For those of us not lucky enough to be born poor or smart, there are tons of other scholarships out there that reward uniqueness, skills and “just being yourself.” For instance, there’s the $5,000 you and your date could win for wearing an outfit made of Duct Tape to prom. [More]
education
White House: More Women Are Educated Than Men, But Don't Get Paid As Much
By 3.2.11
In a mysterious inequity, American women earn about 75 percent of what their male counterparts make at all levels of education, according to a White House report that claims to be the first comprehensive federal evaluation of the status of women since 1963. [More]
School Tracks Truant Students With GPS Devices
By 2.18.11
To combat seventh and eighth graders who constantly skip class, a school in California is equipping the worst offenders with GPS tracking units. If you have more than four unexcused absences, you’re assigned to carry a handheld GPs device. Five times a day you have enter in a code to verify your location. You also get an automated call in the morning reminding you to come to school and three times a week an adult assigned to you calls you to check in and discuss attendance strategies. The devices have increased attendance by truants to 95% up from 77%, but some parents feel it treats their kids “like common criminals.” Do you think this program is a good idea? Take our poll and sound off in the comments. [More]
Mom Jailed For Falsifying Address To Send Kids To Better School District
By 1.27.11
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district. [More]
Learn Better By Studying Less And Taking More Tests
By 1.21.11
If you really want to learn something, stop cracking those books as much and take more tests. That’s the upshot of new research published in the journal Science. In it they had students read a chunk of text and then take a test which required them to recall what they read. A week later, they showed a 50% higher retention rate on the information from the passage than students using other techniques. So if you’re paying for your kids to get tutored, make sure they’re having your child do a healthy mix of practice tests and not just studying. [More]
Find Cheaper Textbooks Online
By 1.19.11
The New York Times Bucks Blog has a great feature on finding textbooks for less. There’s a great list of comparison sites in there. Don’t forget too the option of e-textbooks at sites like CafeScribe. Having all the text digitized not only makes it lighter and more portable, but you can easily CTRL-F if you’re trying to find a key phrase or concept. [More]
Boll Weevils Found In School Lunch Noodles, Removed, Then Noodles Served
By 1.12.11
An Ohio school district sent a letter home to parents informing them that cafeteria staff had found boll weevils inside bags of dried eggs noodles that were to be served for lunch. The workers removed the weevils, boiled the noodles, and later served the noodles. [More]
UNC Chapel Hill Is The Best Deal In Public Colleges
By 1.4.11
Kiplinger’s has released their rankings of the 100 best values for public colleges and universities — and the winner is… the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [More]
Are Upper-Crust Schools Worth The Expense?
By 12.20.10
It’s impossible to definitively say whether or not the benefits of a degree from an elite college justify the expense. [More]
Fancy Colleges Don't Matter
By 11.30.10
Smart and ambitious students should go to community college and state school, and save their money for funding their dreams. At least that’s one way to look at a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that found going to a college where kids have higher SAT scores doesn’t result in more money after they graduate. [More]
Make A Two-Year Tour Of Duty At A Junior College Work For You
By 11.29.10
For students who want four-year degrees, junior college can either be a low-cost way to slash the sticker price of your education or an endless time and money suck that derails your master plan. [More]
Only 9% Of Students At For-Profit Colleges Graduate Within 6 Years
By 11.24.10
If you’re planning on getting ahead in life with a degree from a for-profit college, consider this: a new report says that only 9% of students there graduate within 6 years. Ah, so that’s the reason why you don’t see too many University of Phoenix degrees hanging on the walls of high-powered execs. [More]
Alabama Schools Paddle Kids With No Way For Parents To Opt-Out
By 11.11.10
Here’s an type of opt-out list we don’t often write about: Corporal punishment in schools is legal in lots of states, but if you assumed parents could always opt-out, you’d be mistaken. According to a report from WHNT in Alabama, one student was beaten until he was bruised because he failed a science test. [More]
More Everest College Grads Sue Over Non-Transferable Credits
By 10.5.10
Last year, we brought you the story of 13 graduates of Everest College’s Dallas campus who filed a lawsuit claiming they had been misled by the for-profit school into believing they would be able to find jobs and transfer their credits upon graduation. Now, a handful of Everest alums in Utah have filed a similar lawsuit, alleging fraud by the school. [More]
School Sells Ad Space On Letters Sent Home To Parents
By 10.1.10
A MA elementary school is selling ad space on the backs of permission slips and notices sent home to parents. It’s better than another bake sale, say officials, who have pledged to keep the advertising appropriate for families. No ads for alcohol, tobacco, political causes or tattoo parlors will be allowed. Is this any different than ads in the back of yearbooks? Or one more tumble down the slippery slope of commercial encroachment in our public schools? Take our poll and sound off in the comments. [More]
College Kids Buying Credit Card Cosignatures
By 10.1.10
Tell a college student they can’t do something and someone will figure out a way to monetize it. Thanks to the CARD Act, makers of fake ID’s on campuses may now have a new sideline business: selling real credit card cosigner signatures. [More]
Colleges Reap Big Bucks Selling Student Addresses To Credit Card Companies
By 9.24.10
Colleges are making bucket-loads of cash selling their alumni mailing lists to credit card companies. In some cases, they’re even getting a cut on every credit-card purchase or debit-card transaction a student makes. [More]
Prego's Fake Lesson Plans To "Test" Thickest Sauce
By 9.20.10
Here’s a page from the history books of consumerism history: Back in the early 90’s, Prego gave out 12,000 free posters to classrooms across America containing a “lesson plan” for a “scientific” experiment in which they would test whether Prego or Ragu Old World Style was thicker. The poster came with a free slotted spoon and a coupon for a 30 oz jar of Prego. In the September 95 issue of Harper’s Magazine, David Shenk lampooned this blatant insertion of commercial messages into the classroom under the guise of learning about the scientific method: [More]
