I recognize there are a number of new posts available to comment on this week, however I wanted to add one more. I will make it brief.

Disability can be a ‘hidden identity’, as we discussed a couple weeks ago. The concept of ‘hidden’ as an excuse for ‘neglected’ should be further discussed. Especially hidden are cognitive/learning disabilities.

NPR did a story recently on what is being done for students with Autism in college. Although the focus of the story is on ‘progress and success of students’, anyone with a cognitive/learning disability recognizes the stigma/obstacles AND invisibility of their condition.

Personally, I immediately recognize that i do not perceive/understand students with learning disabilities in the same way I view students of other diverse social identities: race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith… or even physical disabilities... Why is that…? Also, do administrators think the same way as I do (you bet)? If so, how does that affect the services and accommodations provided and college experience of students with learning disabilities?

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/13/135345982/colleges-address-autistic-students-struggles

Do you think gay history should be added to the curriculum?

http://atlantapost.com/2011/04/21/should-gay-history-be-added-to-public-school-curriculums/
Here is an article that discusses California might be the first state to add Gay history to the textbooks. What do you think about this? Should gay history be added to the textbooks?
These battles over what and whom should be included in public school curricula are far from over; e.g., Texas State Board of Education approves revising textbooks to eliminate the civil rights movement, and Mississippi becomes the first state to implement a civil rights curriculum for grades K through 12. But it appears that public school curricula may undergo an entirely new makeover with the recent news that the state of California is close to becoming the first state to require the teaching of gay history.

According to the Associated Press, the California Senate approved the landmark measure a week ago, but it still needs to get a seal of approval from the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. If the legislation is a success, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will be added to the lengthy list of social and ethnic groups that schools must include in social studies lessons. As early as the 2013-2014 school year, the California Board of Education and local school districts would be required to adopt textbooks and other teaching materials that would cover the contributions of LGBTs throughout history.

Those who are opposed to the curriculum change, including some churches and conservative groups, believe that homosexuality is being forced upon students. Some also add that how a child learns about homosexuality should be determined in the home by the parents.

When is diversity too much ?

The article provided is a great example of what may happen when a student's beliefs and actions inteferes with their institutions' mission and beliefs. Several openly gay and lesbian students have been ejected from their schools becuase of their sexual orientation. I understand that institutions have to stand by their beliefs and missions, but when is their a desire to change, adapt or reconsider those beliefs and mission statements acccording to our ever changing student population. Rather than ignoring the situation, the schools mentioned should at least be willing to accomodate students' needs by incorportating Gay Alliances or other inclusive clubs. What was most shocking to me was reading that an institution blocked access to a particular web page due to the content, I thought that was a bit extreme.

What are your thoughts on the attached article ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/us/19gays.html?_r=1&ref=education

Comprehensive transcripts?

This article: http://chronicle.com/article/To-Give-Clearer-Picture-of/127204/

talks about, in a snippet (from a newsletter I got):

"reported on UNC Chapel Hill's adoption of "contextualized transcripts," which will provide additional data about the courses students take beginning next year. Transcripts "will include information about the median grade in each course a student takes, along with students' rankings by percentile against their peers in every class." The transcripts will also contain a "Schedule Point Average" that shows students' GPAs in the context of other similar students, along with other data. "Graduate and professional schools at Chapel Hill gave their input about what statistics would be useful on transcripts." Andrew J. Perrin, an associate sociology professor and chair of the committee behind the new transcript system, "said he's not sure how -or if-employers will use the data, but he expects that the new system will show them that the university is 'serious about maintaining and increasing educational quality.'"

If you go to the webpage, you should be able to see an example of a transcript with some clear explanations of what will be added to it. I think this will fit nicely for classes that grade on Bell curves, but what about those classes that don't? For those classes that grade on Bell curve, as the article indicates, the new transcript systems might serve as a motivation to excel in the class.

What are your thoughts?

How do you respond to 'racist' emails?

