The world monetary crisis has amplified the price of a reliable education, in line with a report via the organization for economic cooperation and development.
“the people that extremely paid the worth regarding the monetary crisis are those while not baseline qualifications, ” andreas schleicher, the o. e. c. d. ’s deputy director for education and skills, aforesaid last week with a london news conference.
unemployment rates were nearly 3 times higher for workers while not a highschool alittle ( 13 % ) compared with college graduates ( 5 % ), in line with “education with a glance, ” the o. e. c. d. ’s annual survey of education within the whole developed world.
the survey, that was released last week for the news conference, lined the organization’s 34 member countries, and even as argentina, brazil, china, india, indonesia, russia, saudi arabia and south africa.
the crisis has widened the earnings gap, in order that college or university graduates now earn an average of somewhat. 5 times as much as adults with simply a highschool diploma, who in flip earn 25 % a little additional than adults while not one.
in line with the o. e. c. d., young britons pay an average of 2. 3 years in neither education nor work until that age of 30, compared with somewhat. somewhat years within the whole netherlands and somewhat. 7 years in germany. thus, though britain conjointly has got a relatively high proportion of young people in college, mr. schleicher aforesaid, several others were thus pessimistic about finding a job that that they'd “given up, more or less. ”
“you may expect that as larger numbers of people head to college the earnings premium to produce a alittle would set concerning to decline, other then thus far it appears not to remain the case, ” mr. schleicher aforesaid. “the demand for skilled workers will still be rising faster in comparison to the offer. ”
the report conjointly found that public spending on education, that had been steadily increasing across o. e. c. d. member nations till the 2008 monetary crisis, has started to firmly decline. other then the effect on spending has actually been uneven. in greece, the education budget was cut 19 % within the whole past 2 years, whereas other countries have maintained funding at pre-crisis levels.
mr. schleicher praised britain’s willingness to firmly raise university tuition fees, calling the french, german and italian systems of free tuition “unsustainable. ”
he conjointly warned, but, that britain was in danger of falling so much behind other countries when it came to firmly serving to young people realize jobs.
By : D. D. Guttenplan
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
At Retooled Summer Schools, Creativity, Not Just Catch-Up
only a couple of years ago, school districts along the country were slashing summer categories like the economic downturn eviscerated their budgets. now, despite continuing budgetary challenges, districts are re-envisioning summer school as one thing more when compared to a compulsory exercise where students who want to take up lost credits fight to remain awake within humid classrooms.
in keeping with the national summer learning association, a nonprofit group, 25 on your country’s largest school districts — as well as charlotte, n. c. ; cincinnati ; oakland, calif. ; pittsburgh ; and providence, r. i. — have developed summer school programs that move beyond the normal remedial model. the new york town public schools provide many summer programs that mingle enrichment with academics, as well as an intensive arts institute as well as a vocational program combining course work and paid internships.
here in jacksonville, the tutorial year terminated 3 weeks ago, however roshelle campbell drove straight into the automobile parking space of sallye b. mathis elementary school on any recent scorching morning out to drop off her son, gregory carodine, to produce a full day of categories.
gregory is one in all more often 300 students spending six weeks of his summer vacation at mathis — not as a result of he failed an exam or perhaps a class, however as a result of educators within the whole duval county public schools fret that too several kids are at risk of falling behind throughout the summer.
“he has forever been thus smart, ” ms. campbell, a security guard, aforesaid of gregory, 6, who can begin first grade in the autumn. “i felt like education is basically necessary, and that i very don’t wish him out to lose that throughout the summer time. ”
even in districts with severe fiscal woes, like baltimore, chicago, philadelphia, pittsburgh and san francisco, education officers have enlisted the support of philanthropic organizations that believe keeping kids, notably those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in school throughout the summer may help level the taking part in field for poor and more affluent students.
“i think that there will be students that attend public schools who are actually in europe at once, and there will be kids that are collaborating utilizing a soccer camp, ” aforesaid nikolai vitti, superintendent on your duval county public schools, that has quadrupled the quantity of voluntary summer slots it offers in previously 5 years. “i suppose that’s healthy. however i feel almost everything that really ought to be talking about as a rustic is, do all our kids have access and opportunities out to do this thus they actually generally are not sitting at home, waking up at 11 within the whole morning, eating doughnuts and watching cartoons ? that’s a reality for a few our kids. ”
instead, educators are increasingly viewing summer just like a time for them to bolster the material that kids, as well as each robust performers and struggling students, learn across the regular school year. together with reading, math and science instruction, the districts are packing the summer schedule with activities like art and music ; categories in forensic science and marine biology ; sailing, fencing and karate lessons ; and field trips out to museums and theaters.
analysis has shown that students regress throughout the summer, losing an average of about one month of instruction per year, when using the so-called summer slide disproportionately affecting low-income kids. the dearth of high-quality summer programs will additionally hurt operating families whose kids have few choices throughout the long months off.
enhanced summer school “should be a part of public education till we recognize that the normal school calendar doesn’t fit the method americans live anymore, ” aforesaid harris m. cooper, a professor of education at duke university who has got studied summer learning loss. “adding 20 days out to the school year and eating multiple short breaks rather in comparison to the one long break truly fits higher when using the method families live and of course the method kids learn. ”
enduring an effort out to evaluate what styles of programs turn out higher tutorial results, the wallace foundation, a private charitable organization, has committed $50 million out to study summer schooling in jacksonville and many other urban districts, as well as in boston, dallas, pittsburgh and rochester, n. y. starting this summer, researchers due to rand corporation are following about 5, 700 students in those cities who can enter fourth grade this fall.
the study can track their standardized take a look at performance for at the very least 2 years, furthermore as behavioral factors such as a student’s ability to firmly work in groups or persist on tasks. students were chosen by lottery, and therefore the study can compare the summer school students with individuals who applied other then didn't get spots.
