Berkeley residents successfully sue to cap the number of students enrolled at UC Berkeley, using easily abused state environmental law.
It gets worse, the university knew of the injunction well before acceptance letters went out, but assumed for whatever reason it was stayed, so now they sent out you might be disenrolled letters.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Thu February 17, 2022 2:24 pm
by Bammer
San Fancisco boots 3 ultra left members of its school board. First such recall in 40 years. All three had over 70% vote to remove.
One of them sued for $87m lol.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sat June 04, 2022 1:35 am
by B
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sat June 04, 2022 12:30 pm
by Bi_3
Did the video ever actually state what everyone gets wrong about the student loan crisis? Seems like it's just the same-old pattern of most progressive "think" pieces: suggest something is a world-ending problem, rattle off lots of semi-related stats to make it sound very scientific and shit, mention black and brown folks, reassert said thing is a major problem, it's now a given, and that someone must do something immediately. Just like those "position paper" essays we wrote in high school English class.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sat June 04, 2022 1:57 pm
by B
Bi_3 wrote:Did the video ever actually state what everyone gets wrong about the student loan crisis?
Yes. Timestamp 0:19s
Perception: Average student debt holder is a graduate heading into the workforce with $39,000 in debt.
Reality: The debt is mostly lumped into 2 groups. Affluent graduates who hold much more in debt, and dropouts, who are disproportionately BIPOC and low SES, with less debt and with little means of paying it back.
Bi_3 wrote:Seems like it's just the same-old pattern of most progressive "think" pieces: suggest something is a world-ending problem, rattle off lots of semi-related stats to make it sound very scientific and shit, mention black and brown folks, reassert said thing is a major problem, it's now a given, and that someone must do something immediately. Just like those "position paper" essays we wrote in high school English class.
I'm not sure the video does any of this. It just encourages a better understanding of who holds the debt, but given your history of posting with disdain for all support for minorities, the poor, and trans individuals, I can understand why you'd jump to that conclusion.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sat June 04, 2022 4:28 pm
by verb_to_trust
B wrote:
Bi_3 wrote:Did the video ever actually state what everyone gets wrong about the student loan crisis?
Yes. Timestamp 0:19s
Perception: Average student debt holder is a graduate heading into the workforce with $39,000 in debt.
Reality: The debt is mostly lumped into 2 groups. Affluent graduates who hold much more in debt, and dropouts, who are disproportionately BIPOC and low SES, with less debt and with little means of paying it back.
Bi_3 wrote:Seems like it's just the same-old pattern of most progressive "think" pieces: suggest something is a world-ending problem, rattle off lots of semi-related stats to make it sound very scientific and shit, mention black and brown folks, reassert said thing is a major problem, it's now a given, and that someone must do something immediately. Just like those "position paper" essays we wrote in high school English class.
I'm not sure the video does any of this. It just encourages a better understanding of who holds the debt, but given your history of posting with disdain for all support for minorities, the poor, and trans individuals, I can understand why you'd jump to that conclusion.
Bi3 doesn't even own a BLM flag!
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun June 05, 2022 4:07 pm
by Bi_3
B wrote:
Bi_3 wrote:Did the video ever actually state what everyone gets wrong about the student loan crisis?
Yes. Timestamp 0:19s
Perception: Average student debt holder is a graduate heading into the workforce with $39,000 in debt.
Reality: The debt is mostly lumped into 2 groups. Affluent graduates who hold much more in debt, and dropouts, who are disproportionately BIPOC and low SES, with less debt and with little means of paying it back.
Maybe what I should have asked is " Who is this 'Everyone' "? What you wrote has been part of the centrist understanding for years, namely that the feds have created a situation where Unis are motivated to enroll as many folks as possible (regardless of their readiness) at as high a price as possible because all the financial risk is offset to the student. This why all those for-profit schools popped up in the 2010s. When this is combined with well-meaning diversity (both economic and demographic) initiatives, what you get is schools intentionally targeting low-income and BIPOC people who are not prepared to succeed at those schools, who the schools have every indication will drop out, and encouraging them to take on massive debt in the process. Just like the housing bubble in late 2000s.
Here's a short explanation of what actually happened from those not included in 'Everyone':
Prior to 2010, the federal government provided most student loans through the
Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program. Under FFEL, lenders issued
loans using private capital, with the federal government agreeing to cover most
of private lenders’ losses in the case of default.
During the Great Recession, however, high unemployment caused a spike in
college enrollment as people sought to improve their job prospects. As a result,
applications for federal student aid shot up, increasing by 10% between 2008
and 2009. At the same time, credit markets tightened and private lenders
feared they would struggle to raise sufficient capital to extend student loans to
borrowers. Consequently, the number of FFEL lenders quickly dropped by 65%.