Recently we sent out a Federal Alert to all alumni asking them to write their legislators in support of Pell Grant funding as well as Federal Research funds. Anything that we send out we receive a lot of response from the alumni...ranging from people that may not quite be with it anymore (some of the messages are very 'interesting') and we always receive many supporting the chief, no matter what the issue may be (for this email we received many back that said they will no longer support the U of I because the chief is no longer here, and we as an alumni association did not take a stance). Well, as I was going through emails from the above alert, I read one that was extremely upsetting...how would you respond? Should there be a response? Remember, working as part of the University I am acting on behalf of them whatever I do...but it is hard to ignore the personal defense I take in emails such as these; the ignorance, racist comments, and so forth. The person remains confidential...but I can tell you that they graduated in '62...does it change the reaction/response? This is their response to our email: "Research grants... Yes. Sorry I am very tired of my tax $$ going to support minority students in any way shape of form. I would like ot know how many "illegal" immigrant children I am as Illinois resident I am funding. Sorry...I worked my was thru the University of Illinois as a veteran. I have given enough of my tax dollars...no more if I can help it which I am sure with this Obama Debacle I can not...what Muslim Grants next!?"** **Please note, I left in all of the typos as they were in the email (cut and pasted). The email was supporting the Research Grants...but obviously against Pell Grants...and note that this person made it a "minority" issue, and not a socioeconomical issue.

Texas passes legislature for traditional values centers

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2011/04/03/texas-consider-traditional-values-centers-state-universities

Texas recently passed legislature that would require "a university that has a "gender and sexuality center" to equally fund a center that teaches 'traditional values'."

Renn's article for today's class has this quote:
The professor "asks whether the parents and taxpayers of the state of __ shouldn't have some say in whether or not they pay for and therefore enable students to engage in activities they find morally questionable.

Although Renn's article referrs to the curriculum, given how LGBT resouce centers can impact campus climate, I would like to hear what the rest of our class have to say. I find it very offensive how this legislature basically says "traditional" values are defined by one's sexuality and how it continues to privilege heteronormativity.

Budget Deal That Averted a Federal Shutdown Largely Spares Education, Obama Says

Here is an article from the Chronicle that talks about the new budget plan and Education...and it talks about Pell Grants and their funding for this coming year (yes!). I helped push for th U of I (at my job) to send out a nationwide alert on Pell Grants, which we did last week, and we included Research funding. It went out to all alumni around the country and we had over 3,100 emails sent through our system to US Legislators asking them to support Pell Grant funding and Research for universities. Too bad it took them so long to decide if they wanted to push these issues, I think we could have had more people respond (some legislators were flooded with emails, especially in IL). But there is funding. If anyone has looked at President Obama's website (The White House) and his education plan, there is definitely a lot of work to be done to reach his goal. Hopefully Education will remain high on the priority list. Pell Grants - Education Spared

Community Colleges Offer Online Courses to Address Specific Needs of Remedial Students

Given the increasing attention surrounding remedial education for under-represented students, this article seeks to explore the attractive possibilities of remedial education through online self-paced learning modules. The Monterey Institute for Technology (TMIT) has embraced the online remedial education approach by offering free remedial courses (online) for under-performing students. Arguably, TMIT is helping to eradicate the inequities in education specific to access -as many students often who are concentrated in preparatory course level offerings are less-likely to attend college. TMIT's intentionality in self-paced online learning may yield interesting results and implications for community colleges and policymakers.

LINK: http://diverseeducation.com/article/15015/

Choosing a college

The NY Times article, The College Decision From the Professors' Perspective was rather insightful to read. Its interesting to hear such information from a professor point of view. For the most part, I agree with what they were saying. Universities are becoming more business, if they are not already. This article made me realize, as consumers and perspective college students we take choosing a college lightly, but in reality its a huge decision and commitment. I think if we did choose a college with a business state a mind, how different would are choices be ? The part of the article that focused on "academics" was fascinating, because how much time do we have to visit a school more than twice, visit classes, and even analyze those classes. That can be rather difficult especially if one has never experienced college courses or don't have anything to compare the experience to. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/jacobs-hyman/

Undocumented student's rights - read and comment on me!

http://will.illinois.edu/news/spotstory/undoucmented-ui-student-released-from-jail-after-georgia-protest/

My best friend, a fellow graduate student, was born and raised by a family full of ‘undocumented’ members. However, she (my friend) was born in the US. She is passionate about the rights of undocumented immigrants in the US. I am liberal, across the board, but I had a hard time backing the argument that these protesters were making. My friend and I had a serious talk about this topic, just the other day.

I would love to hear what members of our 574 class have to say about this issue. Should undocumented people be able to attend US universities? Specifically, should undocumented people have access to US resources (i.e., financial aid)?

Technology to Reinvent the University?

