Federal Community College Monies Should Go to Facilities and Students

Two weeks ago, President Obama addressed a crowd at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan. He called for a 10-year, $12 billion investment in community colleges. Of this total, $2.5 billion will be used to leverage an additional $10 billion by the schools and their surrounding communities. The rest is to be spent on programs for job training, student retention and degree completion.

Over a period of ten years, this is not a lot of money, and it's difficult to argue with the president's intentions. But maybe this could have been done another way. Stimulus money, when used to meet a national goal--in this case Obama wants to see an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2010--should be used to cover something that lasts past the money.

Obviously, when a school uses the money to help construct a building they have the building. But when it is used to fund a new program involving human resources there is always a risk that the program becomes too tied to federal money that might not be available later.

So, this is what I would have proposed: divide the money between facilities and degree completion and forget the other programs. The government has considerable experience leveraging construction projects. It has built public housing under every president since FDR and provided grants for commercial projects since the late 1970's. Experience has taught career civil servants about safeguarding the public's interest when it comes to building buildings.

Local governments are routinely criticized when they offer large tax incentives to business, also with job creation in mind. For instance, in 1994, the State of Alabama provided incentives to Mercedes Benz that amounted to a cost of $153,000 to $222,000 per job. The same happens with community colleges that construct expensive facilities for laboratories and classrooms that serve few students. That's why Obama has used the term leverage in terms of facilities spending. If the school and the business community stand ready to fund something, then it make sense for the federal government to give it an extra push in difficult times. If there is no state or local interest, then the federal government should take a pass.

With degree completion, I would liked to have seen a "carrot and stick" approach. Give grants to students who are about the enter the last quarter of their degree program. Eligible students would be low income, independent students supporting themselves or dependents in low income families. The best way to entice people to complete their degrees would be to show that there is an additional reward besides a new job or admission to a four-year school. The reward can also help students save some money, or some debt, towards the next steps in their lives.

Community colleges exist to educate different audiences. Some students are looking for skills or enrichment--one or two courses might be all they seek--while others are enrolled for an interim period. For instance, many four-year college students enroll at community colleges during summer breaks to earn credits towards their four-year degrees. Still others look to transfer to a four-year school with no interest in an associate's degree. These people should not receive government assistance.

Obama, however, is looking at community colleges as engines of change to provide employment or a path to further education. This is the minority of the student population at community colleges, and I just mentioned some, but not all of the reasons above. Long story short, the majority are not looking for a degree.

But if students seeking an associate's degree must drop out for financial reasons, then the best way to spend federal money is not to start another complex program with additional data collection for government agencies. Why do that when you can provide targeted financial aid that can be administered by the professionals who already work for the school?

The most effective way to get results is to give money to the students who are helping your school achieve them, and publicize the heck out of those student's accomplishments. People who want to believe that they can succeed need examples of people who have attained that success.

Bryce Harper is a Future Baseball Star and a Model Student

This is the time of year when baseball starts to get interesting, especially if you're a New York Yankee fan. But here's a question for those readers who are also Yankee fans: aside from being Yankee teammates, what did Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra have in common?

Some similarities are obvious: they played on World Series champions, won MVP awards, they've been called Greatest Living Yankees, and they're both men of Italian descent. But there's one other thing that's less reported, unless you bought biographies. Neither Joltin' Joe or Yogi graduated from high school. Both dropped out to sign professional contracts.

Last month, I read about Bryce Harper, a Las Vegas High School student, 16, who is considered to be one of the top five baseball prospects in the country. With the support of his parents, Harper has dropped out of high school to earn a GED and enroll in community college next season. He is expected to be the top pick in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft.

Harper supposedly has Roy Hobbs power; he is reputed to have hit a baseball 570 feet and to have hit the longest home run ever hit in Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field. Long story short, Harper, a catcher, is the next Yogi Berra. Fans of any of the five worst teams in baseball should be excited at the prospect of Harper reaching the major leagues as a teenager, just like Babe Ruth.

I give Harper's parents credit for original thinking. Best thing: they might have added two seasons to their son's professional baseball career, assuming he stays healthy and continues to play at such a high level. Worst thing: he has an associate's degree at age 18 and has the option of going to a four-year college. It is not like he's skipping school, or moving to another country, to achieve his dream.

No one should complain about Harper's decision. He is clearly a very special player and he is doing something that any other high school student could have done to get a head start on his life's work.

There is still concern that parents of less talented athletes will try to go the same route with their son or daughter, but it's a route that requires some maturity on the student's part. The smart parents will want as many options for their son or daughter as possible, and will steer them away from courses that cannot count towards a four-year degree. The deluded parents may not, but nothing that can stop them from being deluded.

The option of early entry into a college curriculum through the community colleges is available to many students 16 and over, not just athletes. And why should a high school break the bank to offer their own advanced placement classes, and proctor AP exams for their best students, if there is a community college that can teach the same subject just a bus ride away? The AP classes might be smaller in the high school, and possibly more rigorous, but college credit is college credit. Not to mention it is less expensive for the public school system.

Whether the student is a baseball phenom or academically special, there is nothing magic about confining an extraordinary person to an ordinary high school when other options are available.

Book Review: A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff

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Released in April,A Fortunate Ageis the story of a group of Oberlin College graduates settling in Brooklyn during the late 1990's, the height of the dot-com era. I worked for a New York-based dot-com during this time, and hired some recent college graduates, so I was quite interested in this story.

I have read other reviews of this book; it is compared more often to The Group. True, the main characters are bright, educated young women, like that those in the 1953 novel. But A Fortunate Age also has important male characters, and it begins at a prosperous time that goes dark; the story ends after 9-11. The Group begins with the election of FDR, with the country still in the Depression.

What I found was a story more like St. Elmo's Fire than The Group. Had St. Elmo's Fire been filmed in Brooklyn, instead of Washington D.C., this is the story we would have gotten in the movie. If you read A Fortunate Age, rent St. Elmo's Fire as you get past the middle of the book. You'll notice quite a few plot similarities.

That was interesting to me, considering St. Elmo's Fire was written for an Eighties audience. The major difference is thatin the movie the characters lived where they went to college. They're trying to act important where they went to school In the book the characters are all transplants from Oberlin, a highly regarded Midwestern liberal arts college. They are all somewhat familiar with New York, but not all of them have lived there before adulthood.

Rakoff captures the charm and the lure of Williamsburg, Brooklyn's youth/arts community, quite nicely. That was a major strength of the story. I can imagine many Gen X-ers who worked in the city buying this book to reminisce about the old neighborhood and the times before they had to become "responsible."

Is the Happiest School a Party School?

Today I read in Inside Higher Education that the 2009 Princeton Review rankings are out. Penn State is the Number One Party School in America. No doubt that would be cause for celebration in State College, if it were not the end of July.

I've been to Penn State several times, most recently to attend a state high school basketball final, and the university is as promised. It's a fun place, very much a sports-oriented school with a lot of watering holes, and the campus is the community. Penn State is more isolated than most large universities, so the temptation to create your own entertainment near campus, including alcohol, is greater than it would be in a large city. State College is a great place to visit, but it's not the best place for people who are not into sports.

Penn State students also had high regard for organized sports and campus athletic facilities, as well as the fraternity scene. But they were also unhappy about their financial aid and did not consider themselves to be politically active.


The news story showed that Penn State administrators were not unhappy about the part school ranking; they didn't take it too seriously. The student-focused campaign to make Penn State number one was more like the All-Star balloting in Major League Baseball and less like an academic survey. However, administrators are rightfully concerned about the after-effects of excess partying, like binge drinking. The pressures on students to drink are more serious than any drive to stuff ballots.

But here's what parents should keep in mind when they read about these rankings: these schools are ranked in other areas, too. If I bought a copy of the Princeton Review guide I would look at two rankings when it comes to large schools that are likely to stuff the ballot box: student happiness and career services.

The school with the happiest students is not necessarily the party school. But it was interesting to see that last year's top party school, the University of Florida, ranked at the top for career services this year. Penn State's career services are also highly regarded.

I would be less interested to read if students studied all the time. I actually hope they didn't; there's more to life in college than books and classes. But I would like to know if they are enjoying themselves, if the school cares about them, and if I, as a parent, have a chance to get a return on my investment.