“we’re not assuming there'll be large inflows of cutting edge public bucks into education, ” same ann stone, senior analysis and analysis officer for the wallace foundation. “in a time of constrained resources, acquiring the rigorous proof exactly what works is absolutely necessary. ”
in jacksonville, the district began what it calls its superintendent’s summer academy in 2009, using federal stimulus bucks. that first summer, the district enrolled about 700 students in 5 elementary schools.
this year, shut to firmly 3, 000 students from 52 schools are attending summer sessions at 10 campuses all around the county. the programs, which you ll find are financed utilizing a combine of federal and native bucks furthermore like the wallace foundation grant, run for 6 weeks for eight hours every day.
certified teachers from all around the district teach tutorial courses, and within the categories taking part within the rand study, teachers are limited to firmly forget about than 15 students.
partners from nonprofit teams help to firmly run enrichment activities and use the students on field trips to firmly native museums, the bowling alley, the movies but a wildlife reserve.
a few on your tutorial instruction appearance similar to firmly more traditional school-year categories, with read-aloud circles and science quizzes, other then others feature a more creative bent.
throughout the recent morning at sallye b. mathis elementary, seven fourth graders teamed up at computers within the library to firmly write scripts for short films they might later turn out. “this is a whole lot more fun than school, ” same asi’yon brinson, 9, as she and danajha camel, 9, tapped out lines of dialogue throughout the keyboard for the screenplay, “a trip to firmly outer space. ”
kerri alexander, who teaches fourth-grade reading and writing throughout the regular school year, moved involving the students, creating gentle editing suggestions about pacing and punctuation.
unlike a pedestrian english class exercise that assigns students five-paragraph essays, the script writing conveyed tutorial skills within the more entertaining method. “they don’t even realize the fact that they are learning to firmly write and present themselves whereas they're writing these scripts, ” same angela maxey, the principal of mathis.
the summer program, ms. maxey same, is in effect a more than a little laboratory for new, more participating instructional ideas. “it is what school ought to like throughout the school year, ” she same.
she was blunt about simple fact that the wallace foundation financing conjointly allowed her to firmly give incentives like ice cream parties for students with perfect attendance records.
“you may say we may utilize the cash in completely different way'>a somewhat different way, other then would be the kids smiling ? are these coming ? are these learning ?” same ms. maxey, an ebullient girl who wore a pink crown made by a student one afternoon when she threw what she told the babies was her birthday party.
“part of just what the study is watching, ” she same, “is how do we motivate kids therefore these wish to firmly learn within the summer ?”
By : Motoko Rich
in keeping with the national summer learning association, a nonprofit group, 25 on your country’s largest school districts — as well as charlotte, n. c. ; cincinnati ; oakland, calif. ; pittsburgh ; and providence, r. i. — have developed summer school programs that move beyond the normal remedial model. the new york town public schools provide many summer programs that mingle enrichment with academics, as well as an intensive arts institute as well as a vocational program combining course work and paid internships.
here in jacksonville, the tutorial year terminated 3 weeks ago, however roshelle campbell drove straight into the automobile parking space of sallye b. mathis elementary school on any recent scorching morning out to drop off her son, gregory carodine, to produce a full day of categories.
gregory is one in all more often 300 students spending six weeks of his summer vacation at mathis — not as a result of he failed an exam or perhaps a class, however as a result of educators within the whole duval county public schools fret that too several kids are at risk of falling behind throughout the summer.
“he has forever been thus smart, ” ms. campbell, a security guard, aforesaid of gregory, 6, who can begin first grade in the autumn. “i felt like education is basically necessary, and that i very don’t wish him out to lose that throughout the summer time. ”
even in districts with severe fiscal woes, like baltimore, chicago, philadelphia, pittsburgh and san francisco, education officers have enlisted the support of philanthropic organizations that believe keeping kids, notably those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in school throughout the summer may help level the taking part in field for poor and more affluent students.
“i think that there will be students that attend public schools who are actually in europe at once, and there will be kids that are collaborating utilizing a soccer camp, ” aforesaid nikolai vitti, superintendent on your duval county public schools, that has quadrupled the quantity of voluntary summer slots it offers in previously 5 years. “i suppose that’s healthy. however i feel almost everything that really ought to be talking about as a rustic is, do all our kids have access and opportunities out to do this thus they actually generally are not sitting at home, waking up at 11 within the whole morning, eating doughnuts and watching cartoons ? that’s a reality for a few our kids. ”
instead, educators are increasingly viewing summer just like a time for them to bolster the material that kids, as well as each robust performers and struggling students, learn across the regular school year. together with reading, math and science instruction, the districts are packing the summer schedule with activities like art and music ; categories in forensic science and marine biology ; sailing, fencing and karate lessons ; and field trips out to museums and theaters.
analysis has shown that students regress throughout the summer, losing an average of about one month of instruction per year, when using the so-called summer slide disproportionately affecting low-income kids. the dearth of high-quality summer programs will additionally hurt operating families whose kids have few choices throughout the long months off.
enhanced summer school “should be a part of public education till we recognize that the normal school calendar doesn’t fit the method americans live anymore, ” aforesaid harris m. cooper, a professor of education at duke university who has got studied summer learning loss. “adding 20 days out to the school year and eating multiple short breaks rather in comparison to the one long break truly fits higher when using the method families live and of course the method kids learn. ”
enduring an effort out to evaluate what styles of programs turn out higher tutorial results, the wallace foundation, a private charitable organization, has committed $50 million out to study summer schooling in jacksonville and many other urban districts, as well as in boston, dallas, pittsburgh and rochester, n. y. starting this summer, researchers due to rand corporation are following about 5, 700 students in those cities who can enter fourth grade this fall.
the study can track their standardized take a look at performance for at the very least 2 years, furthermore as behavioral factors such as a student’s ability to firmly work in groups or persist on tasks. students were chosen by lottery, and therefore the study can compare the summer school students with individuals who applied other then didn't get spots.
