Cross-posted from the White House Blog.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is joining us for special session of White House Office Hours on Wednesday, June 27th at 2:00 p.m. EDT. During a live Q&A on Twitter, Secretary Duncan will answer your questions about college affordability and the administration’s education policies and priorities.
Will you join us? Here’s how it works:
- Ask your questions now and during the live event on Twitter with the hashtag #WHChat
- Follow the Q&A live through the @WHLive Twitter account
- If you miss the live Q&A, the full session will be posted on WhiteHouse.gov and Storify.com/WhiteHouse
Today, higher education isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity that every American family should be able to afford. But it’s also getting more and more expensive.
For the first time ever, Americans owe more in student loans than in credit card debt. That’s why the President is calling on Congress to keep interest rates low so that every hardworking student gets a fair shot at the skills and training needed to get a good job in today’s economy.
If Congress doesn’t act, interest rates on federal student loans will double on July 1 and more than 7 million students around the country will rack up an average of $1,000 of extra debt each.
Kori Schulman is Deputy Director of Outreach for the White House Office of Digital Strategy
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Given the state of the economy, my idea for relief for everyone is mandatory school for children extending the school year to 12 months of the year and keeping the kids until 6:00 or 6:30 when they would be bused home to their parents. It would give the children supervision and things to do, music, art, sports, gardening, life skills, group counseling, home economics, movies, shop, they could mosaic the schools, paint murals and have supervised study hall if they were failing any courses with student tutors. It would free the school day for education solely. They could work outside of school with a letter of parental approval and a boss’s letter. If they wore uniforms it would help with bias, save the parents money on clothing and child care, if would lessen crime, drug addiction and an uneducated population. It would employ more people, give our children a better rounded education, reduce child abuse or at least neglect. It might even pay for itself. If the children had a good meal at lunch and a snack after school, the parents could just give them take out or a sandwich for dinner. The children would have a good meal, all would have clothing, supervision, extra -curricular activities, and the freedom to have healthy interests and friendships rather than watching reality TV or hanging around the streets with nothing to do unsupervised. The parents would have less stress worrying about their children and more money. The buildings are there, we would be employing more people and giving the next generation a chance to fulfill their potential restoring our nation.
Given the state o the economy, my idea for relief for everyone is mandatory school for children extending the school year to 12 months of the year and keeping the kids until 6:00 or 6:30 when they would be bused home to their parents. It would give the children supervision and things to do, music, art, sports, gardening, life skills, group counseling, home economics, movies, shop, they could mosaic the schools, paint murals and have supervised study hall if they were failing any courses with student tutors. It would free the school day for education solely. They could work outside of school with a letter of parental approval and a boss’s letter. If they wore uniforms it would help with bias, save the parents money on clothing and child care, if would lessen crime, drug addiction and an uneducated population. It would employ more people, give our children a better rounded education, reduce child abuse or at least neglect. It might even pay for itself. If the children had a good meal at lunch and a snack after school, the parents could just give them take out or a sandwich for dinner. The children would have a good meal, all would have clothing, supervision, extra -curricular activities, and the freedom to have healthy interests and friendships rather than watching reality TV or hanging around the streets with nothing to do unsupervised. The parents would have less stress worrying about their children and more money. The buildings are there, we would be employing more people and giving the next generation a chance to fulfill their potential restoring our nation.
I am an elementary teacher in Saint Paul, MN. This is my 18th year of teaching. I am a Black male and I’m very concerned how my school district is trying to lower the suspension rates of black students by under reporting and in some cases, not doing anything when negative behavior is present. I was punched last year by a black student and the student was returned to my class in ten minutes by the principal. I witnessed a sexual, verbal threat by a 6th grader (threatened to kill then have sex with a female classmate) and nothing was done. A female staffer ( 26yr old) was groped on a school bus and the student was given a warning. All of these acts were committed by Black students. We are setting OUR children up for failure by not holding them accountable. This behavior is NOT Black culture, like I have been told in various Diversity Training sessions!! This lack of reporting disruptive behavior to lower the suspension gap is not helping anyone. Our children must learn how to become productive citizens.
I invite the Secretary of Education to visit my school and I will give him a personal tour. I love my job and realize it’s a challenge. Lowering standards is not what great Black leaders preached in the civil rights movement. I beg the Department of Education to have an honest discussion on this topic and invite Black educators across the nation to participate. Trust me, we will tell you what we see on a daily basis. There is hope, but we must have serious and honest discussions.
Sincerely,
AB
We need a program in our schools to ADDRESS BULLYING NOW! It’s devastating to hear children commit suicide or otherwise ruin their lives by trying to stop it. The NO TOLERANCE initiative in schools DOES NOTHING. I lived through it in Chicago when Duncan was CEO. I even reached out to him as the school did nothing but bully ME. Even Duncan’s secretary said my son must have done something to cause the bullying. I tried meeting w/school officials but was essentially ganged up on and pushed out! My son was in the gifted program and they denied transferring him to another ‘gifted’ school let alone help transfer to ANY school. But I devoted myself to help my child succeed, even schooled at home for some time. Not all parents can do that. Nothing in education matters if kids don’t feel safe and free to learn! We need to support our kids! PROVIDE A PROGRAM for bullies to encourage respect, tolerance and appreciation for differences. Find out if bullying goes on at home and take necessary steps. If bully hasn’t experienced bullying then roll play. Perhaps they’re given responsibilty, maybe they need to feel important or in charge of something. We need to help kids learn how to be successful in school AND life. Ignoring and refusing to address situations has got to stop! Same with suspensions and expulsions – they do nothing to HELP OUR KIDS SUCCEED.
I am not sure if this is the place to post this but here goes. I want to plead with whoever controls funding for the McNair scholars program to continue the funding. My daughter-in-law is a first generation college student from a low-income family. She is in a wonderful clinical psychology PHD program. Thanks to the money she gets from the McNair scholarship she has been able to continue her education. Her quote follows “This program does great things for disadvantaged students (low income, first generation, and minority students) who otherwise would have no guidance in getting into doctoral programs, and I am proof of that.” I hope this program can continue, if not receive even more funding!
We would like to make it mandatory for all school’s with special needs students to have cameras with voice recording installed in all areas of the school, which these children have access to. We want to prevent bullying from teachers because our children are non-verbal and we want teachers understand that although we may not be present during school hours, we will be able to hold them accountable for their actions. We would also like it be made where if the parents aren’t neccessarily allowed to stay in the classroom, but have it made avaiable where we can view our children at any given time via the hard drive recorder and monitor so that we may understand and address any concerns. We are going to use social media to raise awareness for these requests. Please do not let our children down, we all have the resposibilty to protect and care them.
http://www.change.org/petitions/cameras-in-special-needs-room-for-safety?utm_medium=email&utm_source=signature_receipt
I am very concerned about the idea of doubling the interest on student loans. In my opinion it falls in the realms of LOANSHARKING. I question the legality of actually following through in making these changes.