Striving to improve access to credit, Congress shifted responsibility for issuing
federal student loans from private lenders to the federal government through
an expansion of the Federal Direct Loan program. As a result, since July 2010,
all federal student loans have been directly issued from the government using
funds from the U.S. Treasury. This ensures that the supply of credit used to
originate student loans is not at risk of drying up during recessions in the way
that private funds were under the FFEL program.
Although the shift to Direct Loans eased concerns that students would not be
able to access loans during the recession, federal student debt surged, more than
doubling in real terms between 2007 and 2015. Indeed, student
debt on the federal balance sheet grew much faster than the economy, posing
a greater risk to taxpayers. In 2007, federal student loan debt was equal to just
3.5% of GDP; by 2015, it had grown to 6.6% of GDP.
Also, I dont think this was in the video... the important stuff wasnt... but:
"The average student debt in the United States is $32,731, while the median student loan debt amount is $17,000."
"The median American has $0 in outstanding student loan debt. If you limit the analysis to people under 30 it’s … still zero."
THAT is what people don't realize. Student debt is problem for the entitled and privileged that they demand the everyone else solve for them.
elliseamos wrote:Yup. Some stupid decisions being made out here.
Weird how Teacher's unions are pretty significant yet entirely mute on topics like this.
What do you mean? They strike and fight all the time. The trouble is the interests of governors, superintendents, administrators, and school boards often get provided equal say in what happens in classrooms & buildings.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 6:28 pm
by simple schoolboy
Teacher shortage overblown, or a regional thing?
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 7:42 pm
by elliseamos
It could be both. And semantics.
Teacher's Aides or "Educational Technicians" are hard spots to fill with pay so low and remediation (support) needs so high
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 8:05 pm
by Mickey
What kinds of schools or districts are adding teachers? Which ones are losing students? Are they the same ones?
State-level data not going to show that. In fact it seems like exactly the kind of metric you would choose to emphasize if you wanted to erase that wrinkle.
This person lives in Fairfax County, Virginia--one of the 10 wealthiest counties in the entire country. Imagine my surprise that they've been losing fewer teachers than students, creating the exact thing most highly-educated and wealthy Fairfax County parents want.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 9:53 pm
by elliseamos
Uh oh, Mickey's right guys. I read it again and the guy picked the "10 largest states". Seems like he's trying to hide something among the other 40 states.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 9:56 pm
by simple schoolboy
elliseamos wrote:It could be both. And semantics.
Teacher's Aides or "Educational Technicians" are hard spots to fill with pay so low and remediation (support) needs so high
I figured posting openings for teachers aides is basically just hoping a parent in each class in unemployed and bored because no one qualified would go for that pay scale. It's no way to staff the position, but it works every once in a while.
I re-read it and he didn't even specify 'largest', he wrote 'large', so who knows what his selection criteria is.
Presumably CA and NY have improved staffing ratios from significant numbers of students fleeing to private school. What the other large states are is anyone's guess.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 10:29 pm
by Mickey
He lists Iowa and Texas as two examples in his thread (Iowa is not one of the ten largest states, by any metric).
I think his general point is that there is not necessarily a "national teacher shortage" because some districts across the country are doing fine, which I'm sure is true, but it's a little misleading. There's a thin line between "not all districts are struggling" and "no districts are struggling," the latter of which is definitely not true.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Sun August 21, 2022 11:42 pm
by 4/5
I can't speak to the national picture, but my school, my district (Broward County, 6th largest in the country), and the state of Florida all have a pretty severe teacher shortage. The state's response to the shortage is to allow military veterans without bachelor's degrees to get 5-year teaching certificates while they go to school. Broward's response is to attempt to raise property taxes (voting tomorrow) to raise teacher pay. They've also privatized some of the other positions like subs and bus drivers, both of which are offering significantly higher pay than they were before. But our school is pretty understaffed when it comes to teachers, aids, security, and custodial.
Re: General Education Topik
Posted: Mon August 22, 2022 12:46 pm
by Bi_3
Mickey wrote:What kinds of schools or districts are adding teachers? Which ones are losing students? Are they the same ones?
State-level data not going to show that. In fact it seems like exactly the kind of metric you would choose to emphasize if you wanted to erase that wrinkle.
This person lives in Fairfax County, Virginia--one of the 10 wealthiest counties in the entire country. Imagine my surprise that they've been losing fewer teachers than students, creating the exact thing most highly-educated and wealthy Fairfax County parents want.