“we’re not assuming there'll be large inflows of cutting edge public bucks into education, ” same ann stone, senior analysis and analysis officer for the wallace foundation. “in a time of constrained resources, acquiring the rigorous proof exactly what works is absolutely necessary. ”
in jacksonville, the district began what it calls its superintendent’s summer academy in 2009, using federal stimulus bucks. that first summer, the district enrolled about 700 students in 5 elementary schools.
this year, shut to firmly 3, 000 students from 52 schools are attending summer sessions at 10 campuses all around the county. the programs, which you ll find are financed utilizing a combine of federal and native bucks furthermore like the wallace foundation grant, run for 6 weeks for eight hours every day.
certified teachers from all around the district teach tutorial courses, and within the categories taking part within the rand study, teachers are limited to firmly forget about than 15 students.
partners from nonprofit teams help to firmly run enrichment activities and use the students on field trips to firmly native museums, the bowling alley, the movies but a wildlife reserve.
a few on your tutorial instruction appearance similar to firmly more traditional school-year categories, with read-aloud circles and science quizzes, other then others feature a more creative bent.
throughout the recent morning at sallye b. mathis elementary, seven fourth graders teamed up at computers within the library to firmly write scripts for short films they might later turn out. “this is a whole lot more fun than school, ” same asi’yon brinson, 9, as she and danajha camel, 9, tapped out lines of dialogue throughout the keyboard for the screenplay, “a trip to firmly outer space. ”
kerri alexander, who teaches fourth-grade reading and writing throughout the regular school year, moved involving the students, creating gentle editing suggestions about pacing and punctuation.
unlike a pedestrian english class exercise that assigns students five-paragraph essays, the script writing conveyed tutorial skills within the more entertaining method. “they don’t even realize the fact that they are learning to firmly write and present themselves whereas they're writing these scripts, ” same angela maxey, the principal of mathis.
the summer program, ms. maxey same, is in effect a more than a little laboratory for new, more participating instructional ideas. “it is what school ought to like throughout the school year, ” she same.
she was blunt about simple fact that the wallace foundation financing conjointly allowed her to firmly give incentives like ice cream parties for students with perfect attendance records.
“you may say we may utilize the cash in completely different way'>a somewhat different way, other then would be the kids smiling ? are these coming ? are these learning ?” same ms. maxey, an ebullient girl who wore a pink crown made by a student one afternoon when she threw what she told the babies was her birthday party.
“part of just what the study is watching, ” she same, “is how do we motivate kids therefore these wish to firmly learn within the summer ?”
By : Motoko Rich
Saturday, 29 June 2013
New Leader Is Named for Medgar Evers College
rudy crew, the educator who ran new york city’s and once that miami’s public school systems other then was forced away from each positions amid political clashes, has also been named just like the new president of medgar evers college, a predominantly black college within the town university of recent york system.
cuny’s board of trustees approved the appointment unanimously on monday.
within the statement, benno schmidt, the board’s chairman, and matthew goldstein, cuny’s departing chancellor, praised dr. crew’s “exemplary record of tutorial, administrative and governmental accomplishment, combined with classroom experience and a powerful commitment to students. ” he is going to help the college “achieve new levels of excellence” and “strengthen its role in the community, ” these same.
dr. crew, 62, whose appointment takes effect on aug. a regular on a salary to remain determined, came to national prominence throughout four tumultuous years in new york town, leading the country’s largest public school system. he was credited with winning bigger management within the appointment of native superintendents, with ending tenure for principals, and with halting the follow of promoting failing students.
other then he was less able to raising the city’s standardized take a look at scores and in handling the political challenges of operating obtain a strong-willed mayor. he and rudolph w. giuliani usually clashed, most notably as regards to school vouchers, that the mayor advocated other then that dr. crew wouldn't support.
in 1999, the city’s board of education, within the shut vote along partisan lines, set to not renew his contract. william c. thompson jr., the board president with the time and now a candidate for mayor, popularly known as ouster “a recipe for disaster for that school system. ”
in miami, dr. crew seized management as out to the city’s most troubled schools and offered teachers money incentives to labor in them, winning a few victories, furthermore as a brand new contract but a raise.
other then amid state budget cuts the difficulties mounted. a series of racially charged episodes — one within which his staff members accused a state legislator of referring to dr. crew with racial epithets, another within which former staff members accused him of discrimination — overshadowed his successes. relations got therefore strained that dr. crew loudly accused one member as out to the miami-dade county school board of actually talking to him “like a dog. ”
dr. crew’s latest position was just like the first chief education officer of oregon. this month, when he emerged being a contender for our medgar evers job, he told a reporter for our oregonian that dr. goldstein had contacted him concerning the job.
medgar evers college, in crown heights, brooklyn, that was named after the slain civil rights leader and founded within the spirit of idealism, has faced varied challenges. its most recent president resigned in january, after protracted conflicts with students and faculty and 2 no-confidence votes against his administration. cuny has invested new resources within the college, that offers associate and baccalaureate degrees, as well as a $235 million tutorial building.
in november, the dead center states commission on higher education warned medgar evers to the point it was in danger of losing its accreditation.
by : ariel kaminer
cuny’s board of trustees approved the appointment unanimously on monday.
within the statement, benno schmidt, the board’s chairman, and matthew goldstein, cuny’s departing chancellor, praised dr. crew’s “exemplary record of tutorial, administrative and governmental accomplishment, combined with classroom experience and a powerful commitment to students. ” he is going to help the college “achieve new levels of excellence” and “strengthen its role in the community, ” these same.
dr. crew, 62, whose appointment takes effect on aug. a regular on a salary to remain determined, came to national prominence throughout four tumultuous years in new york town, leading the country’s largest public school system. he was credited with winning bigger management within the appointment of native superintendents, with ending tenure for principals, and with halting the follow of promoting failing students.
other then he was less able to raising the city’s standardized take a look at scores and in handling the political challenges of operating obtain a strong-willed mayor. he and rudolph w. giuliani usually clashed, most notably as regards to school vouchers, that the mayor advocated other then that dr. crew wouldn't support.