If I saw that hundreds of students took the time to fill out a ballot to say that they loved their school and that alma mater helped them find a job or continue their education, I would be quite impressed. I would be more concerned if they didn't bother to complete the ballots.

Book Review: Acceptance, A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges-and Find Themselves by David L. Marcus

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Acceptance is a reader-friendly non-fiction story about a year in the worklife of a high school guidance counselor and seven students. An education writer, and co-winner of a Pulitzer Prize, David Marcus has written a story that every college-bound parent should read. Then they should contact their high school and ask for a guidance counselor like Gwyeth Smith, who is the main character of this story.

Smith takes a different approach to counseling, trying to help the students find a best fit as opposed to a brand name. He actually reads student files and maintains relations with various admissions officers online and through special events. He also co-taught an Essays for College class that students of all academic abilities could attend. This was the first time I had read of such a class, and it is a good idea. The writing sample requirement for the SAT is not taken as seriously as the essays on the admissions application. And the essays are often the only opportunity for a student to make their case for admission.

From reading Acceptance, you get the sense that Smith tried to understand the realities of the admissions marketplace and align them with the performance of his students. He knows that most of his students come from working class families, and will need financial aid. Smith also looks for hidden bargains in higher ed; one specific example was City College of New York, which has just built a dormitory with clothes washers that text-messaged after the last cycle was done.

Smith believes college admissions has seven student-focuses principles:

1) Students should take the most difficult classes their high school has to offer
2) Counselors need to get to know parents and students personally
3) Counselors need to be blunt with students about their chances of getting into schools and candid with admissions officers about the pros and cons of the students
4) Students should make a "hit list" of colleges where they see themselves, as opposed to choosing schools based on prestige
5) Students should take the ACT and the SAT
6) Schools should offer in-house test prep classes so that working class students are on the same playing field as students from wealthy families
7) Student should re-write their essays as many times as necessary

He also believes that a list of schools should have a common theme, for example, small liberal arts schools or large state universities, unless a public college needs to be a back-up for financial reasons.

What also makes this book work is that the seven students have varied academic abilities. One, Jeff, a C+ student, has SATs above average for his grades, as well as an uncanny ability to sport talent for college basketball coaches. The process where he ends up at West Virginia University is as interesting as those for other students who choose Barnard, Michigan or NYU. If you are a parent raising a student who is not Harvard-bound, then buy this book before you invest time and money in college guides and visits.

The school district of Oyster Bay, Long Island--that's the birthplace of rock legend Billy Joel--tolerates Smith because of his success rate. Last year, as the book was written, he left the school to become a self-employed admissions consultant, charging over $300 an hour. As guidance director, he had been paid $150,000, with few administrative responsibilities. But we did not know if Smith had a counseling load beyond admissions advice. My understanding is most counselors do.

I finished Acceptance with considerable respect for Smith's knowledge and efforts; he does considerable work on his student's behalf. But you also see why someone of his abilities is tempted to go on his own.

Can e-Reading Replace Book Learning?

Today I open my e-mail and there's a message from Barnes and Noble's Web site. I am invited to download a free E-Reader so that I can download e-books on my laptop or any mobile device. E-books are one-third to one-half the price of real books, so there is potential for substantial savings. I'll probably download the e-reader onto my netbook instead of my laptop. It's lighter and far more portable. But I'm not sure which books I will download.

The E-Reader as well as Amazon's Kindle, a lightweight device that costs about $400 that only lets you read e-books--it's not a laptop or a netbook--seem, in principle, to be good ideas. They make it cheaper to read and they're environmentally friendly. Downloading books saves trees, as long as you read the book online.

But I'd wonder if fiction writers, like me, are going to make much money from e-books. And readers, like you, will rely more on word of mouth to find books you like instead of look and feel. So much of the appeal of book shopping is looking at the covers and reading the jackets to see if a story is for you. And if you're lucky, like most writers hope to be, you want to have a publisher who will put your paperback into its own end cap display. Who doesn't want their publisher to send a message: this book is worth your well-earned money. E-books take much of that mystery away.

And here's something else I wonder: why didn't publishers test the idea of e-books on books that: a) do not need visual appeal for the sell and b) frequently go out of date like college guides or directories of literary agents? I can't imagine that parents have use for a college guide after their son or daughter has completed their applications and chosen a school. But the publishers of the college guides could cut a deal through e-books. If you're a parent who expects to send two of three teens to college, then you could buy a subscription to the guides over two or three years. It's not like the cover matters much, only the information.

Another great use for these e-tools, especially the eReader, is textbooks. Go to the student portal, then the online college bookstore, buy the e-book and the e-problem solving guide. Then save them as a reference book after classes are over and access them as needed. I don't know why, but I still keep my basic texts from business school: accounting, marketing, statistics, finance and so on. I hated these books when I used them for class. I haven't cracked some of them open since class, either. Eventually the pages will yellow, and the binding will crack. But not if they were e-books.

I want to see schools move to e-texts as soon as possible. This way parents and students could refer back to concepts (math is good example) forgotten as they go on to advanced classes. If a student. enters a grade behind in the knowledge of some concepts he should have learned during the previous school year, the teachers could help her catch up. Learning programs would become more personalized.

Students could also download the summer reading lists from the bookstores. If you're ever in a bookstore this time of year you can see how much space these books occupy; and those classical books have lower margins than fresh fiction. Store space is gold and the chains want as much gold per square foot they can get.

Schools would not need to devote space to aging books or mass purchases; they could cut the school taxes by the amount the parents would spend to buy the books directly from the vendor, or have them pay an annual subscription fee. And this way, book buying decisions could be made by teachers and not a purchasing agent trying to get the best deal.

Have Obama and Duncan Distorted the Story of Chicago's Schools? Maybe Not

Last week USA Today ran this story: Report on Chicago schools contradicts Obama, Duncan. The sub-headline read: City's successes were overstated, civic group says.

Curious, I decided to read the report. It was authorized by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, non-profit economic development organization originally formed in 1877.

This is important information, as the Club provided the impetus behind Renaissance 2010, a fund raising partnership between the city and the business community five years ago to transform 100 public schools into high-quality institutions. According to the Chicago Public Schools Web site there are 666 schools in the city: 483 elementary schools, 116 high schools and 67 charter schools.

Charter school legislation first passed in Illinois in 1997 with 15 schools open in Chicago. Barack Obama was a member of the Illinois Legislature when this legislation passed, and he has been on record as a supporter of charter schools.

Another 15 charter schools opened in 2003, and more after that. It is fair to say that the majority of charter schools in the city opened during Arne Duncan's tenure as superintendent of the public school system, while others were on the drawing board.

Thus, it was interesting to read the Civic Committee report and find that:

+ Test scores rose because of changes in the test, changes that were mandated at the state level, not by Superintendent Duncan. Even when the report puts scores back before the tests changed, there was still improvement, though obviously not as much.

Then-Superintendent Duncan did what any other superintendent in the country would have done in his shoes: he said scores went up based on state standards. No one, the Commercial Club, the mayor of Chicago or Duncan himself has said that the city school system fought for lower standards. In fact, this has been the opposite for the leadership of urban school public systems including Newark, New Orleans and Washington D.C.

+ Charter schools considerably outperformed comparable non-selective public schools. This is well documented in the report, though not in the USA Today story.

This is a statistical report and all of the actors in the success of the school system agree that there is much to be done. But these facts are true:

+ President Obama supported charter schools while he served as a state senator and a U.S. Senator. It is fair to say that the state of Illinois has more charter schools because of Obama than they might have had without him. Obama also said, while he campaigned for President, that his position on charter schools was unpopular within his own party.

+ Secretary Duncan preceded over a school system where he helped facilitate an ambitious initiative to create 100 new public schools. Approximately 50 new charter schools opened under his watch, and these perform better than comparable public schools. Twenty new charter schools are scheduled to open this fall. No doubt Duncan had something to do with them, too.

On these grounds, a national education pairing of Obama and Duncan makes sense. The country could have done much worse.

Mr. President,Here's What I Want to Know About My Health Care

Last night I listened to President Obama's news conference on health care. I don't know about you, but I was totally lost with questions unanswered.

I watched the event on CNBC, and I don't believe their commentators got much out of it either. One said that the President's messages on health care will be obscured by his comments about the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, whom the President called a friend.

