Derek Melleby, Director of the College Transition Initiative, a ministry of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding and the Coalition for Christian Outreach, pens an excellent, brief article on the benefits many students can accrue from a "gap year" between high school and college. If you're not familiar with the term "gap year," he also defines it and gives links to several websites which list all kinds of programs. An excerpt: Why do students take a gap year? A gap year brings focus. According to The Princeton Review, “Likes and dislikes, plans for the future, and even the reason why … [Read more...] about Derek Melleby: A “Gap Year” Before College
Thriving at College
Getting Your Teens Ready for College
An article I published last year with Christianity Today began this way: While seven out of ten high school graduates enter college, about 30 percent will never make it to their sophomore year, and about 50 percent won’t have graduated even six years later. Meanwhile the average student who does make it to graduation will have racked up $23,000 in debt. Today the cost of a college education is increasing two to three times faster than the overall rate of inflation. Besides being expensive, college is also time-consuming and life altering. Particularly for students who move away from home, … [Read more...] about Getting Your Teens Ready for College
Obama’s Higher-Education Agenda
Peter Wood is President of the National Association of Scholars. This past February he began examining, in a series of meaty blog posts, the eight major components of President Obama's plans for higher education. I just came across the series yesterday, and simply had to read it all in just two sittings. Wood builds his case well -- he shows how the President's seemingly disparate actions are actually of a piece, each bolstering the other, and each reinforcing an ambitious long-term vision of higher education. If you are wondering how on earth the federal government's takeover of the … [Read more...] about Obama’s Higher-Education Agenda
The Value of Manual Labor
Great post from Karen Swallow Prior: I’m married to a building trades teacher who works every day with students who might chafe at studying the liberal arts but have skills that can meet the needs of the current workforce and produce satisfaction and dignity as those gifts are used. Indeed the latest research shows that jobs requiring an associate’s degree, vocational training, and on-the-job training are among the greatest current workforce needs. As the poet W. H. Auden put it, “You owe it to all of us to get on with what you're good at.” Read the whole thing. … [Read more...] about The Value of Manual Labor
Are we sending too many to college, or too few?
Continuing our discussion from yesterday with Dr. Archibald, a few follow-up questions: There's been discussion in the media recently (from Robert Samuelson and Richard Vedder, among others) that a "college for all" agenda is being pushed, and that such an agenda is unwarranted. They observe that thousands of janitors and parking lot attendants hold college degrees, and that such training is both expensive and unnecessary for these professions. What do you think? Are we sending too many to college, or too few? This is a difficult question. I do not believe in “college for all.” There are … [Read more...] about Are we sending too many to college, or too few?
Why does College Cost So Much?
While acknowledging that tuition and fees at colleges and universities have been rising faster than the rate of inflation, authors Robert Archibald and David Feldman (Professors of Economics at William and Mary College) oppose the view, increasingly espoused by economists such as Richard Vedder, that higher education is increasingly dysfunctional. Instead, their argument is that costs for colleges have risen as a natural byproduct of a growing economy. I recently read their interesting book Why Does College Cost So Much? and was grateful that Dr. Archibald was willing to answer a few … [Read more...] about Why does College Cost So Much?