in 1999, the city’s board of education, within the shut vote along partisan lines, set to not renew his contract. william c. thompson jr., the board president with the time and now a candidate for mayor, popularly known as ouster “a recipe for disaster for that school system. ”
in miami, dr. crew seized management as out to the city’s most troubled schools and offered teachers money incentives to labor in them, winning a few victories, furthermore as a brand new contract but a raise.
other then amid state budget cuts the difficulties mounted. a series of racially charged episodes — one within which his staff members accused a state legislator of referring to dr. crew with racial epithets, another within which former staff members accused him of discrimination — overshadowed his successes. relations got therefore strained that dr. crew loudly accused one member as out to the miami-dade county school board of actually talking to him “like a dog. ”
dr. crew’s latest position was just like the first chief education officer of oregon. this month, when he emerged being a contender for our medgar evers job, he told a reporter for our oregonian that dr. goldstein had contacted him concerning the job.
medgar evers college, in crown heights, brooklyn, that was named after the slain civil rights leader and founded within the spirit of idealism, has faced varied challenges. its most recent president resigned in january, after protracted conflicts with students and faculty and 2 no-confidence votes against his administration. cuny has invested new resources within the college, that offers associate and baccalaureate degrees, as well as a $235 million tutorial building.
in november, the dead center states commission on higher education warned medgar evers to the point it was in danger of losing its accreditation.
by : ariel kaminer
U.S. Standards For School Snacks Move Beyond Cafeteria To Fight Obesity
the agriculture department on thursday effectively banned the sale of snack foods like candy, cookies and sugary drinks, together with sports drinks, in schools, creating it tougher for students to avoid the now-healthier school meals by eating snacks sold in vending machines.
“parents and schools work exhausting to provide our youngsters the opportunity to become old healthy and robust, and providing healthy choices through school cafeterias, vending machines and snack bars can support their nice efforts, ” tom vilsack, the agriculture secretary, same because we are part of a statement.
the new rules were needed under the healthy, hunger-free kids act, that was passed by congress in 2010 with broad bipartisan support. the law, supported by michelle obama and drafted with an unusual level of cooperation between nutrition advocates and of course the food business, needed the agriculture department to line nutritional standards for many foods sold in schools.
the department had previously set the standards for fats, sugars and sodium in meals ready in schools, and of course the new rules bring other foods under similar standards. when schools open in the autumn of 2014, vending machines can really need to be stocked with stuff like whole wheat crackers, granola bars and dried fruits, rather than m&ms, cheese nips and gummy bears.
“by teaching and modeling healthy eating habits to kids in school, these rules can encourage higher eating habits over a lifetime, ” same margo wootan, director of nutrition policy with the center for science within the whole public interest, that worked inside the legislation. “they mean we aren’t teaching nutrition within the whole classroom then undercutting what we’re teaching when kids eat within the whole cafeteria or obtain food direct from school vending machines. ”
health advocates are arranging the same approach to curb the consumption of fatty, sugary and salty foods that they actually did to scale back smoking : educating kids within the whole hopes that they'll become old healthier and probably pass along healthy eating behavior for their oldsters.
ms. wootan same she was pleased that the rules would forestall the sale of sugary sports drinks like gatorade in high schools. the drinks have already been withdrawn from elementary and middle schools, however ms. wootan same teenagers mistakenly assume such drinks are healthier than sodas. “all they actually are could be a sugary drink with added salt, ” she same.
a few republicans were essential as out to the new rules. representative lee terry, a republican from nebraska, tweeted his opposition making use of hashtag “nannystate” and writing “rip tater tots. ” schools might in all probability sell tater tots, a hash-brown potato nugget made by ore-ida, if they actually were baked rather than fried.
schools and big food and beverage corporations are hoping to improve the nutritional quality of food sold in educational establishments for a few time. the american beverage association, that lobbies on behalf as out to the beverage manufacturers, noted that its members had already reduced the calories in drinks who may be shipped to schools by ninety %.
the grocery manufacturers association, that represents big food corporations, applauded the new rules, though it same it'd always encourage the agriculture department to phase them in gradually.
by : stephanie strom
“parents and schools work exhausting to provide our youngsters the opportunity to become old healthy and robust, and providing healthy choices through school cafeterias, vending machines and snack bars can support their nice efforts, ” tom vilsack, the agriculture secretary, same because we are part of a statement.
the new rules were needed under the healthy, hunger-free kids act, that was passed by congress in 2010 with broad bipartisan support. the law, supported by michelle obama and drafted with an unusual level of cooperation between nutrition advocates and of course the food business, needed the agriculture department to line nutritional standards for many foods sold in schools.
the department had previously set the standards for fats, sugars and sodium in meals ready in schools, and of course the new rules bring other foods under similar standards. when schools open in the autumn of 2014, vending machines can really need to be stocked with stuff like whole wheat crackers, granola bars and dried fruits, rather than m&ms, cheese nips and gummy bears.
“by teaching and modeling healthy eating habits to kids in school, these rules can encourage higher eating habits over a lifetime, ” same margo wootan, director of nutrition policy with the center for science within the whole public interest, that worked inside the legislation. “they mean we aren’t teaching nutrition within the whole classroom then undercutting what we’re teaching when kids eat within the whole cafeteria or obtain food direct from school vending machines. ”
health advocates are arranging the same approach to curb the consumption of fatty, sugary and salty foods that they actually did to scale back smoking : educating kids within the whole hopes that they'll become old healthier and probably pass along healthy eating behavior for their oldsters.
ms. wootan same she was pleased that the rules would forestall the sale of sugary sports drinks like gatorade in high schools. the drinks have already been withdrawn from elementary and middle schools, however ms. wootan same teenagers mistakenly assume such drinks are healthier than sodas. “all they actually are could be a sugary drink with added salt, ” she same.
a few republicans were essential as out to the new rules. representative lee terry, a republican from nebraska, tweeted his opposition making use of hashtag “nannystate” and writing “rip tater tots. ” schools might in all probability sell tater tots, a hash-brown potato nugget made by ore-ida, if they actually were baked rather than fried.
schools and big food and beverage corporations are hoping to improve the nutritional quality of food sold in educational establishments for a few time. the american beverage association, that lobbies on behalf as out to the beverage manufacturers, noted that its members had already reduced the calories in drinks who may be shipped to schools by ninety %.
the grocery manufacturers association, that represents big food corporations, applauded the new rules, though it same it'd always encourage the agriculture department to phase them in gradually.
by : stephanie strom
Friday, 28 June 2013
Inspired by Collins, a High School Coach Comes Out
When the soccer player Robbie Rogers and the N.B.A. center Jason Collins recently came out as gay professional athletes, it was hailed by many as a historic time. Barriers had been broken. Attitudes in pro sports locker rooms were being changed.