Why am I writing about this news conference on an education site? Because I believe that a people should be able to leave high school, let alone college, with the ability to decide how to manage and spend their money. And the companies that provide the most important services we buy: credit, financing, your phone plan, cable TV, insurance and so on, do not do a very good job of helping us. Neither does the government when it comes to our taxes, health services and student financial aid. Both the government and the private sector have made this decision making boring and difficult, which is one reason we make bad decisions from time-to-time.

Last night, the White House press corps was no help. They didn't ask the tough questions, only the ones that the president had already answered. So I'm going to ask some new, but important questions here. If I'm lucky, I'll get answers.

Question 1. Does the "public option" mean that the federal government is going to form a health insurance company?

As I understand their business, insurance companies raise revenues from policy sales, financial products consumers buy, returns on their investments, selling portions of their risk to other investors, issuing stock or bonds. Which leads me to:

Question 2. Can the government raise enough revenue from taxes and other sources to be a credible insurance provider?

Mr. President, you talked about taxing the wealthiest individuals, which takes me to:

Question 3. Are there enough wealthy individuals around to provide the revenues?

I don't know if there are, and this is important for setting the direction for a public insurance carrier to enter the market. I certainly hope such a carrier would not be the "insurer of last resort" for people with pre-existing conditions. There's no way the country, let alone it's wealthiest taxpayers, could fund that over the long haul.

Now I'll move on to the consumer side, the cost of health insurance. As I understand insurance, my health care costs mightgo down if I take steps to become healthier.

However, my costs might not go down because my medical records have a history of pre-existing conditions. So, from the consumer side, the most proactive step I can take to lower the cost of my insurance is to have less coverage. But I'm getting older, so that makes no sense.

If there's only so much I can do as a consumer, then the only other ways that my health insurance costs can go down are:

+ The care providers: physicians, nurses, technicians and so on charge less
+ The hospital that puts the roof over the care providers and patients charges less
+ All of their vendors charge less
+ The pharmaceutical companies charge less for their drugs

Which takes me to:

Question 4. Who, among the above, is going to bite the bullet so the cost of my health care and health insurance goes down?

I have not heard of anyone who will,only that there are plans to eliminate "waste." I guess you could make insurance companies use a single standard form and have a national patient database; those ideas make sense. I can't say the same for medical tests, because they might be a result of a cautious physician versus an insurance company directive.

Personally, I don't care who provides my health insurance as long as I have a meaningful plan at a fair price. Whether you have the government as your carrier or a private insurance company, bureaucracy is a part of the deal.

If I were to bet on the outcome of the health care debate, I'd go against the public option, but thumbs up on the idea of a National Health Care Information Exchange.

Mr President, you did a good job explaining this. As I listened to your comments, I got these quick thoughts:

+ The insurance companies pay the full cost of the Exchange. This includes the technology and the personnel to manage it. If they want to license this to various sites such as Web MD, that's fine, too.
+ They are all required to cover people with pre-existing conditions
+ They are all required to provide all aspects of their health care policies to the Exchange and update them
+ Consumers, that's us, go to a Web site, build our policy, and see who provides the coverage we need at the prices we can pay
+ The insurance companies are given some rights to contact individuals or employers who read their information. Ideally, they will offer discounts

Now all this, I understand:

+ The insurance companies take a hit, but they get return on positive PR
+ They also get new business
+ Consumers get free, user-friendly access to information to make their own decisions
+ Those with pre-existing conditions get coverage
+ The government doesn't need to run the business

Sounds like a win all around, but that takes me to:

Question 5: Is this how the Information Exchange is expected to work?

Bobby Jindal's Career Track Diploma Goes Off-Track

This week I read in various sources that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has signed legislation creating a new high school curriculum with lowered academic standards. With parental approval students 15 and older can leave the standard curriculum and take a "career track' that would allow them to gain admission into a two-year community college or technical school, but not a four-year college.

The stunner is not only that Jindal signed this bill, but that the Louisiana House sent it up to him with a 93-5 majority and the state senate approved it unanimously!

Arguments in favor of this bill included:

+ It would lower the drop-out rate
+ It would keep students from being incarcerated, because they would be able to work towards an "attainable" diploma
+ It would encourage students who dropped out to learn a trade instead.

I can also see that it might keep less qualified students out of the four-year schools, where they presumably don't belong, but there's no guarantee.

Basically, the legislation appears to legitimize the tracking of students abhorred by education reformers. It also labels students for life, making it more difficult for them to continue their education beyond the two year college level.

Imagine a choice faced by LSU admissions officers in the future: they get transfer applicants from the same two-year college, some have the standard diploma, others have the "career track." Who stands the better chance of earning a spot in the junior class at Baton Rouge? Will the 'career track' students stellar community college transcript save the day, when there's another applicant with the same grades, but the "better" diploma?

Worse yet, what if budget cuts impact the vocational programs first if they have smaller enrollments that the standard courses? I would be curious to learn how a court will define educational equity should that situation arise.

I read my first story on this subject in the print edition of Education Week, then I clicked down a few links in a Google search. I wanted to see who, besides the bill's sponsors, pushed for this legislation. I found out that New Orleans school officials opposed it, including Recovery District superintendent Paul Vallas. So did the state superintendent of schools.

Council for a Better Louisiana, a public interest group, also opposed the legislation. An editorial in New Orleans City Business opposed it, too. So did the state apprenticeship coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. When a representative of a high-paying vocational trade says the 'career track' will be inadequate preparation, why wouldn't lawmakers listen?

I don't think I could list all of the reasons Jindal made a huge mistake. I typed some up above, but I'll try for more.

1) This bill assumes skilled trade = stupid and smart = college. Has anyone seen an electrician or an auto mechanic at work? Or a computer networking technician? I would hope that anyone who touches an expensive piece of equipment I own would be able to read and diagnose problems.

2) This bill goes against the conservative, as well as the liberal tide towards higher educational standards. Instead of placing more demands on students to learn, it says: "ok, if you can't do it, we'll give you a way out."

3) It gives bad teachers, the ones who cannot, or will not try to diagnose the problems of poor-performing students a "way out" too. Bad judgment, not unusual in school systems, could consign students to the wrong track.

4) It marginalizes the efforts of the good teachers who try.

5) It pushes a burden onto the two-year college system to take on all of the remedial education, without allocating more funds. This bill will not discourage 'career track' students from trying to get into a two-year college, but shouldn't they be better prepared to go in from high school?

6) There is no guarantee that the remedial burden would be lifted off the four-year schools that take a chance on these students when they become desperate to fill a freshman or a transfer class.

7) This will not make the less selective Louisiana four-year schools more selective, in fact it will do the opposite, since the 'career track' idea disqualifies students by association. This bill might not say, no, don't take these kids. But a school might risk a drop in its graduation rate. And public money might be tied to better student retention in the future.

I'm sorry if I've beaten this to death, but if I lived in Louisiana I would have fought this tooth and nail in the state media. And now I have another reason not to support Bobby Jindal if he ever begins a presidential campaign. This bill is a giant step backwards in education policy and reform.

Seven Remarkable Things About 'Prom Night in Mississippi'

Last night, I tuned into HBO on-demand to watch Prom Night in Mississippi, a documentary about a high school that last year held it's first integrated Senior Prom.

The subject high school, Charleston, has been an integrated school since 1970, yet parents had sponsored segregated proms for 38 years. Last year, Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman, a native and resident of Charleston, offered to pay for an integrated prom, and the school administrators and senior class accepted. This was Freeman's second offer; he had made a similar offer in 1997 which was turned down.

As I watched the documentary, and a 20 minute follow-up, there were seven things I found remarkable.

1. While the title of this documentary was what it was, it was also misleading. This was a story of one town, not an entire state. I realize that a title such as 'Prom Night in Charleston' might have been awkward--it might have confused the Mississippi town with the more famous Charleston, South Carolina--but it seemed irresponsible to create a situation where an entire state would take it on the chin for the actions of a minority within a very small town.

2. At the beginning Freeman points out that Charleston High is 70 percent black with 415 students total. The town was reported to have 2,100 residents (yet online real estate sites put the total closer to 1,800). The population is now, according to the Census, sixty percent black. Yet a tradition of segregated proms was maintained as a majority turned into a minority and white students saw a black majority at school every day and appeared to get along.

3. The white adult supporters of the "traditional" prom were not the "alpha" personalities one would associate with the eras of civil rights and school integration. They were not George Wallace or Bull Connor; they feared embarrassment instead of spurring confrontation and I believed they felt they were weak. They hid behind an attorney and did not allow the filmmaker's camera crew into the all-white prom.

