudes and short on honest talk." As for the idea of making it illegal to drop out of school before you turn 18, she definitely gets it: "...one can’t really address the drop-out crisis without making school much more engaging for low-income teenagers, whether or not they show an inclination toward making it to and through a four-year college. This means dealing head-on with curriculum, not just tinkering with how teachers are hired and fired, and by whom."

How schools are reacting to Apple’s entry into education | VentureBeat

http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/21/apple-textbook-public-private-schools/
After the typical tech journalism rush to cover Apple's iBooks/education announcement, it was nice to see a story that actually talked to teachers and schools about the feasibility of using these iPad-only texts in their schools. I'm wondering what my School and Society students would do if they were buying books for a school and it was their decision to make.

Trans fat ban proposed for Colorado schools - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19765491

The Colorado legislature is considering banning foods with trans fats from schools, including everything from breakfast, lunch, and vending machines. I'm putting this question to my School and Society students: Do we need state regulations like this, and if so, do they agree with this one?

Are charter schools and vouchers a good thing for American public schools? | Learning Matters: Reporting you trust on education stories that matter

http://learningmatters.tv/blog/web-series/is-school-choice-good-or-bad-for-pu...

A lot of discussion about charter schools and vouchers in this story, but the video by itself looks good for discussion in my School and Society class.

Shanker Blog » Income And Educational Outcomes

http://shankerblog.org/?p=4781

Income matters in education, but so do other aspects of a student's background. My question for my students this week: Should a school try to equalize for differences in students' backgrounds, and if so, how?

CU proposes 15.7 percent tuition hike for in-state students next year - Boulder Daily Camera

http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_19721879

Ugh. Not only is tuition going to make a big jump, I think the most worrisome part of the story was this: "CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue said the school needs to change the way it charges tuition over the next few years to a structure that more accurately charges students for the classes they take. Administrators say they are essentially giving away classes for free by charging full-time students for only 11.25 students. By 2014-15, CU plans to charge full-time students for 15 credit hours a semester." The idea of "working your way through college" isn't sustainable under this plan. Not only is tuition getting more expensive, to qualify as a full time student you'll have to take more credit hours, meaning less time to work. Together, that means more and more debt.

Property Investors Bet on Rising Demand for U.S. Charter School Campuses - Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-11/property-investors-bet-on-rising-dem...

I understand that charter schools need land and buildings, and that means somebody has to make a real estate investment, but it doesn't put me at ease to see Bloomberg's coverage of investment firms spending millions to jump into the charter school business. After all, I think our recent history with the housing bubble shows us that such investors aren't exactly altruistic.

Behind the Research Works Act: Which U.S. Representatives are Receiving Cash from Reed Elsevier? | Shreds and Patches

http://jasonbairdjackson.com/2012/01/05/behind-the-research-works-act-which-u...

As if I didn't already have reasons to dislike Reed Elsevier, they're actively contributing to the sponsors of a bill that would restrict public access to published research.

Why Is Open-Internet Champion Darrell Issa Supporting an Attack on Open Science? - Rebecca J. Rosen - Technology - The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/why-is-open-internet-ch...

Ugh. This is lousy legislation; if passed, publicly-funded research would be kept from the public if for-profit publishers can find any way to "add value" to the work.