Clipmarks | dmegivern's 'college' clips

First Generation College Students

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:39:58 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

They're the first to go to college

About one fourth of the state's undergraduates are the first in their families to go to college, according to a 2004 survey of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.

All around him, he felt the pressure to put more emphasis on finding a job than focusing on school.

To stay in school, Meza surrounded himself with a group of supportive guidance counselors and teachers. He also joined Admission Possible, a college readiness program for low-income juniors and seniors.

"The biggest barrier to college education for first-generation students is sort of feeling of being a fraud," Olson said. "A lot of times, first generation college students feel like, 'I've made it this far, I'm kind of fooling people. They're going to find me out any day now, that I don't really belong here.' And they get those messages of not belonging in so many different, subtle ways."

Tags: radio, college, first-generation

Suicidal Thoughts Common Among College Students

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:57:09 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Suicidal thoughts common among college students

Many college students become so distressed at some point they think briefly about killing themselves, according to a new study.

In a Web-based poll of more than 26,000 students at 70 colleges and universities, more than half said they had at least one episode of suicidal thinking at some point in their lives. Two-thirds of those considered suicide on more than one occasion in a 12-month period.

the fact that so many young people had thought about suicide and yet had not told anyone or sought help means the traditional model of helping students in crisis isn't quite working

Tags: college, students, suicide, mental illness

College Encourages Deviance?

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:55:45 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: well.blogs.nytimes.com

College Students Behaving Badly

Many people associate property crime and other delinquent behaviors with low social status and a lack of education. But new research has identified a surprising risk factor for bad behavior — college.

During adolescence, the prospect of attending college was positive. The researchers found that college-bound youth were less likely to be involved in criminal activity and substance use during adolescence than kids who weren’t headed for college.

But college attendance appears to trigger some surprising changes. When male students enrolled in four-year universities, levels of drinking, property theft and unstructured socializing with friends increased and surpassed rates for their less-educated male peers.

The reason appears to be that kids who don’t go to college simply have to grow up more quickly.

this research suggests that college may actually encourage, rather than deter, social deviance and risk-taking.'’

Tags: education, college

A Hero from the Poverty Class

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:42:58 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Our family has admired Ben Carson for years. He didn't escape poverty and turn around to blame other poor people for not being able to do the same. Instead, he works to build the scaffolding necessary to lift others to where he is.

Clip Source: www.baltimoresun.com

From poverty to top U.S. honors

"I was just very grateful that people are starting to recognize some of the work I am trying to do," Carson, 56, said in an interview after the ceremony, referring to his promotion of reading programs and college education for at-risk high school students. He called high school dropout rates an "epidemic" and said, "Sometimes I feel people aren't paying attention."

Born in Detroit to a barely literate mother who married at age 13 and soon left her husband to raise two sons alone, Carson overcame what he has described as a temper problem as a teen and went on to attend Yale University and the University of Michigan medical school. He gained fame as a pediatric neurosurgeon for, among other things, leading the separations of five sets of twins conjoined at the head between 1987 and 2004. He is also skilled in hemispherectomies, a procedure to remove half the brain to prevent seizures.

Tags: poverty, upward mobility, achievement

What's Possible for Our Children

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:55:58 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: He is plugging TRiO programs, which proves he is on the ball about "what works."

Clip Source: www.denverpost.com

Sen. Barack Obama's speech, "What's Possible for Our Children," was delivered at Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton on Wednesday:

"And so while I know hopelessness, I also know hope. I know that if we bring early education programs to these communities, if we stop waiting until high-school to address the drop-out rate and start in earlier grades — as my Success in the Middle Act will do — if we bring in new, qualified teachers, if we expand college outreach programs like GEAR UP and TRIO and fight to expand summer learning opportunities for minority and disadvantaged students — like I've done in the Senate — or if we double funding for after-school programs to serve a million more children, as I've proposed to do as president, if we do all this, we can make a difference in the lives of our children and the life of this country. I know we can. I've seen it happen. And so have you.