4. Had the camera crew been allowed entry into the segregated prom, I suspect that I would have seen the most jaw-dropping scene in the production(given the small number of white seniors in the school likely to be there). It was better for the community, black and white, that such a scene was never filmed.

5. The students were rude with the cell phones at their prom, which was meant to be a historic event. Sorry to harp on this, but it looks awfully foolish for a homecoming king to be on his cell phone just before he was to walk the runway. Parents usually don't go to proms, but if I were a father this would bother me. If I were Morgan Freeman, and I was there, I would have collected the cell phones as the students walked in. This event was about getting along with each other, not talking to the outside world on the phone. Confiscating the phones for the night would have extended that lesson.

6. The most remarkable result of the 2008 prom was the 2009 prom. The 2009 event did not involve Freeman or his money. The community and the school raised sufficient funds to have an integrated prom. They "scaled down" the decorations, but the 2009 event was just as visually appealing as the previous prom. All of the important trappings of the previous prom were there, too.

7. Unfortunately, the segregated event continued in 2009.

Are College Admissions 'Make-Overs' Worth the Money?

This past Sunday I read a story in the New York Times entitled: Before College, Costly Advice Just on Getting In. The story, written by Jacques Steinberg, author of The Gatekeepers, an excellent book on the college admissions process, discussed the value of admissions counseling consultants.

Consultants, according to this story, are former high school guidance counselors or admissions counselors at selective schools who help college-bound students choose their best-matched schools, assist in organizing the applications package and advise on interviews. Fees for their services run as high as $40,000, about the cost of a year at many private colleges. That seems excessive, but there are parents who can pay.

Admissions consulting is not new; it actually existed when I was in high school more than thirty years ago. My wife and I know families who have hired consultants and some of their services are quite useful. The most valuable service the consultants can provide to their clients is to help them develop a 'short-list' of schools that are the best fit to a student's abilities, interests, and of course statistical profile.

Because these professionals concentrate exclusively on college admissions versus other tasks in high school guidance counseling, they can research and identify schools that are the best fit. Sometimes the best fit is a school that the student and their parents did not know much about. If that fit falls into place then you have a very satisfied customer.

The best tool that a consultant might have is strong relationships with a network of excellent, but not top-of-the-list, schools that welcome very good (B-plus/A-minus) students. Such schools might offer a better mix of merit-based and need-based financial aid than the most selective colleges as well as the right connections for internships, graduate and professional school scholarships and employment. Sometimes the package may be attractive enough to justify passing on a large state school.

But as I read this story I wondered: why do the wealthiest families need the most expensive services? If a college bound student was raised with social grace in the home then why would he need a primer on how to dress for an interview, or what to say? If he could write well, why would he need someone, besides a trusted teacher or parent to review his essays? The only answer I could find was that the bad apples, the A.J. Sopranos among college applicants, needed the polish to get into any college, let alone Harvard.

But the number of A.J. Sopranos in the national college applicant pool is very small, probably not enough to provide a livelihood for many consultants. Which leads me to the parents who might engage a consultant to "get their child into Harvard."

If I were a consultant to these parents I would look at the numbers first. Reality is that straight A's, advanced placement credits, scores of 700 or higher on each SAT section and SAT II are just the beginning of establishing candidacy for the most selective schools. Miss on any one statistic without any shining extracurricular or intellectual achievement and your application gets dinged.

So, it would pay for me to be straight-up and say: "okay, complete an application if you want, but you have just as good a chance of hitting the Pick Six, with less money at risk." I'd study the look on the parent's faces to see how that sinks in as I explain their options. The parents who listen can find a good fit for their student. Those who don't need consulting for another problem that I cannot solve.

Book Review: The Accidental Billionaires, the Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich

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I read The Accidental Billionaires because I was curious, not only about learning the history of Facebook, but also how college incubated start-ups have changed from one generation, Generation X to the next, called Generation Y or the Millennials. What I learned was that technology may change, but the origins and development of a start-up to a more far-flung enterprise remain very much the same.

When I worked in the Internet world during the late 1990's and early 2000's, I used to go to career services conferences to exhibit Web-based software. A little less than two years in business and I went to my first national conference.

It was in Dallas, boiling hot outside just after Memorial Day weekend. Exhibitors did not have much mobility at this event--we could not even eat lunch with attendees unless we wanted to pay exorbitant hotel/convention center prices--so all you could do was make the most of your time by checking out the competition. I stumbled across a company comprised of four recent Harvard graduates. They had designed Harvard's undergraduate job posting and on-campus recruitment system, and now, Harvard had hooked them up with a small amount of seed capital and was helping them expand their market into other schools.

The founders of this company were in their early twenties, I was in my late thirties. But I was impressed by their confidence. They had gotten some good schools--Boston College was an early client--from the get-go and they had a good design. As the years passed, this company was acquired and merged into another one. The founders moved on and today, updated versions of that software are sold as part of a suite of career development and employment-related products.

The longer I remained in the software business, the more that I realized such start-up situations were not uncommon. However, many of those early start-ups that incubated from a college dorm room, such as Napster, TheGlobe.com and Tripod have either folded or abandoned their original purpose. Tripod, for example, is merely a Web page building site as opposed to an online community it once was.

The latest generation of online communities, including Facebook and MySpace, have the page building features of the earlier generation, and it appears that they have more staying power because they have become more open to adults as well as college students.

But the evolution of social networking sites leaves a history with a big question: which model can become profitable and survive for the long haul? Social networking sites are essentially closed portals. Their owners need to consistently add new applications to keep users interested and inside; advertising and applications licenses are the bread and button for these businesses.

In The Accidental Billionaires, you read about the evolution of Facebook from a deviously conceived "date-rate" site exclusively for Harvard students into a college-focued social networking platform. There were a lot of high-jinx, and quite possibly highjacks, as one storyline for the history of Facebook is based on theft.

You also see what happens when an over-ambitious investor steps in and leads a founder to drop out of Harvard, move to northern California and work for the company full-time, only to lose his stake. In addition, you learn why Harvard might, and might not, be the right place for a student with similar ambitions.

The author, Ben Mezrich, is a Harvard graduate who has written four other books: Rigged, Busting Vegas, Ugly Americans and Bringing Down the House, all around a similar theme as this one: an Ivy League student hits the high-risk business world with aplomb and comes out barely alive.

Bringing Down the House became the basis for a movie, 21, that starred Kevin Spacey as a MIT professor who teaches brilliant math students to count cards and conquer the blackjack tables in Las Vegas. That story had far more drama, and originality, than The Accidental Billionaires, quite possibly because the main characters were not famous.

But here, we read about a famous founder, who became the youngest billionaire in U.S. history and presumably screwed his friends to get to where he is. If the corporate subject of this story had not been Facebook, which has become a global (but still unprofitable) phenomenon, we might not be reading it. There is a lot of resentment, but not much drama, in this short business history.

Book Review: Loon, A Marine Story by Jack McLean

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My recent novel, Defending College Heights, is partly about military recruiting, but I had never considered that military service might have had appeal to a young prep school graduate during the Vietnam Era. As the country entered the later half of the Sixties, more and more high school age men did not want to go to war. They were given college deferments, then later graduate school deferments to delay what could have been the inevitable: getting drafted into an Army infantry unit stationed thousands of miles from home.

But Jack McLean, a Phillips-Andover classmate of former president George W. Bush, took an unusual path to get into Harvard. He enlisted in the Marines for two years before he got there and successfully persuaded the admissions officer to accept him. And, in an amusing anecdote, he recalls that he was rejected by Columbia, the site of the most confrontational anti-war activities on the east coast, because an admissions officer believed that an 18 or 19 year old would benefit more from what they had to offer.

This journey is the essence of a coming of age story for the author. He learns not only what it means to serve, but also the meaning of loss at war. Loss not only meaning death, but also in terms of his country's thanks for his service.

McLean had not been the best of students prior to becoming a Marine; no college had accepted him despite the connections deep in his prep school. But he knew that he would want to go to college after his enlistment ended so he chose the branch of the armed forces that had the shortest service obligation, but the most demanding training

From the story, I also gathered that McLean did not start out as the greatest of Marines. Not that he was any less gung-ho to fight; he wanted to go to Vietnam because that was where the fighting was. Instead, he was sent to supply school, a tour which kept him stateside. But he does eventually go to Vietnam and fights in a battle on a remote hill between North Vietnam and Laos, and becomes one of the few to survive.

