Online Education...a solution?

                           Online Education...a solution?

      If recent reports are true, that there is a 25.6% drop in first-time California community college students from spring 2009 to spring 2012, then the writing is on the wall. Something has to change in order for the nation's largest public higher education system to thrive once again. 

      The cuts to community colleges has created a situation for the past several years that continues to worsen. These fiscal problems have caused a decrease in the number of sections offered across all of the disciplines. Hardest hit from the fiscal cuts are the arts, such as music courses. These cuts have created hardships for students who can't transfer because they can't get into needed classes. The waitlists for required courses are long, and there is only so much room to add a few students.

      Online education could be the answer to some of these problems. Online courses need to be developed and then implemented to fill the current and future needs of community college students. An educated workforce has many benefits to the state and local community. It could be that some of the drop off in first time community college students has been fueled by the poor economy, with jobs taking over education just to keep afloat financially. Adding insult to injury has been the dire financial situation of our education system. 

     Senate president Pro Tem, Darryl Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has brought a bill for review, which is SB 520. He proposes that a panel of faculty from UC, CSU and the community colleges choose 50 oversubscribed lower-division courses to be taught online, perhaps through private providers such as Udacity, which is working on a faculty-led pilot project at San Jose State. UC, CSU and community college faculty have all expressed concerns about the bill, and there are issues to work out. However, if online courses could unblock the pipeline, especially for CSU and Community College students, then this bill may the the first step in the right direction.

~Kathy~

 *some information was taken from news reports and the Tri-Valley Times*

  

Troubling Trends in Education...

                            Troubling Trends in Education...



   As much as our society seems to promote the idea that pornography and treating women as objects is in poor taste, there are strong currents in the media and elsewhere that are trending in the opposite direction.
   One of the most disturbing realities is that pornography, and the objectification of women is viewed as normal by many in our society today. Sadly, these views, which are degrading to women, are often promoted in public schools by teachers, especially at the college level.

   Recently, one of our daughters, who attends a Community College, sat through a lecture on aesthetics and feminism in which the male instructor verbally belittled the female gender, and promoted the ideas of male superiority. This lecture was in a philosophy class focused on aesthetics. Our daughter came away from that lecture feeling angry and emotionally upset by the ways in which the instructor framed the argument, and skewed it to denigrate women, and promote views of male dominance and superiority.

   As a parent I have to ask myself, is this education? It is more similar to indoctrination, and sexual discrimination. No student, male or female,should ever have to be subjected to gender stereotyping, or lectures that reinforce the putting down of one gender, while raising up another. 

   This isn't my first experience with similar scenarios at other community colleges, and it causes me to question the mindset of the instructor, who gets away with breaking the sexual harassment and discrimination policies of the college that employs him. This type of "lecture" is NOT education, rather it is the foisting of one's views on others. I would call it pollution, because it doesn't seek to raise up, but rather it seeks to bring down. Of particular concern to me is the long-term effects on our communities, and society as a whole, when a teachers' agenda promotes ideas which contribute directly or indirectly to violence against women.

~Kathy~

The Violence Against Women Act

                           The Violence Against Women Act


  The Violence Against Women Act was enacted in 1994, and renewed again last week. What this act purports to do is provide a national strategy to hold offenders accountable, and programs to provide victims with services to achieve safety and rebuild their lives. This is all good, and needed in our society. The fact that this Act is needed is a troubling reminder of the reality that there is so much violence against women in our society.

  However, with the budget impasse and sequestration being implemented by the Federal Government, the very programs that are involved in trying to decrease all kinds of violence against women will experience the effects of the imminent crisis facing our government. 

  The establishment of a National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) is a step in the right direction, along with specialized training for police officers when dealing with domestic violence issues, along with a large array of other services to help promote the well-being and welfare of women in vulnerable circumstances. Laws and Acts can help, but education is the road to change.

~Kathy~