This article, by Jack Stripling focuses on how college administrators are turning to technology to cut excessive spending on their campuses. Mark Yudof (president of the University of California) and Carol Twigg (president and chief executive of the National Center for Academic Transformation) discuss how online courses can cut costs by as much as 37 percent. http://chronicle.come/article/Governing-Boards-Turn-to/127023/ While online classes are seen as a solution to the financial hardship of many institutions, they could ultimately become a double-edge sword. The increase of online classes could eventually result in the decrease of quality education. It could also result in hundreds, if not thousands, of professors losing their jobs.

Identities

Speaking, as we have been lately, of identities -- the skill of adapting our identies to various cultures, the use of cultural capitol, etc. -- I found this article inspiring. It was highlighted in a weekly news email sent out by the Illinois Board of Higher Education because it features an Illinois student. The Chronicle of Higher Education is running a "Say Something" series that features students from around the nation. This student, Ari Shroyer, is a leader at Roosevelt University. Ari is bicultural in many ways. He is biracial - African American and Jewish. Ari is gay and highly religious. His upbringing was Christian on his paternal side and Jewish on his maternal side. Ari speaks about the intersection his identities and about his choice of Roosevelt for their history as well as their leadership today. http://chronicle.com/blogs/saysomething/2011/03/25/77/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Do you think college should charge so much money for an education? Is Berkeley worth paying 50,000 dollars a year for out of state?

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Public-University-Joins-the/125207/

Are universities really worth what they are charging for students to attend?

A Public University Joins the Expanding 50K Club of College Prices
By Jeffrey Brainard

The ranks of the most expensive colleges have grown again: 100 institutions are charging $50,000 or more for tuition, fees, room, and board in 2010-11, according to a Chronicle analysis of data released last week by the College Board. That's well above the 58 universities and colleges that charged that much in 2009-10, and a major jump from the year before, when only five colleges were priced over $50,000.

This year marks a milestone as the first public institution has joined that elite club: the University of California at Berkeley is charging out-of-state residents $50,649 for tuition, fees, room, and board. (The price for in-state residents is only $27,770.)

All of the other 99 colleges charging $50,000 or more are private. They made up 9 percent of the 1,058 private institutions reporting any amount for tuition, fees, room, and board.

Can health really cause low achievement? Does poverty and poor health impact learning?

http://www.epi.org/analysis_and_opinion/entry/a_look_at_the_health-related_causes_of_low_student_achievement

Does poverty and poor health impact learning?

A distinguished and diverse coalition of education, health, and social service experts, in a their campaign for a Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, have issued a statement calling for the establishment of school-based clinics in schools serving disadvantaged children as one of the most important strategies for raising the achievement of disadvantaged children. The California School Health Centers Association (CSHC) is a statewide organization that advocates for, disseminates information about, and provides training and other resources for operators of, and those interested in starting, school-based health centers.

Overall, lower-class children are in poorer health.

Those with vision problems have difficulty reading. In the United States, 50 percent of poor children have vision impairment that interferes with academic work, twice the normal rate. Lower-class children may be more likely to have vision problems because of less adequate prenatal development than middle-class children whose pregnant mothers had better medical care and nutrition. Visual deficits also arise from disadvantaged children being placed in inexpensive low-quality child care settings where they watch too much television, activity that does not develop hand-eye coordination and depth perception – 42 percent of black fourth graders watch six hours or more of television a day, compared to 13 percent of whites. Middle-class children more likely have manipulative toys that develop such coordination. A longitudinal study of entering kindergarteners reveals that fine motor skill development at age 5 is a stronger predictor of later mathematics and reading performance than is kindergartners’ pre-literacy knowledge (of the alphabet, of counting numbers, of phonemes).

College admissions comittee process: criteria/chaos

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134916924/Amherst-Admissions-Process

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1112758-npr-college-admissions-story.html

The first link leads to a NPR story about the college admission committee process at Amherst, MA – uncovering the criteria as well as chaos of the process, and the emotions and struggles all parties go through.

The second link has a bullet-point summary of the NPR story. This second link is a blog about the NPR story, where people raise interesting issues regarding what was most salient to them in the story.

I post these links because they are directly connected to a couple topics we have discussed in recent weeks, particular Dr. Baber’s handout in class about Michigan’s old admission criteria.

Also, I want to thank others in the class who have been posting on the blog. Although I don’t comment on most of them, I spend a few minutes reviewing the articles/topics. Very enriching, its like we are our own little reporting group on issues on diversity in HE.