One of the less obvious ramifications of the revelations, though, was a trickle-down effect that Rogers’s and Collins’s decisions had on gay sports figures at the lower levels. In the latest example, Anthony Nicodemo, the boys’ basketball coach at Saunders High School in Yonkers, said Tuesday that Collins’s choice to come out as gay ultimately helped him decide to discuss his own sexuality with his players and their families in a meeting this week.
“What Jason Collins did was allow a conversation to be opened,” Nicodemo said in an interview. “That day, I went into study hall, and we had a 45-minute conversation about it. ‘How would you feel if one of your teammates came out?’ It was really important stuff, and I was blown away by how they reacted.”
He added: “It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them right then. I almost did. But it just didn’t feel right. I wanted to let them process.”
Instead, Nicodemo waited until Monday, and his decision was highlighted in a feature on Outsports, a Web site that covers the intersection of gays and sports. Cyd Zeigler, a founder of the site, wrote the article on Nicodemo and he said that Nicodemo’s experience was not unusual; one of the most important aspects of more pro athletes coming out, Zeigler said, is the effect it has on athletes and coaches who are far from the spotlight.
“Look, there are maybe 6,000 athletes playing in professional sports leagues,” Zeigler said. “There are 7.5 million athletes playing high school sports. What’s going on in high schools and elementary schools is far more important and impactful than the battle with homophobia in pro sports. Jason Collins and Robbie Rogers — this aspect of what they did is absolutely critical.”
Donna Nolan, whose elder son played for Nicodemo previously and whose younger son is currently on the team, said she had no inkling what Nicodemo was going to say when she walked into the meeting. She said reaction from parents at the meeting was overwhelmingly supportive — as was the response from school administrators — and added that there was an immediate discussion about how to handle the situation if an opposing player or parent makes insensitive comments to Nicodemo next season.
“You’re always going to have people out there who are bigots; it’s inevitable,” Nolan said. “We’re from Yonkers; whenever we go anywhere, people are already looking at us funny because we’re from Yonkers. So we know there will be comments. And we told the kids that as hard as it is going to be, we’re going to be the bigger people. It’s part of life.”
Nolan also said that although she understood parents who might prefer that adults in position of authority not speak to children about their sexuality at all — gay or straight — she did not believe Nicodemo had crossed any lines.
“I see that, but it’s not like he’s sitting with them and talking about what he does in his private life,” she said. “He’s not having a conversation with them about what he does on a Friday night. He’s just telling them, this is who I am. And for someone who preaches honesty, that’s important.”
Nicodemo, 35, said he was torn about coming out for years. He told members of his family at different points, but he did not tell his players or anyone else connected with basketball, which has always been his passion.
As a child, Nicodemo said, he was a typical athlete growing up in Brewster, N.Y. He loved sports and, even as he battled confusion and conflicting feelings about his sexuality, he did his best to try to be part of the gang.
“I was a part of the locker room stuff,” he said. “I definitely used words that I shouldn’t have, but when you’re growing up and you’re in denial, you’ll do anything to try and fit in. I just didn’t want to be seen as different.”
Nicodemo began coaching as a volunteer shortly after he graduated high school and has spent the past 16 years on various sidelines at a variety of levels, including a stint as an assistant at Plymouth State, an N.C.A.A. Division III program in New Hampshire.
He arrived at Saunders in 2009 and reinvigorated the program there while also working as a social studies teacher in a neighboring school district. In his first two seasons, the team was 9-29 (which actually represented considerable progress); in each of the past two years, Saunders has had a winning record and played host to a playoff game.
As a coach, Nicodemo was delighted; as a person, though, he was beginning to feel the strain of hiding a significant piece of his identity. He grew weary of worrying that he would be spotted a certain bar in New York or that someone would tag him in a picture on Facebook that would reveal he had lied about who he was spending his time with.
When friends would try to set him up on dates with women, Nicodemo constantly begged out, blaming his commitment to coaching. Each night, he said, he watches at least one game film before bed. He has always been that way.
“My line was always, ‘I’m married to basketball,’ ” he said. “And I guess that it’s partly true. But I wasn’t being honest.”
When Collins came out, writing a first-person article in Sports Illustrated that appeared on the magazine’s Web site April 29, Nicodemo saw an opening. He said he was pleased with how his players reacted during the study-hall discussion on the topic, reinforcing the idea in his mind that they would be able to handle it if he opened up.
Then, earlier this month, Nicodemo attended the Nike L.G.B.T. Sports Summit in Portland, Ore., where more than 100 people involved in sports came together to discuss relevant issues to sports and sexuality; Collins even made a surprise visit.
Feeling inspired (if a bit overwhelmed), Nicodemo said he spent most of his red-eye flight home looking out the window and trying to decide how to take his own next step. That ultimately led him to come out to some friends, administrators and former players before finally addressing his team Monday.
His players embraced him afterward, and Nolan said the most common reaction was, “O.K., so can we go practice now?” One player posted a message on Twitter later saying, in part, that “Saunders just became a stronger team.” Another posted that Saunders basketball “isn’t a team. It’s a family.”
The response, Nicodemo acknowledged, was a relief. But because of the conversation about Collins, it was also not a surprise.
