Why the number of female coaches of women's sports plummeted.
Over the last 30 years, the U.S. has made no progress whatsoever in increasing college graduation rates. To be specific, 25-34 year olds in 2009 had a college degree rate of about 40%, almost exactly the same as for 55-64 year old baby boomers.
Autism awareness is not enough.
I love older runners.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/bcvideo/1.0/iframe/embed.html?videoId=100000001453933&playerType=embed
Apt. 11d 
From the graduation article: “U.S. has made no progress whatsoever in increasing college graduation rates. To be specific, 25-34 year olds in 2009 had a college degree rate of about 40%, almost exactly the same as for 55-64 year old baby boomers. In the meantime, other industrialized countries were racking up substantial gains, most spectacularly in the case of South Korea where a little over 10% of 55-64 year olds have college degrees, but more than 60% in the 25-34 age group do. If you want to understand how South Korea has gone from a poor developing country to an industrial powerhouse within our lifetimes, this is one big reason.”
I’m not buying this: maybe South Korea is Lake Wobegone, and all of the children are above average, but here in the USA half of the children are below average. Unless you radically devalue what college is asked to do and to certify to potential employers, some fraction of our students won’t make it there. Is that 60 per cent? I think very possibly. And if you drag the rest kicking and screaming into college, they will either leave with an albatross of debt around their necks after a few semesters, or you will spend big dollars providing something which is only a poor copy of what people expect from college.
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Well, I think that colleges have an obligation to those kids that are border-line college material. If they take their money, then they have to provide the support that they need. They need lots of hand holding from advisers, lots of remedial classes, and a full time faculty that respects them. If colleges don’t want to retool their approach to undergraduate education, that’s fine. Just don’t take their money and abandon them.
[Comment edited to remove stupidity.]
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Well, I think that colleges have an obligation to those kids that are border-line college material.
That’s why we made Arizona State.
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“…the case of South Korea where a little over 10% of 55-64 year olds have college degrees, but more than 60% in the 25-34 age group do. If you want to understand how South Korea has gone from a poor developing country to an industrial powerhouse within our lifetimes, this is one big reason.”
Wait a second, are the 25-34s really the creators of South Korea’s prosperity? Isn’t it more plausible that the previous generation of 55-64 year olds (with their 10% college rate) are the creators of that prosperity, and the 25-34 year-olds are the beneficiaries? So, in that case, 60% college is a result, not a cause of prosperity.
“…lots of remedial classes…”
I think that actually exists right now. The remedial classes are the La Brea tar pit where weak students go to die (academically speaking).
“She’s at her third college now and has two more years until she graduates, because the latest college won’t accept all her credits from the other schools. She wants to be a special ed pre-school teacher, but does not know which degree and classes she needs to get to that goal.”
Oh my goodness.
That’s partly on her, though, isn’t it? As people have been mentioning in previous discussions, colleges employ vast armies of administrators who could tell her exactly what she needs to know, if she will just go find them.
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One of my younger relatives was a 7th year college freshman before coming to the end of her college career. A lot of stuff contributed to that, but she also did the same sort of college changing and also major switching (music, criminology, communications, maybe music again). It’s probably a somewhat different situation, because my relative’s parents were able to fund the whole thing (in my opinion, way too long), but my relative’s ADHD (first undiagnosed, but even when treated) was a factor in her inability to make progress through an academic program. Your sitter may have some subtle learning disabilities.
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Oh, and what’s the college graduation rate of 25-34 year-old Korean-Americans? Probably something very like 60%.
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Is the argument of the coaching article that equality requires 90 percent of the coaches for women’s teams should be women?
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Here’s one of my favorite movie quotes:
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard Hayden: I know, they’re called doctors.
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Speaking of old people running, I’m supposedly running a half-marathon next month. I’m not in that much pain most of the time, but my tendons won’t take training more than every other day. I’m having great trouble getting past 15 miles a week without having to avoid running for next four days.
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Laura, your answer doesn’t really connect with why it is wrong that we haven’t increased the college graduation rate. This is always presented as if it is obvious that we should increase it. It isn’t obvious to me.
I do agree that colleges have a responsibility to students, but I would say they have a responsibility to not admit those who cannot benefit.
If your babysitter is on her third college and still has two years to go, I’m not sure she really is borderline college material, maybe she’s just not college material.
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Should not have discussed my babysitter in a comment section. Might delete these comments later.
OK. Let me revise my statement to be more generic…
Colleges should not admit students that don’t have the potential to finish. They should not continue to take their money and string students along. It’s immoral.
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“Might delete these comments later.”
Go right ahead. A good sitter is above rubies.
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You’d have to be a good to sit on something so hard.
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And congrats on the running, MH!!! Wahoo!! Let us know how it goes.
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Thanks. We’ll see if I can do it. I’ve never ran more than 8 miles yet.
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How about we do what Instapundit suggests and have colleges cosign on student loans? They would 1) suddenly become much more realistic about applicants’ prospects (colleges are generally pretty sensible about THEIR money) and 2) be more motivated to proactively lend a helping hand.
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