Educational Equity vs. Equality

At Crooked Timber today, some interesting ruminations on the meaning and utility of concepts of "equality" or "equity" in education. He starts off opposed to equity for its vagueness, and seems to end up supporting its flexibility as one social justice concern among many.

The comments are interesting, too.

Facebook

NYTimes article on facebook growth challenges. Issues with privacy, finance, and of course layout. You can't please everyone. . .

Two links...

From the State Journal, an article on local patients from various backgrounds who have difficulty understanding health information: here.

And from Slashdot via Metafilter, we learn that the University of Virginia is beginning to phase out its student computer labs. Clicking on that MeFi link leads to some interesting discussion, including cost-cutting measures, what happened in schools where free laptops were mandatory and/or provided, and discussion of the software and other issues related to providing a lab suitable for the needs of the most users.

On "Success," Education and Critical Thinking : As Evidenced by the Georgia Lotto

In light of last week's conversation about success, without a college education, and the development of critical thinking skills, by way of a high school diploma, the following makes for an interesting case study.

Several years ago Georgia commenced an education lottery ( because in the South one can not have a lottery just for the sake of having one; there has to be a higher purpose) that would help underfunded schools and provide money for disenfranchised students to attended college in-state via the HOPE scholarship. So....

Who plays the lotto?

"A logistic regression analysis found that blacks, males, and those who had not finished high school or those with a high school diploma or GED are more likely to be active lottery players than are nonblacks, females, and those who have an education above the high school level. Holding the other explanatory variables constant, [the following was found] :

• Blacks are three times more likely than nonblacks to be active
lottery players.
• Males are almost four times as likely as females to be active lot-
tery players.
• An individual without a high school degree or GED is more than
four times as likely to be an active lottery player as an individual
who has an education above the high school level.
• A high school graduate is two and a half times more likely than
someone who has an education above the high school level to be
an active lottery player” (p.2)


Who benefits from the “education lottery"?

“Rubenstein and Scafidi (1999) utilized county data on education, race, income, lottery purchases, and HOPE expenditures to examine the distribution of lottery expenditures by program. They found that white Georgia households receive more in lottery benefits than they spend, whereas nonwhites spend more on the lottery than they receive in benefits” (p.22).

“Black respondents were significantly less likely to have someone in the household who received a HOPE scholarship" (p.25).

Discussion

So with respect to the Georgia Lotto you ARE a success (1.) if you have an education above a high school diploma, (1b.) which means you are less likely to waste your money on the lotto and (2.) your offspring will be able to attend college and have part of their education financed by the poor. Conversely you are NOT a success if you (1.) only have a high school diploma or less because (1b.) you are more likely to waste a high percentage of your income on the lotto and (2.) your progeny will NOT attend the University of Georgia (2b.) ..... but your money will.....

While the population of Georgia is more than 30% African American, this demographic makes up less than 7 % of the student body at the state's flagship institution; yet "97 percent of in-state freshmen earned the HOPE Scholarship" (retrieved from UGA's website).

Citation: Who Plays the Georgia Lottery? : Results of a Statewide Survey by Joseph McCrary and Thomas Pavlak. The Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, 2002

$35.3 million to public school libraries

I just found this tidbit in the Capital Times about funds for public school libraries. Apparently all the traffic tickets are good for something.

Video Consumer Mapping survey

Here's a report on NPR about a recent study on media use -

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102387001

These are a few of the highlights:
"Most people average more than eight hours a day facing a screen of some sort — whether it be a television, computer, mobile phone or even GPS."
"The researchers were surprised to learn that younger baby boomers, aged 45 to 54, averaged roughly an hour more screen time than any other age group, including teenagers."

FWIW, my family has participated in Nielsen research. For over 10 years, we've participated in the shopping research they do - we scan everything with a barcode that we purchase and also report other purchases including medicine, clothing, etc. For about 2 years, we were also part of the media research. The adults in the family each had a monitor about the size of a pager that we were supposed to carry with us all the time we were awake and it would record our TV watching and radio listening. They discontinued us from the media research about 2 years ago, but we're still part of the shopping.