“After that day, I came away feeling pretty good about how they would react,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t even give them enough credit. It went about a thousand percent better than I could have imagined.”
One of the less obvious ramifications of the revelations, though, was a trickle-down effect that Rogers’s and Collins’s decisions had on gay sports figures at the lower levels. In the latest example, Anthony Nicodemo, the boys’ basketball coach at Saunders High School in Yonkers, said Tuesday that Collins’s choice to come out as gay ultimately helped him decide to discuss his own sexuality with his players and their families in a meeting this week.
“What Jason Collins did was allow a conversation to be opened,” Nicodemo said in an interview. “That day, I went into study hall, and we had a 45-minute conversation about it. ‘How would you feel if one of your teammates came out?’ It was really important stuff, and I was blown away by how they reacted.”
He added: “It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them right then. I almost did. But it just didn’t feel right. I wanted to let them process.”
Instead, Nicodemo waited until Monday, and his decision was highlighted in a feature on Outsports, a Web site that covers the intersection of gays and sports. Cyd Zeigler, a founder of the site, wrote the article on Nicodemo and he said that Nicodemo’s experience was not unusual; one of the most important aspects of more pro athletes coming out, Zeigler said, is the effect it has on athletes and coaches who are far from the spotlight.
“Look, there are maybe 6,000 athletes playing in professional sports leagues,” Zeigler said. “There are 7.5 million athletes playing high school sports. What’s going on in high schools and elementary schools is far more important and impactful than the battle with homophobia in pro sports. Jason Collins and Robbie Rogers — this aspect of what they did is absolutely critical.”
Donna Nolan, whose elder son played for Nicodemo previously and whose younger son is currently on the team, said she had no inkling what Nicodemo was going to say when she walked into the meeting. She said reaction from parents at the meeting was overwhelmingly supportive — as was the response from school administrators — and added that there was an immediate discussion about how to handle the situation if an opposing player or parent makes insensitive comments to Nicodemo next season.
“You’re always going to have people out there who are bigots; it’s inevitable,” Nolan said. “We’re from Yonkers; whenever we go anywhere, people are already looking at us funny because we’re from Yonkers. So we know there will be comments. And we told the kids that as hard as it is going to be, we’re going to be the bigger people. It’s part of life.”
Nolan also said that although she understood parents who might prefer that adults in position of authority not speak to children about their sexuality at all — gay or straight — she did not believe Nicodemo had crossed any lines.
“I see that, but it’s not like he’s sitting with them and talking about what he does in his private life,” she said. “He’s not having a conversation with them about what he does on a Friday night. He’s just telling them, this is who I am. And for someone who preaches honesty, that’s important.”
Nicodemo, 35, said he was torn about coming out for years. He told members of his family at different points, but he did not tell his players or anyone else connected with basketball, which has always been his passion.
As a child, Nicodemo said, he was a typical athlete growing up in Brewster, N.Y. He loved sports and, even as he battled confusion and conflicting feelings about his sexuality, he did his best to try to be part of the gang.
“I was a part of the locker room stuff,” he said. “I definitely used words that I shouldn’t have, but when you’re growing up and you’re in denial, you’ll do anything to try and fit in. I just didn’t want to be seen as different.”
Nicodemo began coaching as a volunteer shortly after he graduated high school and has spent the past 16 years on various sidelines at a variety of levels, including a stint as an assistant at Plymouth State, an N.C.A.A. Division III program in New Hampshire.
He arrived at Saunders in 2009 and reinvigorated the program there while also working as a social studies teacher in a neighboring school district. In his first two seasons, the team was 9-29 (which actually represented considerable progress); in each of the past two years, Saunders has had a winning record and played host to a playoff game.
As a coach, Nicodemo was delighted; as a person, though, he was beginning to feel the strain of hiding a significant piece of his identity. He grew weary of worrying that he would be spotted a certain bar in New York or that someone would tag him in a picture on Facebook that would reveal he had lied about who he was spending his time with.
When friends would try to set him up on dates with women, Nicodemo constantly begged out, blaming his commitment to coaching. Each night, he said, he watches at least one game film before bed. He has always been that way.
“My line was always, ‘I’m married to basketball,’ ” he said. “And I guess that it’s partly true. But I wasn’t being honest.”
When Collins came out, writing a first-person article in Sports Illustrated that appeared on the magazine’s Web site April 29, Nicodemo saw an opening. He said he was pleased with how his players reacted during the study-hall discussion on the topic, reinforcing the idea in his mind that they would be able to handle it if he opened up.
Then, earlier this month, Nicodemo attended the Nike L.G.B.T. Sports Summit in Portland, Ore., where more than 100 people involved in sports came together to discuss relevant issues to sports and sexuality; Collins even made a surprise visit.
Feeling inspired (if a bit overwhelmed), Nicodemo said he spent most of his red-eye flight home looking out the window and trying to decide how to take his own next step. That ultimately led him to come out to some friends, administrators and former players before finally addressing his team Monday.
His players embraced him afterward, and Nolan said the most common reaction was, “O.K., so can we go practice now?” One player posted a message on Twitter later saying, in part, that “Saunders just became a stronger team.” Another posted that Saunders basketball “isn’t a team. It’s a family.”
The response, Nicodemo acknowledged, was a relief. But because of the conversation about Collins, it was also not a surprise.
“After that day, I came away feeling pretty good about how they would react,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t even give them enough credit. It went about a thousand percent better than I could have imagined.”
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Deadline Near With No Deal on Loan Rates for Students
WASHINGTON — with solely 5 days before interest rates on student loans are scheduled to double, the senate majority leader rejected a proposed bipartisan answer having now scrambled alliances and muddied political attacks for each side.
Barring a last-minute breakthrough, 7.4 million university students will see rates on their federal Stafford loans jump to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent on July 1.
“I hope that people start looking at truly compromising and working on something that fixes it,” said Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, whose conciliatory proposal was shot down Wednesday by fellow Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid. “You’ve got rates going up to 6.8 percent. That’s unfathomable, and it doesn’t have to happen.”