Loon is a thin volume as war memoirs go, but McLean was a corporal, and therefore not privy to military strategy. Not that it would have mattered. In the heat of battle survival takes precedent. At one point, for instance, a respected sergeant demands that his reports call him "Bill," not 'Sir," or "Sergeant," because the enemy knows to target command first. These tidbits, as well as background on the Marines, such as the stories of Parris Island and Camp Pendleton, the two Marine training bases, make the story stand out.

While the backdrop of Loon is more than forty years old, it's messages and information about the Marines are still relevant today. This is a very worthwhile story for the high school student who is considering postponing college for military service, and for their parents, too. It will also leave a potential recruit with a question: will they be honored, thanked and respected for their service when they return?

While most soldiers do not serve for those things, even a Marine, according to McLean, wants to hope that their service is appreciated by those who stayed home.

Book Review: The Conscience of a Libertarian, Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling and Tax Cuts by Wayne Allyn Root

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Excerpts of The Conscience of a Libertarian should make their way into the syllabuses of political theory or political philosophy classes, not necessarily because this is a great book, but because Libertarianism is shamefully under-reported and worthy of debate.

The author, Wayne Allyn Root, a former vice presidential candidate on the 2008 Libertarian ticket-former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga) was the presidential nominee-as well as an extremely successful author and small businessman in the gaming industry has written a well-organized volume on what it means to be a Libertarian. Root also adds some ideas worthy of debate, for example, a larger Congress of citizen-politicians term-limited to a single six-year term as well as tax cuts targeted around citizens age 55 and higher to aid retirement planning.

On the surface Libertarianism has much to recommend it: low taxation, limited government, school choice and tolerance (meaning left leaning)on social issue positions that do not involve a decision by a businessperson (for example: abortion and gay marriage). It is also quite possible that I, as a self-employed person, would benefit financially from a Libertarian government.

Root says that he takes much of his philosophy from Barry Goldwater, so I bought and read Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative (see below) to fill in some blanks. According to Goldwater, a true conservative, like the Libertarian, believes in low taxation, limited government, individual freedom and state's rights. Root, like Goldwater, believes that business people create wealth and jobs, so they should not be overtaxed.

While Root does not go into specifics about what government should "do," Goldwater did. He believed, and I quote him, that "maintaining internal order, keeping foreign foes at bay, administering justice and removing obstacles to the free exchange of goods" were the only legitimate functions of a federal government.

However, fifty years ago, Goldwater believed that civil rights enforcement should be left to the states. He also believed, as Root does, that there should be no federal role in education, even when the federal government is asking schools to reach higher standards.

It could be argued that most of our forefathers had libertarian views. They backed a war because the English king imposed new taxes. They did not want a new government to compromise their financial interests and neither did the white male property owners who voted them into office.

If we assume that our forefathers had libertarian leanings then we have to consider how history changed American government. We have civil rights laws, environmental regulations, workplace safety rules, consumer protection statutes, minimum wage laws, trade commissions and the like because the voters wanted them. However, I was left to assume that Root believes that a federal government should not have bothered to act on behalf of its citizens on these matters.

Root presents no alternative to the existing avenues of citizen participation: the ballot, the courts, and Congress for citizen redress against a state, the federal government, the military or a multinational corporation. Instead, he rants against legislators and government workers alike saying that they have no incentive to work on behalf of the people because they have guaranteed incomes and pensions for life.

While this viewpoint has its supporters among Libertarians and Republicans it sells government short, and wrongly so. Even if we were to eliminate agencies and outsource functions of government to the private sector, as we have done with covert military operations, dispute mediation boards, schools and public highways, we would still demand accountability for the actions of the service providers. And each branch of government would be working to facilitate that demand.



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Life at an Obama Concert: My First Political Rally

Last Thursday I went to a rally to re-elect New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. The featured headliner was none other than President Barack Obama.

The line to get tickets were like nothing I had ever seen. It went in a serpentine pattern up to the PNC Arts Center's Will Call window. I went to the rally with my friend Lisa-we grew up together on the same street until college-and her daughters who also wanted to get a glimpse of the president.

Lisa knows more about music than I do and she had been to concerts at the Center. I asked her if she had ever seen a crowd like this at a concert. One daughter jumped in and asked: "Mom, have you ever been to an Obama concert?" I had to laugh. If it had thundered and poured that day it would have felt like a junior version of Woodstock. The rally was set to go on, rain or shine. As it stood, we had only the lines and the heat to deal with.

But Lisa's daughter was not far off. This rally was much like a concert. We had the lines and there were all these steps to verify your invitation and your tickets; physical tickets were printed at the last minute. It took almost five hours for us to get into the venue. A second overflow lot was set up with a big screen and speakers to accommodate people who couldn't come inside. We considered ourselves lucky just to be entering the venue, even though we had to sit (mostly stand) on the lawn.

Like a concert, the rally had warm-up music, a mix of popular tunes, some Jersey artists, with a little Michael Jackson thrown in. Every one and a half songs we were reminded to vote for Jon Corzine or asked if we planned to vote for him. But the noise, when asked who voted for Obama, came back louder and clearer. The message was easy to read: we're here to see the President.

Governor Corzine spoke very well, but it's hard to score with the speech of your life when you are about to be followed by Barack Obama. Which left me wondering: did the Governor get a bounce from having the president drop in to speak at this hugely public event?

It was a shame, but he didn't. New Jersey voters would not judge Corzine by his association with the president, but his record on state and local issues. This is a concern; a rally is supposed to get people more excited about the candidate.

I'm a little familiar with this association game. It affected my brother when he ran for state senator in the Rochester (NY) area. Obama carried the region and Democrats won the Congressional seats. However,all but two of the Republican incumbents who ran for state and local office kept their seats. Obama did not have enough "cross-ballot pull" from his coattails--in New Jersey it would be "down-ballot push"--to help my brother to a victory.

But it's still early; it's only July and the hard-hitting campaign ads will not hit the screen until after Labor Day. Corzine had trailed by as much as fifteen points in March polls. That margin went down to six just before Obama came to speak. As Corzine repeatedly pressures his opponent, Chris Christie, to document how he plans to pay for tax and spending cuts and work with a Democratic presidency, the margin should get closer to zero. Then Obama can come back to help Corzine seal the deal.

Corzine also has history on his side. Thirty two years ago, Brendan Bryne, an unpopular Democrat with a 27 percent approval rating before his May primary was not only renominated, but re-elected by a margin of 15 points. Bryne had been known as the architect of the state income tax and the state had gone for Gerald Ford in the presidential race the year before.

Jon Corzine has to overcome a smaller margin,and he has a stronger record on taxation than the past three Democrats who have sought the governor's chair. And if Christie manages to hang on does he have a Republican with the star power of Obama to put him over the top? I sincerely doubt it.

Writing the 'What If' Scenario

This has been a very busy week, so today I invite you to read a post about writing "What If" scenarios in alternative history and fiction.

Posted on Murder By 4, a leading site for writers of mysteries and thrillers, I discuss how I used What If scenarios in my novels: The Sex Ed Chronicles and Defending College Heights, as well as approaches for science fiction.

I hope that you enjoy this piece and have a nice weekend. I also hope this will give you further insight into my books. While I enjoy blogging, books are my passion and something I hope to do for a long time.

What About Changing the Concept of Grade Level?

Today, I read about President Obama's proposal to invest $10 billion into community colleges for facilities development, job training, student retention and degree completion programs.

While I would personally prefer that the federal investment be concentrated on facilities and infrastructure-they create new construction jobs or lease vacant space and are less intrusive into the academic offerings of each school-I would ask my representative in Congress to support the president's proposal. The demands placed on the community colleges to serve students of all ages and pursuits require more public investment.

I read Obama's speech at Macomb Community College (MI) announcing the proposal. The proposal's size and scope concerned me less than this comment: More than half of all students who enter community college to earn an associate degree, or transfer to a four-year school to earn a bachelor's degree, unfortunately fail to reach their goal.