Liberal Arts & Critical Thinking

Furthering our discussion this morning about the connections made between liberal arts degrees, critical thinking and job skills, is an article with SLIS alum Jenica P. Rogers-Urbanek where she points specifically to her "background" in literature as the foundation for her success. Interestingly, not mentioned is her SLIS degree. For the full article: http://www.libraryjournal.com/MS2009Inductee/2140336014.html.

Standardized Testing and Exclusion ?

In light of today's reading, with respect to community colleges,Jaschik discuses the implications of eradicating the SAT and ACT or in the least in making it optional. He suggests that students from low income, African American and Latino/Latina backgrounds would see their admission rates jump under such conditions. Last year Wake Forest University, a "good school" in North Carolina made the SAT option only.

----

NPR's "News & Notes" ran a Report on the decreasing digital divide. More importantly it discussed the ways in which "News & Notes" served as an information resource for African American issues. The show used a rather novel approach using black bloggers and social networking sites to not only expand information dissemination but also elicit listener/ viewer participation. Last week the show was canceled which will no doubt leave an information void for listeners.

Problem of "sexting"

I know that the issue of sexting has gotten a lot of attention lately. Here's a case in PA that raises the issues of how schools and DAs are trying to handle it and who and how to 'punish' people.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SEXTING_LAWSUIT?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The close of the article:
"One of the concerns all of these kids have is it's getting to be summertime, they're going to the beach and the pool, and do they need to be worried about taking photos of themselves swimming around?" Walczak [ACLU attorney] said. "Who knows what he decides will be too provocative?"
Skumanick [DA] said swimsuit-clad kids have nothing to fear from him."

Facebook in the Middle East.

Now available in Arabic.

Data Rot!!

Here is a fun video on CBS about data rot. Around the 5:30 mark is a interesting bit about the Library of Congress and their attempts to digitize their collection.

UW-Madison Proposed Tuition Increase

http://madisoninitiative.wisc.edu/

I thought it was especially relevant that Goal #3 is: To ensure that affordability will no longer be a significant barrier to a UW-Madison education, and also one of the proposed benefits is "greater economic diversity in the student body."

"The Growing College Gap"

            At first glance, Tamara Draut’s article seems to state a fact that most individuals already know: it’s hard to get into college. Looking further into her claim, Draut reveals the struggles that low-income high school students applying to a four-year college or university face. Specifically, the article talks about enrollment gaps between class and race due to financial issues and the increase of high school students applying to colleges and universities across the nation.

            Draut begins her article by explaining the different outcomes that occur from specific levels of education. First, she shows the lifetime economic gains that different degrees, ranging from high school to PhD, will make. Second, she explains the different “qualities of life” that each education level will face. Specifically, Draut explains that those who cannot get into a higher education program will not have the opportunity to have a higher paying job.

            In order to understand the claims that Draut makes in her article, it is imperative that one knows about the history of college financial aid within the United States. To do this, Draut explains the origins of financial aid, starting with the GI Bill. The GI Bill was intended to provide war veterans with the opportunity to gain educational/social skills once they returned back to the U.S. and were acclimated with what “civilian life”. Next, there was the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), which was based solely around the idea that college education should be accessible to any U.S. citizen. In a way, this was the precursor to today’s loan and scholarship system. The last specific grant system that Draut talks about are Pell Grants, which provide low-income students with aid in order to close the socioeconomic achievement gap facing the United States. Today, most federal aid is based off of merit in addition to financial need. Usually, these awards go to students who don’t necessarily need the aid in order to go to college. Students who come from a low-income household are less likely to receive these scholarships. This is a problem because the U.S. is shifting away from need-based aid and providing funding for merit. Thus, the financial aid system within the U.S. is starting to thin out- a scary idea considering tuition costs continue to rise. Draut provides a few different statistics about the cost of college:

1.           In 2003, the cost of going to a state school increased by 24%. Federal aid for students, however, has not increased at the same rating, which means that students who qualify for financial-aid will receive a reduced amount.
   