For weeks, Congressional Democrats have been anticipating that the standoff over student loan interest rates would be a political boon. In college student newspaper advertisements, on social media platforms and in town hall meetings, Democratic lawmakers cast themselves as the saviors of low, subsidized lending rates, battling Republicans intent on subjecting college loans to the whims of the financial markets. They banked on Republicans caving and extending the fixed, 3.4 percent rate for at least a year, just as they did a year ago when a similar deadline loomed.
But instead House Republicans passed their own student loan bill in May, then went on the offense, saying the Democrats were the ones who have failed to act responsibly. President Obama complicated the politics with his own student loan proposal, which was somewhat similar to the Republican plan. The issue was buried beneath bigger news events: an immigration battle in the Senate, scandals swirling in the House, government eavesdropping revelations and a flurry of significant Supreme Court decisions.
Then with the deadline looming, Mr. Obama abandoned the bully pulpit and headed to Africa.
All that has left Democrats divided and Republicans crowing.
“We could and should get this done for the students of our country,” Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, said Wednesday.
A glimmer of hope peeked through Washington’s cloudy skies Wednesday when five senators — three Republicans; one independent who leans Democratic, Angus King of Maine; and Mr. Manchin — unveiled what they billed as a breakthrough.
The proposal would fix all new student loans to the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rate, plus 1.85 percentage points. Graduate student loans would be 3.4 percentage points above the 10-year rate.
But a conservative Democrat and a Maine independent proved to have no sway with most Democrats, who protested that the proposal lacked a hard cap on interest rates to protect against market fluctuations. They also objected to interest rates that would earn the government $1 billion over 10 years. A spokesman for Mr. Reid quickly shot down rumors that a deal was at hand.
“There’s not been a willingness by our Republican colleagues yet to focus on a real cap,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan and one of the negotiators trying to reach a deal. “And over time what we’ve seen in the proposals actually goes higher than doubling the rates.”
Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, both Democrats, will rush new legislation to the Senate on Thursday to freeze the 3.4-percent rate for one year while lawmakers try to reach a long-term agreement in a broader higher education law. But even the bill’s authors acknowledge it almost certainly will not be able to get a vote before Congress leaves for a weeklong July Fourth break.
Instead, the legislation would make the fixed rate retroactive to July 1. Since most university students do not sign loan documents until early August, “we have a little wiggle room, but not a lot,” said a Senate Democratic aide involved in the drafting.
Democratic leaders, once convinced they could win a clear victory over Republicans, were reduced Wednesday to arguing that allowing interest rates to double would be better than fixing loans to fluctuating market rates.
“I don’t know,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, said with a shrug. “Student groups said: ‘Let it double. We’d rather see it double to 6.8 than the alternatives we’ve heard.’ ”
Monday, 24 June 2013
Out of Concrete and Drudgery Come Canoes That Float
it’s not straightforward creating the unsinkable out from the unthinkable.
But at the National Concrete Canoe Competition, civil engineering students use a material that is normally the stuff of dams and parking garages to build a 20-foot-long craft that will float even if completely swamped.
To do so, they replace the gravel and sand of conventional concrete with exotic materials like glass spheres. The result, to judge by the finals of this year’s competition, where 23 teams of 10 or more students gathered at the University of Illinois here, is a concrete that is exceedingly light and, with added fibers, strong as well.
But as the team from the University of Texas at Tyler found out, it is not always strong enough.
On Saturday, after two days of being judged on their engineering know-how and the quality of their final product, the students took to the waters of a nearby lake for races that would count for 25 percent of their overall score. Amid the excitement and noise — the Mississippi State team had brought along cowbells for the occasion — there was also heartbreak, when the Texas-Tyler canoe suffered what engineers soberly call catastrophic failure. That is to say, it cracked in half.
“We were just paddling along and suddenly I heard a pop” said Marco Weider, a captain of the team, who with his teammate was able to get the canoe to shore before it broke in two. With the help of students from other teams, they spliced it back together with large amounts of duct tape.
The annual competition has been run by the American Society of Civil Engineers for more than two decades, and is sponsored by companies and trade groups like the American Concrete Institute.
At a time when the nation’s approach to science and engineering education has come in for criticism, the contest is a supplement to conventional teaching, giving students a sense of what a civil engineer’s life is like after graduation.
“It’s an experience these students can get that they can’t get in a class,” said Corey L. Haeder, one of five judges for the competition and chief engineer of a concrete firm in Maple Grove, Minn. (The engineering society also runs a competition in which teams each design and build a small steel bridge.)
It also looks good on a student’s résumé. Sarah Smith, a captain of the Mississippi State team, who just graduated, said she was convinced a main reason she was hired by a civil engineering firm in Jackson, Miss., was because of her concrete canoe work. Her employers, she said, “knew what kind of time and dedication goes into this.”
The teams spend most of the academic year designing and building their canoes, treating the task like a real-world project. They start by picking a theme and a name, and then put leaders in charge of areas like structural design and analysis, concrete mix design (kitchen mixers come in handy for making test batches) and construction (the concrete is usually molded in a marathon session that can last the better part of a day). Most teams also put someone in charge of training the engineers to be effective paddlers.
According to Serji Amirkhanian, a judge and a former civil engineering professor atClemson University who is now a consultant, the best teams do not necessarily have better concrete or structural designs. “It’s not a mystery,” he said. “The concrete has to be lighter than water.”
Rather, the winning teams are usually the best organized. “It takes somebody within the team to take charge,” Mr. Amirkhanian said, and persuade others to do the more thankless tasks, especially sanding the surface of the canoe after the concrete has hardened.
“Nobody wants to sand,” said Mr. Amirkhanian, who while judging the canoes on Thursday ran his hand along each one to feel how smooth it was. “But you need somebody telling others you have to sand for hours and hours.”
Even on a team like that of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which won the title the previous three years and finished in the top five for four years before that, students will try to avoid that particular job. “You’ll see people taking out the trash, mopping the floor,” said Thomas Wong, a captain. “Anything but sanding.”