My assumption, based on past business experience with community colleges, for the low completion rate is that students are ill-prepared to do college work whether they enter directly from high school or return to school after several years with no formal education. I'd like to take a few moments to focus on the younger student in this post. Because, if these students are entering community college after completing a 12th grade, they should have never been 12th graders to begin with. The grade level was just a number, and it probably corresponded with the student's age.

Which makes me wonder: what do grade levels really mean? During our public debates about No Child Left Behind there is always talk, and titters, about proficiency. I take proficiency to mean that a student is reading or capable of the mathematical reasoning expected for a person of their age. Obviously, we know that too many students are not. But some are, too.

Proficiency, real or imagined, is tied to promotion to the next grade. In this era where quality is demanded as well as numbers, I would take quality to mean that social promotion is abolished; teachers do not push their problems up to the next grade level. Students could be advanced in the subjects where they are proficient and held back in those they are not.

My high school did this with math classes more than thirty years ago, and I knew students finishing the last units of the previous year's course at the beginning of a new school year. This worked fine in the high school, when the students were not moving away, but it has become too expensive to pass students into the community colleges. It is simply unfair to the community college to reteach high school concepts to recent graduates, and it is unfair to the student to make them pay for remedial instruction that will lead to no college credit.

So, here is a proposal: students control their grade level while they're in the K-12 grades.

+Test all students at the beginning of the school year in reading and math. If they demonstrate abilities above grade level in those subjects, then promote them right away. Why hold them back for a year? I do realize some students will allow peer pressure to dominate their thinking, and will want to stay in grade. But at least they and their parents have been given a choice.

+Those students who are not proficient at the end of the previous school year and the start of the new school year need help. Help needs to come in the form of a diagnostic plan that may involve holding a student back. But a student who performed poorly the previous year was not ready to advance, and they performed no better when they saw the same test, or a more advanced one. If a student needs to be held back more than once, then they need more help than a public school system can probably offer. But at least parents and the school can make more informed decisions.

+All students who are skilled beyond high school in reading, writing and math before the 12th grade should be given a head start into college through the community college system. Some of these students may choose to transfer to a four-year school, but at least they will be better prepared for the work that follows. Which brings up a consideration for Obama's proposal: transfer rates are just as important to analyze as degree completions. However, success post-transfer is very difficult for a community college to track.

+ Every high school senior should be placed in the position to make a choice: college or employment, even if the student needs to be kept back. The vast majority of two-year and four-year colleges in this country are not slective; they will admit the vast majority of those who complete an application. But admission alone does not give them a choice. Walking into college without a need for remedial work does. In order to increase degree completeness, as President Obama wants, then there needs to be more meaning to completing a high school diploma.

Book Review: Back to the Garden, The Story of Woodstock by Pete Fornatale

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August 15, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the biggest music festival of the rock-and-roll era. Over 400,000 people descended on the town on Bethel in upstate New York to take in the performances of rock luminaries like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Aiplane and Jimi Hendrix. But Woodstock became as known for muddy conditions and the traffic jams throughout New York State as it was for the music.

Written by New York disc jockey Pete Fornatale, Back to the Garden is an oral history of Woodstock. I'm posting a review of this book because the festival had political as well as musical purposes. It was as much a protest against the Vietnam War as it was a celebration of counter-culture and rock and roll.

In my recent novel, Defending College Heights, I tried to address the counter-culture and protest climate of today against the past. One comment, also covered in Back to the Garden, was that the larger events have become more "corporate" over the past four decades; the shows do not go on without a sponsor. But, according to this book, Woodstock's organizers wanted absolutely no commercial affiliations; they did not even want to hang a banner that read Woodstock behind the performers.

Through Fornatale's interviews, you learn a lot about the festival. There were injuries, as well as two deaths, and there was drug use. But Woodstock was also a peaceful event. The organizers had attempted to work with state and local police in advance, and arranged for medical care for the audience, but no one could forecast the size of the audience. There had never been a concert with this level of attendance anywhere in the world. Even the Beatles' sold-out performances in London's Wembley Stadium could not come close. And the equipment available to the performers was inadequate to the task.

You also get great stories about the performers who came, as well as those who did not. Forty years ago, according to Fornatale, the most popular acts in rock and roll were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. None appeared at Woodstock. However, Dylan played on the property thirty eight years later after it had become an arts center.

Woodstock was many different things to many different people. This read also provided anecdotes worthy of Trivial Pursuit. The event was the public debut of Crosby Stills Nash and Young; they had only recorded together until that time. Woodstock was also the place where granola was introduced to hippies; today, it is a symbol of progressive views as well as good health. And it was the first concert where the f-bomb was dropped on a public audience.

Whether you are a rock-and-roll historian, want to reminisce about the sixties or simply like to play classical rock, you will enjoy Back to the Garden. Two green thumbs up!

Will Randal Pinkett Become an Apprentice Again?

Today's Asbury Park Press has a feature story: Randal Pinkett, winner of Season 4 of The Apprentice, is the front runner to become the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey.

Pinkett, 41, has a degree in engineering from Rutgers and advanced degrees from Oxford and MIT. He is not only a statewide celebrity, he is quite well-spoken and intelligent. One comment that I heard, while watching him from the line at Trump Tower during an audition for Season 6, was that Pinkett resembled a super hero. I don't expect Pinkett to be that sort of savior for New Jersey, but I believe that he represents my state very well.

I watched all six seasons of The Apprentice and in Season 4 Randal faced a very credible opponent in the final round, but he had been a clear winner until then. I remember Donald Trump once commented that "Randal led through niceness." He and his final round opponent, Rebecca Jarvis, were the only Apprentice finalists to have the complete support of their team. If he made such a positive impression on one billionaire, why shouldn't he leave a positive impression on another?

Currently president and co-founder of BCT Partners, a minority-owned consulting firm, Pinkett has been involved in consulting engagements in these areas for government agencies and non-profits: Housing and Community Development,Human Services, Economic Development,Technology, Education and Health Care. Why shouldn't a businessperson familiar with the inner workings of government agencies become Lieutenant Governor? Pinkett would come to the office with the knowledge that it would take a legislator years to acquire.

If Pinkett is the choice then I have more reason to support the Corzine ticket. I'm dying to see who the GOP could put up to match him for charisma, grace and intellectual firepower. Not that it will matter. A Corzine-Pinkett team will win on Election Day.

Bar Mitzvah Has Been a Rite of Passage Frequently Subject to Change

I did not blog this weekend because I was at my nephew's Bar Mitzvah. It has been thirty five years since I tackled this ritual. I grew up in a Reform Jewish congregation and I had to conduct the entire religious service.

Bar Mitzvah is a rite of passage in Judaism. The words mean "son of the Commandment." At the age of 13 (12 for girls, young Jewish men first read from the Torah, the holy book, and they accept an obligation to follow the Commandments. They are also qualified to lead religious services. Jewish tradition dictates that 10 men who have passed Bar Mitzvah must be present to lead a minyan, the morning prayers.

And prior to the 20th century, this was also the age when most young men and women ended their formal education, went to work, married and started families. Today, Bar Mitzvah marks a milestone, not an end. The customs have also changed with the times.

For instance, it was once the custom that fathers prepared their sons for Bar Mitzvah. Today, it is more common for the young man or woman to be tutored. Gifts were once limited to religious articles, such as tallit or prayer shawls; today the gifts and receptions are more lavish. But the most significant advancement of the ritual, in my opinion, is the inclusion of women.

Whenever I write about education I think about this ceremony, it's importance, and how much it has changed. It is part of the past, though not a thing of the past. It continues in a modified state, just as some traditions about education. And if a religious milestone can change so can other outdated notions such as ten-month school years and seven hour school days.

Can Sarah Palin Be Remade Again?

The major difference between a politician and a pundit is that a politician has to answer the questions while a pundit gets to ask them. If Sarah Palin has any future in politics it would be as a host and pundit, not as an elected official and certainly not as any guiding symbol for the Republican Party.

I have confessed in prior posts that I did not vote for the Republican ticket, nor did I respect Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate; her limited intellect and overly folksy performances were a turn-off. But I did concede that her selection last fall made some sense from a telegenic/marketing perspective. Palin offered the right contrasts: conservatism, youth and populist appeal to help John McCain unify a Republican ticket. The presidential race did get closer after Palin came on board, but the economic news did their ticket in.

Conservatives always like a candidate who symbolizes rugged individualism; one only needs to look at their past enthusiasm for Goldwater and Reagan to view Palin as a potential soulmate to that aspect of the legacy.

