What Will You Do After Graduation?
College students trudge from class to class, spend many groggy hours studying and daydream about the day they'll join the workforce. Once there, however, many are let down. Working even in their chosen career is often not as stimulating and satisfying as they thought. It's then that some students rush back to school to pursue advanced degrees. But is that the best solution for you?
When Mike and Nathan graduated from Pepperdine University they decided to step off the traditional path and go on the road interviewing leaders about what they do and how they got there. An article in
Glide Magazine unfolds the cross country RV project that became Road Trip Nation.
Although their website wasn't showing up when I tried it, the chronicle of their experiences are available in their book, Roadtrip Nation, available from Amazon.
What will you do after graduation?
Potential Bus Drivers Take "Transit English"
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)in Los Angeles is trying to save $5 million in overtime pay by hiring over 100 new bus drivers, according to
an NBC News story. But there's only one problem. Many of these potential drivers are immigrants are qualified in every way except they have difficulty reading the MTA's training manual.
Using the MTA manual as their guide the staff from the Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles is preparing a course to help these would-be bus drivers with their English skills. Classes will be held at Valley College.
The MTA course at Valley College is a work in progress, said Douglas Marriott, outreach director for the Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles, whose staff is preparing the curriculum and teaching the course.
To encourage transit employees to help recruit new drivers, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa wants the workers to receive up to $300 for each bus driver they recruit, with a limit of two.
What do you think about a program like this? Should companies and governmental agencies offer English and reading skills help to enable employees get prepared for their jobs?
Mistakes College Freshmen Make and How to Avoid Them
Getting started in college can be a hectic experience for students. Freshmen have endless worries: enrolling in classes, standing in long lines, finding the classrooms, making new friends, understanding teachers and having enough money to pay for everything they need. Some freshmen make big mistakes that damage their chances for success. Here are just a few of them:
1.
Trying to save money by not buying the textbooks. While it's true that textbooks can be very costly, it's not smart to try to save money by not buying the text, sharing texts or even counting on reserve copies available in the library. Counting on a book given to you by a former student can be a problem if the edition has changed. (That happened to two students in my classes this semester.)Serious teachers start assigning text reading the very first week and you need your own copies to keep up with your assignments
2.
Over Committing If you're taking too many units and trying to work long hours, you're set on downward slope. Experts agree that you should allow at least 2 hours for each unit in which you've enrolled. For a 15 unit load that means 30 hours a week set aside for studying. If you can't manage study time while holding down a job, you're asking for frustration, fatigue and failure. Consider cutting back on your work hours or taking fewer units per semester.
3.
Disregarding the Syllabus While many students receive the syllabus, and perhaps even glance at it, not enough students believe it. For example, I don't take late homework or give makeup tests. Although this is clearly stated in my syllabus and stressed on the first day, a few students don't believe it's a firm rule, or think it doesn't apply to them. Think of the syllabus as a bible on how to navigate the course.
Learn about more mistakes
from the Warrick News.
Should Students Work?
For many students, whether they should work or not is decided for them by their financial or family obligations. Although many parents would prefer that their high schoolers concentrate on their studies,
a recent article in the Press-Sun Bulletin reveals a U.S. Labor statistic that 80% of high school students work some time during their junior and senior years.
School officials don't agree on this issue either. Some believe that working interferes with school work; others believe that working helps students gain valuable skills, including how to balance life and work.
By the time students reach college the ambivalence has diminished, and successful college students learn to balance their studies, work and personal life. What do you think? Should high school and college students work?
Your Education Matters, But Not for the Reasons You Think
Education has been a constant since the beginning of time. From cavemen drawing stories on cave walls and Socrates suffering the ultimate punishment for expanding young minds, all cultures have passed information, skills, customs and history to the next generation.
Education is not valued by all. Some groups who seek power fear education so much that they destroy the educated and burn books hoping they can destroy the ideas and replace them with their own. It's much easier to control the uneducated and illiterate.
Today it's popular to think of education as the route to a good job and better pay. While college graduates tend to earn more, there are many more important reasons to get as much education as you can other than just increasing income. Here are a few of them.
1. Starting and finishing an academic or training program builds the strategies needed to set a goal and reach it. Completing a hard-won goal builds self-confidence.
2. Being exposed to a wide variety of subjects, teaching styles and diverse classmates prepares you for living in an ever-changing and diverse world. Succesfully completing a college or technical education requires using a variety of strategies and teaches you to consider alternative solutions to problems.
3. Being educated enables you to bounce back faster from setbacks. We will all encounter adversity, disappointments and setbacks in our lives. A good college education gives you years of experience in climbing over obstacles, dealing with rejection, postponing gratification and starting over.
In this blog we will explore many education issues that concern parents, students and teachers. Visit often and post your thoughts. With your participation we will all enjoy a lively discussion and clearly demonstrate that your education matters.
College students trudge from class to class, spend many groggy hours studying and daydream about the day they'll join the workforce. Once there, however, many are let down. Working even in their chosen career is often not as stimulating and satisfying as they thought. It's then that some students rush back to school to pursue advanced degrees. But is that the best solution for you?