2.          Pell Grants used to cover 72% of college costs. Today, they only pay for 34%.
   

 

The later portion of Draut’s article talks about the issues that stem from the nation’s lack of financial aid. Since the loan/grant system has deteriorated, the social gap between Caucasian and “ethnic” students has increased. Over 570,000 students could not go to a public university solely because of financial reasons. This has caused the enrollment in community colleges to increase rapidly- 44% of all undergraduates go to a community college. Also, 40% of young adults surveyed said that they either had to delay their education or go to a less expensive school because of financial issues/student loans. There are more low-income students at community colleges than high-income students. While some community college students say that their enrollment is temporary and that they will eventually transfer to a state college or university, 60% of these students don’t actually follow through and will continue in community college. Also, it is more likely for an individual that is enrolled in a community college to not finish his or her degree when compared to a student that goes to a state college or university- this is due to the fact that most community college students have to hold one or more jobs to pay for necessities and tuition. Low-income students who attend a four-year college are more likely to drop out in comparison to their high-income peers. 40% of students from the highest socioeconomic quartile will graduate while only 6% from the lowest quartile will graduate. The struggle to get into and maintain an education at a four-year college or university causes a social-rift among socioeconomic classes instead of solely on race/ethnicity. If low-income students are able to make it through a four-year program at one of the nation’s most prestigious schools, they are more likely, according to statistical data, to have a higher wage premium in comparison to high-income students that graduate from the same academic institution.

In addition to the cost of college increasing, competition to get into an elite school has gone up significantly in the past few years. Often, high-income students fear that they won’t be able to get into a top-tier school and that their lives will suffer from this loss. These students believe that their peers will look at them with disgrace and not view them as a “winner”. Students that strive to get into an elite school will shell out a lot of money for college preparatory courses and tutoring services in order to gain a better chance of enrollment. These services can, according to Draut, range from $1,500 - $3,000. Also, students may pay for consultants that help create portfolios of information about the student and help highlight his or her qualities while minimizing any weak points. Also, these councilors help guide students through the entire process of writing a college admissions essay. High-cost services are out of the question for low-income students. Only 6% of all high school students use these services, leaving the other 94% at a disadvantage. Low income students, according to Draut, have little to no guidance through their high schools because counselors are have an average caseload of 500 students.

Businesses are increasing the education standards of their potential employees, leaving students with a community-college degree at a large disadvantage over other students. Draut explains that the bachelor degree is slowly become obsolete for managerial and higher level positions at firms across the nation. Instead, master’s degrees are becoming the standard of top-tier jobs in many different industries, such as social work, psychology, teaching, and even in the library field. One reason that companies are increasing their standards is that a higher level of education across all employees will result in a better occupational status in comparison to competing firms within the same occupation. Most master’s degrees are used in the professional field and not for theoretical/philosophical fields. Demand has drastically increased for graduate level degrees. Draut provides a statistic that shows that the amount of students earning graduate degrees increase 58% between 1986 and 1999. Individuals who are in debt are likely to not gain a graduate degree because of the cost and time. This means that individuals who financially struggled to get a bachelors degree are still behind students who came from financially stable families. Draut’s final claim within her article is that, in the future, the majority of America’s population will be undereducated and consist primarily of African Americans and Latinos.

Questions to think about:

Do students who complete a two-year program at a community college have a disadvantage in terms of adapting to/learning about new forms of computer-based technology in comparison to those who attend a four-year program at a state college or university?

Are there any specific cultural phenomenon, such religious philosophies or value systems, that promote the socioeconomic rift within the U.S. college education system?