What Palin seriously lacked was the intellectual heft to sway the most difficult of electoral targets, the undecided voter, into the GOP column. Palin might have believed that intellectual prowess was not necessary to become vice president, but her lack of it made her the butt of jokes.

I look at Palin's decision to resign as governor of Alaska and have to guess that it was done for one or both of these reasons: income or fear of further embarrassment.

I do not believe, for one minute, that it was about saving the State of Alaska from embarrassment. Palin was probably right; most of these ethics lawsuits appear to be frivolous or minor compared to charges brought against other elected officials. But if this was so, why did she simply quit and run?

Palin campaigned for the vice presidency as a candidate with a maverick streak and straight talk. If she believed that her accusers were lying, then why didn't she use her office as a bully pulpit? She has not been convicted of a crime. She was in no danger of being recalled. She had the charisma and national profile to fight broader battles, and possibly win re-election or a Senate seat.

I also have to wonder: why didn't a national conservative organization such as the Heritage Foundation come to her defense and raise money on her behalf? Conservatives do an excellent job of providing for the post-political careers of their retired and vanquished loyalists. Jack Kemp, for example, was a fellow with the Heritage Foundation after he retired from Congress. J.C. Watts became a successful lobbyist. Even Rick Santorum, who lost his Senate seat in a near landslide, has become a senior fellow at a conservative policy organization.

Palin plans to write a book and likely go on the lecture circuit. She'll make a lot of money and draw friendly audiences, for sure. But I question this move for reasons beyond money. Palin's book, once published, will be reviewed by the same media she disdains and she will be questioned on radio and television by those same commentators, too. Why, outside of money, would she put herself through that wringer again?

If Sarah Palin wants to remake herself then she should put herself into situations she can control. Let ESPN hire her to host a sport fishing show and share the beauty of her state with the nation. Or give her a talk show with a decent time slot where she handpicks the guests. She does not have the tolerance for ambiguity to be anything more than a unquestioned commentator. Don't laugh. Ronald Reagan got a lot of mileage, and a good income, from hosting General Electric Theatre.

The last vice presidential candidate who was considered an intellectual lightweight was Dan Quayle. But Palin makes him look like a Rhodes Scholar.

For one thing, Quayle had a respectable political resume before he became vice president. He had served two terms in Congress after defeating a eight-term Democrat, knocked off a popular Democrat (Birch Bayh) to win a Senate seat at the start of the Reagan Revolution and had gotten re-elected to a second term.

Quayle is credited as the co-author of the Job Training Partnership Act, along with Sen. Edward Kennedy. But it was Quayle's sponsorship that led President Reagan to sign it. Reagan would not embrace an initiative for new government spending that had no Republican support.

Quayle, like Palin, was young (43) and considered a fresh and telegenic face for the conservative movement when he was picked to run for Vice President. And he too performed well in front of friendly audiences. But he, also like Palin, made less-than brilliant remarks in front of the national media and become the butt of jokes; he's known as Indiana's most famous 'C' student after David Letterman.

But in the wake of Palin's resignation, I realize that Quayle's gaffes were far less serious-he was even vindicated for his comments about TV character Murphy Brown by the actress who played her-and he was on the winning team in his first national race.

But after he lost re-election he never worked in politics again. He wrote three books; one, Standing Firm, became a national best seller. Only 47 when he left office, Quayle now works in investment banking. And ironically, he too is on the board of a conservative policy think tank. Not bad for a man who couldn't spell potato on the campaign trail.

But I doubt such a future awaits Sarah Palin. Because she quit and ran.

In This Teen Program It Pays Not to Get Pregnant

Today, in Inside Higher Ed, I read a story about College Bound Sisters (CBS), a program run out of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro School of Nursing that works with at-risk teenage girls and pays them not to become pregnant. Those who complete the program have amassed as much as $3,000 towards their college education. The total cost of this program to the university: $75,000.

According to the CBS Web site, the program is open to girls between the ages of 12-16 who have a sister who had a baby before age 18. Participants must have never been pregnant and are required to attend meetings for ninety minutes per week. Those selected received seven dollars per week deposited into a college fund and a five dollar transportation allowance to help them get to the meetings. Those who attend receive a blend of instruction in sex education, relationship counseling and exposure to higher education. Instruction is conducted on-campus, providing a motivational atmosphere.

According to the Inside Higher Ed story, 125 participants have stuck with College Bound Sisters for more than six months, about half have made it all the way through and half have dropped out. Five percent of the students got pregnant, another five percent dropped out of high school, while others parted ways with the program for unrelated reasons. The money saved by those who do not make it through the program is divided up among the remaining girls. Today, according to a FOXNews story, there are 24 young women in the program.

Before I read the two stories and the Web site, I felt uncomfortable about the idea of paying young women to be responsible. But it is too difficult to argue with CBS's success, especially the return on one dollar per participant per day. It is also important to point out that these young women receive the sex education that every young man and woman should receive; it not tainted by finger wagging pleas to abstain.

It might be possible to duplicate the incentives offered through College Bound Sisters in other places, as well as the instructional program. But I'd be curious to know if it is possible to duplicate the caring shown by their team of nursing professionals. The people matter more than the money.

Are There Too Many Lawyers or Too Few With Passion?

Today there is an interesting story in the Chronicle of Higher Education called: Law Schools Mull Whether They Are Churning Out Too Many Lawyers.

The story's major questions: is the profession of law so saturated that there are too many law students and too many law schools? Are we merely training an army of graduates who will end underemployed, underpaid and deeply in debt?

The story mentions that there are 200 accredited U.S. law schools with at least another ten on the drawing board, three in New York alone. And it adds that students who attend a public funded law school graduate with an average of $71,000 in debt. Graduates of private law schools average $91,000. The story did not clarify whether this is a combination of undergraduate and professional debt, so it's possible that an average student's indebtedness might be higher.

The problem, as I see it, is that people want to be lawyers and there are schools willing to add more seats to accommodate them. The future is not a consideration to the law student, only a desire to find a job. Nor is it a consideration for the school which is filling a demand to the best of its ability. It is easier to start a law school than, for example, an engineering school, a medical school, or a nursing school because technology and classrooms are less expensive and qualified instructors are in better supply.

If someone were to tell me that law schools had a responsibility for preparing their students for the realities of their degree and profession, I would not argue. Counseling and advising services need to be better developed, at least at the lesser known schools where the students cannot over-rely on on-campus recruiting.

Among my lawyer friends, I have seen that the happiest were those who combined their law degree with another personal or professional interest, regardless of where they went to law school.

For instance, I have one friend who worked more than twenty years as an x-ray technician, and she had seen many things medical in her working life. She went to law school at night and she is now a legal counsel at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Yesterday, I friended a woman from high school to my Facebook page who combined her environmental engineering experience and legal education to become a general counsel for two Houston-based environmental services firms before opening her own practice.

These people had passion for the law but their passion had direction. To go to law school with such direction is a means to a positive end. To go to law school to "find yourself" is a means to a big pile of debt.

Q and A with Ryan Kohnen, author Young Professionals Guide to Success

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I used to work with college career centers on a regular basis and read many work-related books intended to help college students and recent graduates succeed in the workplace. Most are written by human resource professionals or career counselors.

Last month, I attended Book Expo America, the national gathering for authors, booksellers, publishers and readers and met Ryan Kohnen, a successful 29 year-ol entrepreneur who had just completed his own book: Young Professionals Guide to Success.

While most of the books I read in my past leaned towards advice and preparation, Ryan added over 70 informative interviews with corporate executives, entrepreneurs and community leaders. Ryan et al. also made a strong cases for aspiring professionals to always be networking and to become involved as volunteers and mentors.

Ryan places importance on start-up organizations where young professionals can gather and gain leadership experiences that they can bring to the workplace. I can be argued that much of this could be handled through online tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn. However this book,places a premium on face-to-face interactions. This book was different from my usual reading in this arena, so I asked him some questions.

1) There are many career and professional development books in print for recent college graduates who aspire to business or professional success. What did you want to do differently when you set out to write your book?

About 3 years ago, I was looking for a book for young professionals that went beyond resume writing, interviewing techniques, and encouragement to “work hard”. If the books were not focused on finding a job, the books I found were more about keeping a job, than taking your career to a whole new level. So I wrote this book on exactly what I was looking for at the time, but could not find.

