Author: Marielle Salem

EveRy University: The Real Perspective of the College Student

I stumbled upon this YouTube video titled, “Honest University Commercial,” and automatically thought to share it with the class. It’s a comic mock commercial for an institution called, “EveRy University,” where the actors [sarcastically] highlight the major problems within higher education. We’ve spoken about many of these issues throughout the semester and as funny as this video seems to be, it’s still bringing attention to a very serious matter. Some of the problems stressed in the commercial are: price of institutions (tuition, dorming, meal plans, books), student debt, the decreasing value of a degree in terms of employment, core curriculum, etc…I highly recommend watching this video not just for laughs, but to also confirm the seriousness of the issues we’ve discussed and stressed throughout this semester. This class was a great ending to our Macaulay seminars and I want to thank you all for making it so enjoyable.

Enjoy your summer guys!

Single Parents Getting a Second Chance in Higher Education

This article from Inside Higher Ed titled, For Arkansas Single Parents, A Scholarship that Helps Pay for Living Expenses, explains Hilary Clinton’s dedication to helping single parents in college. Hilary helped get the scholarship program, “Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund,” off the ground and was board president for 3 years. This program provides discretionary aid to low-income single parents in attending college, preventing the rise of dropouts. I had no idea that such programs existed. Generally single parents have less financial access to higher education because of childcare and transportation. Before single mother, Amanda Condon, knew she could go back to college she stated, “There was no way I was going to be able to go to school, and provide for my kids, and maintain my grade average.” After being helped by this scholarship, she will be graduating [debt-free] with an associate’s degree in emergency management.  Inspired by the success of this scholarship program, Clinton proposed to expand this initiative worldwide and call it “Student Parents in America Raising Kids, or SPARK,” where up to million student parents single parents would be granted as much as $1,500 per year for expenses like child care and other implications. This nationwide effort to help single parents could be extremely beneficial in improving the future of both higher education and the economy. Ruthanne Hill, executive director of the Arkansas fund, states that this program could boost state economies. If more people graduate from college, they will be “earning higher salaries, paying taxes and putting more money into the economy.”

The potential benefits that SPARK has to offer to both our economy and higher education system really resonated with me. Everyone deserves equal opportunity in getting an education and the fact that the costs of a babysitter or gas for a car have been preventing this concept really upsets me. I really hope this program becomes fully implemented, so that parents don’t have to give up on their education and can pursue the careers they’re most passionate about. Arkansas has been doing it right with the “Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund”; and I hope America follows in their footsteps soon with “SPARK.”

Head Wrestling Coach at U of Chicago Supports Dennis Hastert

An article I read last week from Inside Higher ED explains how Leo Kocher, head wrestling coach of the University of Chicago supports and praises Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House of Representatives who was charged for molesting four boys as a high school wrestling coach. As part of a plea agreement, Hastert admitted to trying to hide large payments that would cover up his acts of sexual abuse. He couldn’t be charged for molesting the boys because of statutes of limitations. Leo Kocher was one of 41 people writing letters to Judge Durkin, asking for a lenient judgement for Hastert. In his letter, Kocher praised Hastert for fighting the U.S. Education Department on Title IX and intervening with colleges that were considering to eliminate wrestling programs. He agrees with Hastert’s stance on the policy of “proportionality,” that there should be roughly an equal proportion of male athletes to female athletes. To comply with “proportionality,” many colleges attempt to eliminate all male college athletic programs (which tend to not make much money), such as wrestling.  However Dennis Hastert, and Leo Kocher as well, encourage other ways to satisfy the proportionality policy that don’t involve the removal of these programs. In this case, I personally agree and think that the addition of more female athletic programs would be more beneficial than taking away students’ opportunities to participate in college athletics. Kocher doesn’t mention Hastert’s crimes, but ends his later by saying, “Denny Hastert is a good man — and is universally regarded as such by those who have gotten to know him.” An article in the New York Times stated that Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. 

This article grabbed my attention because I remembered feeling outraged learning the actions of Dennis Hastert. It really upsets me that he couldn’t be charged for the inhumane things he did decades ago because of the statutes of limitations. Even though Hastert was a high school coach, it’s still important to pay close attention to the indecencies that can take place in higher education. Just as I highlighted in my post regarding Donnie Tyndall and the academic fraud brought out by college athletics, it’s scary not knowing how many unexposed crimes could still be hiding within higher education. 

Link to article: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/25/u-chicago-coach-tells-federal-judge-dennis-hastert-deserves-credit-fighting-title-ix

College Athletics and Academic Fraud

This article from Inside Higher Ed titled, NCAA Finds Southern Mississippi Basketball Staff Committed Academic Fraud, discusses a very serious issue that higher education faces with Division 1 institutions. “Division 1” is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Unfortunately, academic dishonesty is not foreign to higher education. I often hear stories about students getting into prestigious colleges because they simply cheated their way through high school. With this case, however, it’s not just the students being dishonest. Division 1 universities are where they are clearly because they strive to be the best of the best, but former coach of Southern Mississippi, Donnie Tyndall, went about achieving that the wrong way. Tyndall had his eyes on select students at two year institutions and did what he could to get them on his team. He and his basketball staff completed over 100 assignments in online classes for future recruits that needed academic help to transfer to Southern Mississippi. This scandal wasn’t limited to just those who needed academic help. Tyndall even went as far to recruit those who needed financial help. He went to a pharmacy, purchased 4 prepaid $500 credit cards and had his graduate students use them to pay for a recruits online classes and registration fees.

I was absolutely shocked reading this article. I never really understood the pressures education institutions face when it comes to athletics until I learned that there are coaches who are willing to commit academic fraud to deal with them. Thankfully for the past two years, the NCAA has been working on this issue and investigating Division 1 institutions for any other cases of academic fraud. The NCAA definitely has to be more aggressive in exposing the corrupt ways of college athletics.

Link to Article: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/11/ncaa-finds-southern-mississippi-basketball-staff-committed-academic-fraud

Chapter 7: The Student Swirl

  1. This chapter begins by introducing StraighterLine, a rationally priced, online educating institution that doesn’t offer degrees. Jose Brown was only 6 math credits away from completing his general education requirements at George Washington University, so he takes these classes online and his school accepts the credits without an issue. When most people go to college, they dread taking their core classes. Would it be ideal for these types of people to take their general education classes through institutions like StraighterLine, so that when they attend their main college they can focus solely on their major?
  2. Selingo raises an interesting issue about the pricing of online classes. Burck Smith, the creator of StraighterLine, is bothered by the system in that “traditional universities and for-profit colleges typically charge the same price for online courses as they do for face-to-face versions, even though the online format is much less expensive to produce [79].” StraighterLines tuition only costs $99 for a month of classes! Many students can agree that an online class doesn’t leave as much impact and isn’t as rewarding as an in-person class. Therefore, the cost for online classes should be less than in-person classes.
  3. The process of transferring credits between two institutions is also an issue. Colleges are reluctant in accepting credits from StraighterLine courses simply because if they offer a similar course, they’d be missing out on revenue. This shows how the business aspect of higher education can be unfair to students.
  4. Selling makes a very interesting point when he suggests, “Degrees should be based on how much students know, not how much time they spend in a classroom [84].” Most colleges dwell on this tradition of the credit system, but knowledge should not be measured this way. The Competency-model is much more sensible in that it grants a degree to a student who earns the mastery of  the subject through a series of assessment tests and allows them to go at their own pace.
  5. The story of Mike Russo and his ability to receive college credits for his life experiences was very interesting. It’s great how colleges can look beyond the college classroom experience and accredit students for other learning opportunities.