When people try to claim that the teacher shortage we face is a retention problem, I laugh. Don’t get me wrong – I would love to see better working conditions and even higher salaries for teachers. But that will not come close to fixing the problem.
We no longer live in a society where someone works in one job, let alone one career, for life. Based on my daughter’s college friends, it is not going to get any better.
We took some of her college friends to dinner a few weeks back and half were planning on transferring from Radford University to other schools. They talk about this as if it was as easy as upgrading to a new text messaging plan for their cell phones. Back in “the day”, the only people transferring to a different college were usually doing so for nefarious reasons.
My daughter has now been accepted to James Madison University and will transfer there next semester. All of her friends at the dinner who applied will also be transferring. If they switch colleges this easy, I can guarantee that attitude will carry over into jobs and careers. Thirty year teaching careers will be a thing of the past.
Showing posts with label Radford University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radford University. Show all posts
Friday, April 4, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
University Updated
Two significant updates from the college world this week. I have a daughter at Radford University in Virginia and one who is a junior in high school.
Update #1: The Virginia Tech Effect.
People often say that education is slow to change. Last week at 2:00 am my cell phone and my wife’s cell phone started ringing. Obviously, with a child in college, a 2:00 am cell phone call is not good. It turns out that it was the automated warning system for Radford University telling us that a man dressed as a security guard was lurking around the dorms and that all students should stay in their dorm rooms and not come out. This automated alarm went out to all parents, students and faculty. We also got an email alert at the same time. About 10 minutes later we got a second automated call and email saying all was well (turned out the guy dressed as a security guard was actually a security guard). Although I hate to be awakened at 2:00 am, I will sleep much better knowing that this system is in place and works. Communication was a huge issue in the Virginia Tech incident, so it is a great credit to universities that they were able to get a fix in place this fast and that the fix is effective.
Update #2: Applications to college on the rise.Kevin Carey did a piece on college applications allegedly debunking the myth that college applicants were on the rise saying that applications, not applicants, were on the increasing. His statement is based on the fact that each student puts in many more college applications than ever before and the number of college seniors does not change that much. Wrong. We recently did the college tour with my high school junior and any parent in a similar situation would definitely hoist the BS flag on Mr. Carey. The fact is that the next two years will be the largest classes of seniors ever. This is combined with an increasing push to get more kids in college that is actually succeeding. The result is that it is much harder to get in college. Most of us parents could not even come close to getting into the schools we graduated from 20 years ago. It is a challenge to get accepted to so-called “safety schools” today. Case in point is Christopher Newport University which became a University in 1992 and over the last 10 years the average SAT score is 500 points higher for admission. Our campus tour guide made the point that many seniors at the school couldn’t get in as a freshman today. The main problem in any education issue is that looking at the national numbers shows a totally different picture than the problems facing each individual state.
Update #1: The Virginia Tech Effect.
People often say that education is slow to change. Last week at 2:00 am my cell phone and my wife’s cell phone started ringing. Obviously, with a child in college, a 2:00 am cell phone call is not good. It turns out that it was the automated warning system for Radford University telling us that a man dressed as a security guard was lurking around the dorms and that all students should stay in their dorm rooms and not come out. This automated alarm went out to all parents, students and faculty. We also got an email alert at the same time. About 10 minutes later we got a second automated call and email saying all was well (turned out the guy dressed as a security guard was actually a security guard). Although I hate to be awakened at 2:00 am, I will sleep much better knowing that this system is in place and works. Communication was a huge issue in the Virginia Tech incident, so it is a great credit to universities that they were able to get a fix in place this fast and that the fix is effective.
Update #2: Applications to college on the rise.Kevin Carey did a piece on college applications allegedly debunking the myth that college applicants were on the rise saying that applications, not applicants, were on the increasing. His statement is based on the fact that each student puts in many more college applications than ever before and the number of college seniors does not change that much. Wrong. We recently did the college tour with my high school junior and any parent in a similar situation would definitely hoist the BS flag on Mr. Carey. The fact is that the next two years will be the largest classes of seniors ever. This is combined with an increasing push to get more kids in college that is actually succeeding. The result is that it is much harder to get in college. Most of us parents could not even come close to getting into the schools we graduated from 20 years ago. It is a challenge to get accepted to so-called “safety schools” today. Case in point is Christopher Newport University which became a University in 1992 and over the last 10 years the average SAT score is 500 points higher for admission. Our campus tour guide made the point that many seniors at the school couldn’t get in as a freshman today. The main problem in any education issue is that looking at the national numbers shows a totally different picture than the problems facing each individual state.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Tier Twos Try Harder
We dropped our oldest daughter at Radford University for her first year and it really is quite impressive how things have changed. Part of this is due to the fact that someone at Radford mistakenly received training in customer service. Gone are the – “look left and look right because only one of you will be here”. It has been replaced by bragging about freshman retention rates, graduate in four years rates and all the things other education pundits are pushing for in the US News rankings.
I have to believe it is because the so called “second tier” schools are trying harder.
Orientation was amazing – they really are trying to ensure that the students succeed and learn. Being somewhat cynical, I thought orientation would be a waste but it was highly informative for parents and students. The students then went with an advisor and sscheduled their freshman classes. I never even met my advisor. The education majors even provide free tutoring to students and the athletic majors provide free aerobics and step classes. And I just received my “test of the emergency text messaging system” – so apparently they already have their system in place for notifying parents and students of any emergency - which really makes me feel kind of good right now.
The only thing I object to is that they take the student schedules and pack all of their books in one neat bundle for them to pick up and it takes about 4 minutes. Gone is the fun of wandering around the book store trying to match your schedule to the book - - how can our students truly be prepared for the real world if their college experience is that well organized.
I have to believe it is because the so called “second tier” schools are trying harder.
Orientation was amazing – they really are trying to ensure that the students succeed and learn. Being somewhat cynical, I thought orientation would be a waste but it was highly informative for parents and students. The students then went with an advisor and sscheduled their freshman classes. I never even met my advisor. The education majors even provide free tutoring to students and the athletic majors provide free aerobics and step classes. And I just received my “test of the emergency text messaging system” – so apparently they already have their system in place for notifying parents and students of any emergency - which really makes me feel kind of good right now.
The only thing I object to is that they take the student schedules and pack all of their books in one neat bundle for them to pick up and it takes about 4 minutes. Gone is the fun of wandering around the book store trying to match your schedule to the book - - how can our students truly be prepared for the real world if their college experience is that well organized.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