I feel the first major difference is that I hope to push young professionals beyond satisfactory work. From my personal experiences, I hope to inspire young professionals to push past their comfort level and achieve greatness. I often say that if you are not interested in achieving high levels of success in your career, this book may not be of interest to you.

The second major difference is the feedback and advice I received from top CEOs, executives, and community leaders. This was actually the major concept and purpose of writing the book. When I was running my young professional organization, my favorite aspect of the group is when we would have leaders speak to our group about their successes, failures, and rise to the top. There are plenty of books where leaders and CEOs give advice, but none (that I have found) that have the specific focus of being a young professional.


2) Is the book part of an overall business plan for something more to help young professionals?

It did not start out that way, but is evolving into something more. Many of the CEOs and leadership that I interviewed kept telling me they wish they had a program for all their young professionals that would teach them more “soft skills” – communication, conflict resolution, business etiquette, etc.

After the urging from some of these leaders, a few associates of mine and I have created the Workplace Readiness Programs. These will be specifically for young professionals in the first 2 years of their career. We have done some presentations recently and have received great feedback – the biggest one being is that the young professionals appreciated being mentored and taught by peers, rather than HR folks at their company.

3) In addition to business executives and leaders of large non-profit organizations, you frequently used presidents of chambers of commerce and other business groups as sources. Why did you choose these sources and what do they have to offer recent graduates who are seeking employment or trying to settle into a new community?

I have interacted with many Chamber executives over the past few years because of a trend in Chambers starting young professional organizations. In speaking with these Chamber executives, I have found they all have a great pulse on the business community. They interact with so many businesses and individuals – they’ve seen everything. I also believe that Chambers are great groups for young professionals to get involved in and wanted to provide greater exposure to what Chambers do for the community.

4) You wrote honestly about your efforts to start Young Executives groups in your hometown, San Antonio as well as in Austin, mentioning that the San Antonio organization failed. In working on your book, did you uncover similar organizations that had some track record of success, as well as those that had track records of failure?

I receive feedback from young professional organizations weekly on successes and failures. Twitter has actually been a great resource for me to connect to many young professional organizations and I constantly receive inquiries for advice on fundraising events, increasing membership, or building a sustainable organization.

The problems that occurred in the YoungExecs of San Antonio is not uncommon – many organizations battle on keeping members involved and engaged. It is very easy to build a lot of excitement around a YPO, but building a sustainable organization that lasts beyond the founding leadership is the major challenge.

Because of my findings through the book and working with YPOs, I actually have an upcoming booklet called Young Professional’s Guide to YPOs: A Guide to Giving and Receiving Value in Your Membership to a Young Professional Organization. It will be available for free download on my website in August.

5) When, in your opinion, does someone stop becoming a "young professional/"

That’s a tricky one and I just got in a major discussion about this with a Fortune 500 Human Resources department I am working with. In the land of YPOs, the consensus is those in their 20s and 30s. Some YPOs have their age cut-offs at 35, but most are 39. My target audience for my book and the work that I am doing is in the 21-28 year old range, so that is a sub-group of the entire young professional audience.

A Military Recruitment Policy of Inclusion

Today's USA Today debate is about Gays in the military, specifically a call to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." I have written several posts in support of the repeal of this outdated policy, but this editorial, which cites polls in 69% support for repeal, helped me take thoughts further.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidential administrations, members of Congress as well as the military have supported the concept of an all-volunteer armed forces and opposed a draft. At the same time, there have been changes in military practices that have encouraged more women to volunteer and pursue a greater number of career options. There are also more women interested in keeping physically fit, whether it is for to service in the military or for other employment or personal reasons. This was not the case until after Vietnam, too. And while women are stated as non-combatants, they do serve on combat missions.

By becoming more open to women, the armed forces became more inclusive. Which takes me to my major point: a strong, trainable military must be an inclusive one. Changes in technology alone demand a more educated military as well. In prior posts, I have argued for a military where all members must be high school graduates or equivalent (the GED).

The only way the country can have such a military is to become more inclusive. This means repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," as well as better enforcement of policies meant to protect service members from discrimination or sexual abuse. Both actions will improve the quality of worklife in the military and make military recruiters more welcome on high school and college campuses.

The counter arguments against inclusion and integration, whether it be women, minority men or homosexuals have been based on the military culture of the past. But no person or organization successfully passes all of their past onto future generations.

In the past women were not encouraged to pursue an education or employment opportunties more commonly available to men. Neither were minority males. Today, while our educational systems are less than perfect, they are more equal than they ever were in the past.

Homosexuality was considered a psychiatric disorder until 1973, after the Vietnam War ended. Today that thought would be considered repulsive. Discriminatory barriers against homosexuals still exist, but conservative corporations have welcomed gay and lesbian employees into their workforces; some offer partner benefits.

I agree with military leaders that preparedness for war is unique. But progress towards further inclusion will give us an armed forces of better prepared soldiers and officers.

NYC Prep News Coverage: Why So Serious?

This Sunday's New York Times ran a story entitled: Who's Afraid of "NYC Prep?" Grown-Ups and Private Schools. Basically, the parents and school administrators interviewed did not like the show.

I watched the first episode of NYC Prep, naively thinking that it had something to do with private school education in New York City. But what I saw was a teenage version of Real Housewives, at least when the girls got together. And I saw spoiled rich kids who were probably unique, even for rich kids living in Gotham. I mean, how many families will put their son and daughter in a prime city apartment by themselves and live in the Hamptons? NYC Prep was simply over the top.

NYC Prep is not about prep school at all. It is not even about school. It's about a bunch of kids with too much money, and too little maturity, to live like adults. Those stories have been told in fiction novels, too. I've linked to the covers of two such books below. Either of them will do better than NYC Prep if you want good fiction about New York City prep schools.

While I didn't like the show, I can't get upset about it. If this show had been written as a 70s soap opera, it would have been in Dallas and Highland Park and called "John Ross and Christopher Do Big D," and shown the hosts whooping it up in the skybox at Texas Stadium, game or no game.

This story mentioned upset parents, but why? If real prep school kids had been robbed at subway stops shortly after the show aired that would be one thing. If some of the less competitive private schools had lost deposits for the fall, that would be another issue, too. If the cast complained about teachers and schools and mentioned both by name, there is nothing the school could do. But that's not happening on NYC Prep.

All that's come out of this show is embarrassment for the stars and possibly their parents as well as bad TV. As the Joker would say: "Why so serious?" Let the national audience decide the fate of this show. Vote thumbs down if you want; that's your right and I'll join you. But don't start a crusade when there's no battle to fight.


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Facebook and the Imaginary Lines Between Teachers and Students

This weekend, The Ethicist, the New York Times Magazine column, featured an interesting question about an eighth grade teacher who "friended" many of her students on Facebook.

Randy Cohen, The Ethicist, believed that the teacher should help the students who were most likely to get into trouble and had an opportunity to teach lessons about Internet privacy, or the lack of it.

I looked back on my own eighth grade experience; it was the first year that I actually knew teachers outside of school hours. My eighth grade English teacher, who was quite popular, was the yearbook adviser. She and her husband, also a teacher, co-managed a camping Explorer post that attracted a lot of members, as ninth graders, from her classes. In the eighth grade it was considered a big deal to be invited to her home to work on the yearbook after-hours. The time was, for the most part, kept to business. However, those conversations strayed into other things, like music and who was with who, where I kept quiet.

After reading Cohen's piece, I had to believe that she would have been my "Facebook Teacher." But, aside from the work she asked me to do for school, why would I want her to know me on Facebook? My out-of-school life was not that interesting, at least to share with a teacher. Basically, I left school, went home and had family obligations. Why would a teacher care?

But then, I had a mother and father at home, and I was not what any teacher would consider a "bad seed." Cohen made additional consideration for those who are. He felt that a teacher who was willing to "friend" might also be a teacher who was capable of helping, someone a bad seed would take seriously. But there are limits to how far a teacher can get involved in personal and family matters.

If I were an eighth grade teacher I would not friend my students until after they had graduated high school. Reality is that few would stay in touch that long. Not to mention that I'd have a personal life after school and I don't need my current and former students gossiping about it.

Facebook and the Internet have brought down barriers between communities and countries. But the imaginary lines between teachers and students should remain as they are.