Still, San Luis Obispo does a lot of sanding — 350 hours, Mr. Wong estimated, out of a total of 6,000 spent on the project — and it shows. Their canoe, called Sentinel after the famous domed rock at Yosemite National Park, looked like it was made of porcelain rather than Portland cement.
It had plenty of other advanced features as well — including seven post-tensioned cables running the length of the hull, to give the concrete more strength. And in keeping with the canoe’s theme, the team had created bas-reliefs of the Yosemite landscape on the inside, and cast a pine cone and branch on one of the gunwales.
It was all very elegant, but in the end San Luis Obispo finished fourth. The title was taken by the only Canadian participant, École de Technologie Supérieure, an engineering school in Montreal, that produced a beautiful boat, Savannah with silhouettes of African wildlife on the side.
With its broken boat, Texas-Tyler finished well out of the top five. The team had selected a golf theme, and had cast golf-ball-like dimples on the side of the canoe, but Mr. Weider, the captain, did not think they were the cause of the problem. He said the team had displayed the canoe on Thursday atop a single golf-tee-shaped pedestal (made of concrete, of course) and that may have caused extra stress.
In fact, said César A. Constantino, another of the judges, on Thursday they had noticed that cracks were developing in the boat. “We saw it coming,” he said.
But Mr. Weider was almost fatalistic about the damage. “It’s concrete,” he said. “It’s going to crack.”
But at the National Concrete Canoe Competition, civil engineering students use a material that is normally the stuff of dams and parking garages to build a 20-foot-long craft that will float even if completely swamped.
To do so, they replace the gravel and sand of conventional concrete with exotic materials like glass spheres. The result, to judge by the finals of this year’s competition, where 23 teams of 10 or more students gathered at the University of Illinois here, is a concrete that is exceedingly light and, with added fibers, strong as well.
But as the team from the University of Texas at Tyler found out, it is not always strong enough.
On Saturday, after two days of being judged on their engineering know-how and the quality of their final product, the students took to the waters of a nearby lake for races that would count for 25 percent of their overall score. Amid the excitement and noise — the Mississippi State team had brought along cowbells for the occasion — there was also heartbreak, when the Texas-Tyler canoe suffered what engineers soberly call catastrophic failure. That is to say, it cracked in half.
“We were just paddling along and suddenly I heard a pop” said Marco Weider, a captain of the team, who with his teammate was able to get the canoe to shore before it broke in two. With the help of students from other teams, they spliced it back together with large amounts of duct tape.
The annual competition has been run by the American Society of Civil Engineers for more than two decades, and is sponsored by companies and trade groups like the American Concrete Institute.
At a time when the nation’s approach to science and engineering education has come in for criticism, the contest is a supplement to conventional teaching, giving students a sense of what a civil engineer’s life is like after graduation.
“It’s an experience these students can get that they can’t get in a class,” said Corey L. Haeder, one of five judges for the competition and chief engineer of a concrete firm in Maple Grove, Minn. (The engineering society also runs a competition in which teams each design and build a small steel bridge.)
It also looks good on a student’s résumé. Sarah Smith, a captain of the Mississippi State team, who just graduated, said she was convinced a main reason she was hired by a civil engineering firm in Jackson, Miss., was because of her concrete canoe work. Her employers, she said, “knew what kind of time and dedication goes into this.”
The teams spend most of the academic year designing and building their canoes, treating the task like a real-world project. They start by picking a theme and a name, and then put leaders in charge of areas like structural design and analysis, concrete mix design (kitchen mixers come in handy for making test batches) and construction (the concrete is usually molded in a marathon session that can last the better part of a day). Most teams also put someone in charge of training the engineers to be effective paddlers.
According to Serji Amirkhanian, a judge and a former civil engineering professor atClemson University who is now a consultant, the best teams do not necessarily have better concrete or structural designs. “It’s not a mystery,” he said. “The concrete has to be lighter than water.”
Rather, the winning teams are usually the best organized. “It takes somebody within the team to take charge,” Mr. Amirkhanian said, and persuade others to do the more thankless tasks, especially sanding the surface of the canoe after the concrete has hardened.
“Nobody wants to sand,” said Mr. Amirkhanian, who while judging the canoes on Thursday ran his hand along each one to feel how smooth it was. “But you need somebody telling others you have to sand for hours and hours.”
Even on a team like that of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which won the title the previous three years and finished in the top five for four years before that, students will try to avoid that particular job. “You’ll see people taking out the trash, mopping the floor,” said Thomas Wong, a captain. “Anything but sanding.”
Still, San Luis Obispo does a lot of sanding — 350 hours, Mr. Wong estimated, out of a total of 6,000 spent on the project — and it shows. Their canoe, called Sentinel after the famous domed rock at Yosemite National Park, looked like it was made of porcelain rather than Portland cement.
It had plenty of other advanced features as well — including seven post-tensioned cables running the length of the hull, to give the concrete more strength. And in keeping with the canoe’s theme, the team had created bas-reliefs of the Yosemite landscape on the inside, and cast a pine cone and branch on one of the gunwales.
It was all very elegant, but in the end San Luis Obispo finished fourth. The title was taken by the only Canadian participant, École de Technologie Supérieure, an engineering school in Montreal, that produced a beautiful boat, Savannah with silhouettes of African wildlife on the side.
With its broken boat, Texas-Tyler finished well out of the top five. The team had selected a golf theme, and had cast golf-ball-like dimples on the side of the canoe, but Mr. Weider, the captain, did not think they were the cause of the problem. He said the team had displayed the canoe on Thursday atop a single golf-tee-shaped pedestal (made of concrete, of course) and that may have caused extra stress.
In fact, said César A. Constantino, another of the judges, on Thursday they had noticed that cracks were developing in the boat. “We saw it coming,” he said.
But Mr. Weider was almost fatalistic about the damage. “It’s concrete,” he said. “It’s going to crack.”
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