Brain Chemistry Ties Anxiety and Alcoholism

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:33:58 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

Brain Chemistry Ties Anxiety And Alcoholism

Doctors may one day be able to control alcohol addiction by manipulating the molecular events in the brain that underlie anxiety associated with alcohol withdrawal, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center report in the March 5 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

"The association of anxiety with increased alcohol use is a key factor in the initiation and maintenance of alcohol addition," says Dr. Subhash Pandey, UIC professor of psychiatry and director of neuroscience alcoholism research, the lead author of the study.

Pandey and his colleagues have discovered the molecular basis for the link between anxiety and alcohol addiction, which may help in identifying new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of alcohol addiction.

What Upward Bound is...

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:01:12 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.desmoinesregister.com

About Upward Bound

How Upward Bound works:

At a taxpayer cost of about $5,000 per student (the low-income students in the program pay nothing), Upward Bound transports students to 17 Iowa college campuses, as well as numerous other schools throughout the country, for six-week stays. They are given room and board, school supplies and books.

High school teachers lead courses in laboratory science, math, foreign languages, English composition and electives. Students can take classes for college credit. The program also prepares students to apply for college and offers tips on financial aid. Then there are follow-ups throughout the school year.

Upward Bound focuses on students with at least a 2.0 high school grade point average and who are from a family that's either low-income or with parents who didn't attend college - or both.

based on students from a family with an income less than $36,000, the national high school graduation rate is 83 percent; for Iowans involved in TRiO programs, it's 98

Upward Bound Helps Again

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:59:23 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: It's so nice to know that at least one government program is working.

Clip Source: www.desmoinesregister.com

Alternative school principal gets a chance to give back

It started at the end of his seventh-grade year. At home, Joel locked himself in his room, listened to the radio and read sports biographies. He dreamed of becoming a professional football player and leaving this life behind. At McCombs Middle School, his grades, once all A's, plummeted. In eighth grade, he was twice suspended for fighting. Even in the gifted program, even with top test scores, Joel failed French, English, algebra, science and typing.

Then, in 10th grade, a Lincoln High School guidance counselor told Joel about Upward Bound. The program, which focuses on low-income students whose parents didn't attend college, sounded like a nice escape: six weeks on a college campus, away from home.

And, just like that, things changed. Joel met other teens with difficult childhoods, teens from single-parent homes and whose families struggled financially. He met teens in tougher situations, teens with alcoholic parents

Obesity is Largely Genetic

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:06:26 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: I knew it

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Obesity 'may be largely genetic'

Becoming overweight as a child is more likely to be the result of your genes than your lifestyle, claims a study.

Their American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study found that differences in body mass index and waist size were 77% governed by genes.

It is wrong to place all the blame for a child's excessive weight gain on the parents - it is more likely to be due to the child's genetic susceptibility

Professor Jane Wardle
University College London

Twin studies are a good way to test how far our genes or our environment influence our development.

Identical twins have exactly the same genes, while non-identical twins are genetically different, like brother and sister.

However, because they were born at the same time, and raised in the same household, they can be assumed to have roughly similar upbringing in terms of food.

They worked out that the effect of a bad environment was far less marked than the effect of a child's genes.

Tags: obesity

Middle Age Blahs Are Universal

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:12:25 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Middle-Age Blahs Are Universal

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

A world-wide research study on 2 million people, from 80 nations, reveals an extraordinarily consistent international pattern in depression and happiness levels. Amazingly, researchers discovered depression and unhappiness is more common during middle-age for all cultures.

In the paper entitled “Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?” researchers from the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College found happiness levels followed a U shaped curve, with happiness higher towards the start and end of our lives and leaving us most miserable in middle age.

They found the same U-shape in happiness levels and life satisfaction by age for 72 countries:

For the average person in the modern world, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year. Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period.

Migraine Headaches and Sex Part 2

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:59:13 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.webmd.com

How Can Sex Help Migraine Sufferers?

