News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
The Sununu Spin by Digby , OurFuture.org | June 12, 2012
I've always loathed this jerk, but he is always one of those guys who is wiling to come right out and defend the indefensible, so you have to give him a sort of credit: read more »The Secret of Joy: Six Lessons From Quebec's "Maple Spring" by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | June 6, 2012
As I read more about the student movement in Quebec, known as the "Maple Spring" or the "Casserole Revolution," it brings to mind the final scene from Possessing the Secret of Joy, by one of my favorite authors, Alice Walker. In that scene, the main character — Tashi, a minor character from The Color Purple — discovers a truth. From Wall Street to Wisconsin, and Cairo to Quebec, people the world over are realizing that same truth every day. Today, that truth is echoed in the chants, protests and placards of protesters in the streets of Montreal. It's the same truth Walker spelled out in huge block letters near the end of her novel: RESISTANCE IS THE SECRET OF JOY. That's one of six lessons of Quebec's "Maple Spring." read more »Learning by Making by Dale Dougherty, slate.com | June 4, 2012
On a morning visit to a Northern California middle school, I saw not a single student. The principal showed me around campus, but I didn’t see or hear students talking, playing, or moving about. The science lab was empty, as were the library and the playground. It was not a school holiday: It was a state-mandated STAR testing day. The school was in an academic lockdown. A volunteer manned a table filled with cupcakes, a small reward for students at day’s end. This is what the American public school looks like in 2012, driven by obsessive adherence to standardized testing. The fate of children, their schools, and their teachers are based on these school test scores. read more »Why Is Student Debt Different From Other Kinds Of Debt? by Suzy Khimm, The Washington Post | June 1, 2012
When it comes to consumer debt, Americans are slowly but surely starting to dig themselves out of the hole of the recent downturn. Severely delinquent mortgages, credit card bills, and car loans have all been in decline over the last two years, according to the New York Federal Reserve. But Americans have had significantly more trouble paying back one particular kind of loan. “Student loan debt continues to grow even as consumers reduce mortgage debt and credit card balances,” Donghoon Lee, senior economist at the New York Fed, said in a statement. “It remains the only form of consumer debt to substantially increase since the peak of household debt in late 2008.” Why are Americans having more trouble paying off student loans, as compared to other kinds of debt? read more »Romney, Obama Vie For Who Can Hurt Education The Worst by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | May 25, 2012
In this week's round in the nation's presidential contest, education got tossed into the ring and slapped around by the opposing candidates and their spokespeople. Who won the round is anyone's guess, but poor education got mauled in the process and tossed into the spit bucket. read more »Teacher Depreciation Week by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | May 11, 2012
It was Teacher Appreciation Week this week. Unfortunately, someone forgot the appreciation part. President Obama, for one, kicked off the week by proclaiming that from now on the week would also (instead?) be forever known as National Charter Schools Week. read more »Conservatives Again Risk Higher Student Debt To Protect The Wealthy by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | May 8, 2012
Senate Republicans today filibustered the effort to prevent federal student loan rates from doubling, once again obstructing the majority and putting the finances of millions of college students at risk for the sake of protecting the leather wallets of the 1 percent. read more »Tell The Senate To Act On Student Loan Debt by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | May 7, 2012
As the Senate prepares to vote Tuesday on legislation that will stop a scheduled doubling of the rate on Stafford student loans on July 1, conservatives are engaged in a shameless (and shameful) effort to detail the effort. read more »Free College? We Can Afford It. by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Washington Post | May 1, 2012
Student loans set off the latest Washington spitball fight. The House Republican budget called for letting interest rates double on government-subsidized student loans (and for deep cuts in Pell Grants and other student support). Students who borrow the maximum in subsidized loans would end up paying as much as $1,000 a year in added interest. Last week, President Obama sensibly called for extending the lower rate and starting stumping through colleges and talk shows to enlist students in the cause. The standoff allows for what has now become the routine exchange of insults, slurs and posturing before a deal is worked out at the last possible moment. Ignored in this is the stark reality that even with the lower rates, more and more students can’t afford the college education or advanced training that everyone except for Rick Santorum believes they need. read more »What Makes Health-care And Education Costs Similar To Each Other — And Unlike Anything Else by Ezra Klein, The Washington Post | May 1, 2012