Does computer technology create a barrier for low-income students in regards to gaining information about/applying to college? 

As colleges move towards online-based applications, how will low-income individuals who do not own a home computer adapt ?

The Porn Identity

This is an interesting discussion about gender, pornography, and life on the Internet.

bluray (sadly) sold seperately

it looks like sony inked a deal with google to get a half million public domain texts made available to its kindle-like reader.

"'We have focused our efforts on offering an open platform and making it easy to find as much content as possible -- from our store or others -- whether that content is purchased, borrowed or free,' said Steve Haber, president of the digital reading business division at Sony Electronics."

i admit that the Kindle has "the public's mind share" at the moment, and that it is (according to the reviews i've read) a better piece of hardware, but ultimately, i get the feeling that Sony is trying to tap into the idea of openess as opposed to the proprietary ideas driving much of the Kindle's content problems. the times article plays down this aspect of the coming e-reader wars (???), to its detriment.

apologies for the youtubery

i hope everyone's having a good break. i'm stuck in madison, inside of college library no less, on this insanely beautiful set of days. this might be debatably related to the whole digital divide discourse, but that's a debate that i would love to have with any of you.



have you heard of girl talk? not the neon colored 80s game where you would go out on dates with little dudes whose faces were on cards (i'm not sure if this was the actual substance of the game), but the musical mash-em-up laptop dj person. well, his label, illegal art, has made a handful of their copyright infringing/fairly using albums available with a "pay-what-you-want" (modified) radiohead-style distribution plan. the site went live VERY recently, and there isn't much so far as text, but everything works fine.



i downloaded all of them, only having heard of GT and steinski, but the others are of a very high quality and supporting this fledgling means of internet salesmanship (or promoting mature debate as to its pros and cons) is in many of our interests since it presents a much more open model of content transmission (i kinda made it fit the class, right?).



steinski comes HIGHLY recommended since he's one of the granddaddy's of audio culture jamming, as does girl talk. everything else i've heard is really great, but lacks the immediacy of those two. dl it for free, swing back and tip em 5 bucks if you dig what you heard. that's what i'm gonna do after this next paycheck comes through.

Marketing to Women

After talking about gender roles shaping technology/technology shaping gender roles, I found this article in The Economist interesting. Its about recession-hit companies targeting women to reach more customers. Some examples given were OfficeMax running ads telling women to make their cubicles more "colorfully" and McDonald's new coffee drinks.

The three reasons why women are better customers was also interesting.

Broadband & the European Union

Continuing the discussion about broadband, ARMA International, a professional organization for records and information managers, recently published an item in their European Policy Brief discussing EU policy considerations for widespread broadband access, especially in rural areas. What struck me was the estimated 93% of EU peoples already connected to high speed internet. I'm not exactly sure what they are basing their numbers on, e.g., home use, work use, both, etc., but the figure is impressive.

Awareness of Women in Technology

Ada Lovelace Day:
March 24th, 2009

"Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was born on 10th December 1815, the only child of Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella. Born Augusta Ada Byron, but now known simply as Ada Lovelace, she wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented.

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants. The list of tech-related careers is endless."

http://findingada.com/
http://findingada.com/who-was-ada/

Digital Inclusion, teens, and your library by Lesley S. J. Farmer

Digital Inclusion, teens, and your library by Lesley S. J. Farmer

Farmer describes the process of meeting the needs of young adults whose primary access to informational technology is in a library. These teens often need to learn about technology to pursue further education, get jobs and become members of the community. Those motivated by special needs, such as the poor, the homeless, immigrants, gang members, dropouts, isolated populations and the disabled can even become partners rather than obstacles to delivering services. Farmer gives practical advice on how to include teens in the process of getting physical and intellectual access to technology, what to expect in terms of their preferences, and how to ensure those who would not get a chance elsewhere to acquire vital skills can do so in the library.