Occasionally orgasm can relieve migraine headaches, says Randolph W. Evans, MD, clinical professor of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Although the mechanism is not known, Evans tells WebMD that orgasm is a complex neurophysiological-endocrinological event that could relieve migraine headache in two ways:

Stimulation of the posterior vagina and sexualactivity may activate inhibitory pain-modulating circuits. Theories are that this is a physiologic reflex related to the birth process to produce pain relief when the cervix and pelvis are stretched.

Endorphin release that occurs after sexual arousal andorgasm may relieve or reduce migraine headaches. Endorphins are morphine-like pain relief hormones made by the brain; they are associated with a happy, positive feeling and can keep pain messages from reaching the brain.

Tags: migraine

How Academia is like a Relationship

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:12:16 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: chronicle.com

Can We Still Be Friends?

Breaking up with a college is hard to do. When I found myself seduced by a new job, I wanted to spare everyone the pain of a long, drawn-out negotiation and end things cleanly. The new position was a good fit, and my colleagues knew I had been unhappy. Why not just say goodbye, and move on?

"It doesn't matter," my friend argued. "If you don't give them a chance, they'll resent you. You have to let them try. If you just walk away, they will be angry and hurt."

Some bad feelings do linger on both sides. The fact is, I am leaving, and that remains something of a betrayal to my senior colleagues. As the semester ended, and I cleared out my office and packed up my things, very few of my elders said goodbye. There was no department party, no final round of drinks at the local pub, just some commiserating with fellow disillusioned junior scholars, and good wishes from the core of friends I feel lucky to have gotten to know.

Finding "Fit" in Academe

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:57:53 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: chronicle.com

What Went Wrong

There is that magic word: fit.

We use it a lot in higher education, not only when we search for colleagues but also when we woo prospective students, who are themselves encouraged to look far and wide for that elusive match -- the perfect fit between student and college. The fact that about a third of all college students drop out or transfer after the first year suggests that we may be doing a better job at creating the illusion of the perfect fit than actually fulfilling it. Or maybe the students -- those overprotected, excessively nurtured, coddled millennials -- simply expect too much of our institutions, setting themselves up for disappointment and disillusion.

No doubt, the college also fell for a fantasy version of me -- and particularly for a certain academic pedigree

which the president and others in the administration delighted in trotting out when it suited them.

Another Privacy Controversy

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:16:38 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Cornell Cuts Suicide Rate in Half

Cornell University has made the controversial decision that a human life is worth more than strict privacy rules. As a result, it has cut its suicide rate amongst students in half in the past 6 years (as compared to the previous 6 years when this policy wasn’t in place).

At the same time while undergraduate enrollment at Cornell has declined during most of the 2000’s, visits to the school’s counseling center have nearly doubled, from just over 11,000 in 2000 to nearly 20,000 in 2007. This may also help account for the reduction in the suicide rate.

While I am somewhat conflicted about this policy, I applaud Cornell University and its counseling staff for erring on the side of safety rather than privacy. It’s hard to argue with solid data and results illustrating that as people become more educated about mental health and emotional warning signs, they can try and reach out to troubled students before it’s too late.

Tags: college

Low-Income Students Succeed in Nourishing Environments

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:31:03 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Poor people can impress you if the environment nurtures them

Clip Source: www.coenet.us

At some universities, graduation rates for poor and minority students lag 20 percentage points behind the student population as a whole. But that's not the case at the University of California, Riverside, where 64% of the poor students graduate within six years, about the same as the overall graduation rate.

The knee-jerk explanation — that Riverside must succeed by limiting the number of poor and minority students admitted — is wrong. Riverside is very diverse, especially with Latino students, and 45% of its students receive federal Pell grants for poor students.

The real answer emerges from a study recently released by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education: Riverside treats students differently.

innovative educators have decided to defy the maxim that demography is destiny. They create protective bubbles around at-risk students. They don't "lose" students in the system. They plan on success begetting success. It's being done.

Tags: education, college, poverty, retention, graduation