Like the health-care sector, the higher education sector is heavily subsidized by the government. Some take that commonality as a causality: Health-care and college costs are out of control because the government subsidizes them. I think the truth is closer to the reverse: The government subsidizes them because their costs are out of control. Health-care and higher education are similar in another way, too: People don’t think they can responsibly say no to either expense. Families take on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to pay medical bills and tuition costs. This inability to say no removes the ultimate form of market discipline: the consumer’s ability to simply walk out of the store. There’s certainly more we could do to bring market pressures into play in both sectors, but the reason the government ends up involved in health care and education is that a real market would require us telling more people than we’re comfortable with that they can’t have the medical care or education that they need. read more »
The Latest
Kids Less Likely to Graduate Than Parents, Associated Press | October 24, 2008
Your child is less likely to graduate from high school than you were, and most states are doing little to hold schools accountable, according to a study by a children's advocacy group. More than half the states have graduation targets that don't make schools get better, the Education Trust says in a report released. more »
Schools Hiring Foreign Teachers, USA Today | October 23, 2008
A growing number of school districts are hiring teachers from foreign countries to fill shortages in math, science and special education. The trend is most evident in poor urban and rural districts, according to educators. more »
Students Eye Cheaper Colleges, Christian Science Monitor | October 22, 2008
The nation's financial crisis is forcing college students and college applicants to take a long, hard look at what they can afford and what value they place on investing in higher education. For some, college will now have to be a dream deferred. Others are adjusting their dream to trim costs. more »
Crisis Hits Student Loans, mcclatchydc.com | October 20, 2008
Last week, university officials across the country received a sobering letter from Sallie Mae, the nation's leading provider of student loans. "Because of the continuing turmoil and uncertainty in the credit markets, Sallie Mae has made the difficult decision to tighten the underwriting on all our private student loan products, which will require applicants to meet higher credit standards. more »
Families Struggle with Tuition, The New York Times | October 17, 2008
In difficult dinner-table conversations, college students and their parents are revisiting how to pay tuition as personal finances weaken and lenders get tough. With the unemployment rate rising and a recession mentality gripping the country, financial aid administrators say they expect many more calls from families seeking help. more »
Draft Security Deal Ready in Iraq, USA Today | October 15, 2008
U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have agreed on a draft security pact that would govern the presence of American troops in Iraq after January, Bush administration officials say, but its final approval is far from certain. The draft calls for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by the end of June next year and leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay. more »
Colleges Hit By Credit Crisis, time.com | October 9, 2008
Last week, nearly 1,000 colleges were told they couldn't access most of the $9.3 billion sitting in a short-term fund that had been offering slightly higher returns than U.S. treasuries. more »
Group Demands Student Aid Overhaul, USA Today | September 18, 2008
A group of college financial aid experts is calling for a comprehensive overhaul of the federal student aid system, including simplifying the application process and helping low-income parents save for their children's education. more »
Pell Grants Said to Face a Shortfall of $6 Billion, The New York Times | September 17, 2008
Bush administration officials to warn Congress that the most important federal aid program, Pell Grants, may need up to $6 billion in additional taxpayer funds next year. Driving the increased applications for federal aid, in part, have been nontraditional students returning to school to improve their job skills during the economic downturn. more »
House Moves to Protect Student Loans, Associated Press | September 16, 2008
Federal authority to protect student borrowers from getting squeezed by the current credit crunch would be extended a year under legislation passed by the House. The measure, approved 368-4, continues the secretary of education's power to purchase loans from lenders in the federal guaranteed loan program when lenders are unable to meet demand. The current authority expires in July. more »
