No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, we all need to vote this November. There’s a lot of confusion about where and how to vote, but it’s really simple. Check out this chart to see how to vote in your state. If you are a college student who will be moving out of state for college or taking classes online from home, register to vote and determine exactly how you’re going to vote NOW.
Colleges are supposed to help students get their student IDs and give lists of students to local polling locations. They are supposed to make it easier for students to cast their ballots while they’re away from home. The key words here are “supposed to,” and considering the pandemic, financial losses, minimal administrative staff, and chaos as colleges prepare for this upcoming semester or quarter, don’t count on them to make sure that every student vote gets counted.
Instead, every college student who doesn’t have a regular polling place or a reliable plan, should request a mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot. Check this site, to determine what you need to do to ensure that you have a valid ballot that will be counted in November. Vote early and check to see if your vote-by-mail ballot was received by your County Elections Dept. It’s up to you to take the easy steps to vote so you’ll be all set come election day.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, we all need to vote this November. There’s a lot of confusion about where and how to vote, but it’s really simple. Check out this chart to see how to vote in your state. If you are a college student who will be moving out of state for college or taking classes online from home, register to vote and determine exactly how you’re going to vote NOW.
Colleges are supposed to help students get their student IDs and give lists of students to local polling locations. They are supposed to make it easier for students to cast their ballots while they’re away from home. The key words here are “supposed to,” and considering the pandemic, financial losses, minimal administrative staff, and chaos as colleges prepare for this upcoming semester or quarter, don’t count on them to make sure that every student vote gets counted.
Instead, every college student who doesn’t have a regular polling place or a reliable plan, should request a mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot. Check this site, to determine what you need to do to ensure that you have a valid ballot that will be counted in November. Vote early and check to see if your vote-by-mail ballot was received by your County Elections Dept. It’s up to you to take the easy steps to vote so you’ll be all set come election day.
We have become an entitled society, so it should be no surprise that college students are disregarding COVID-19 guidelines that they previously agreed to in order to have the luxury of living in the dorms and taking classes on campus. Colleges that invited students back to campus for fall semester over the past 2 weeks are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases. From frat and sorority parties to large gathering on campus to bar-hopping, many college students think they are invincible and that they don’t need to heed the rules set by the college administration.
As a result, colleges are scolding groups of students for their reckless and selfish behavior. Some colleges are closing up dorms and sending students home. One thing for sure: college students can and will get COVID if they don’t seriously change the way they socialize and study.
Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University and expert on adolescent behavior says that young adults tend to think more of “immediate rewards rather than long-term consequences.” They need to socialize and even if they understand the severe consequences of breaking the COVID-19 rules, they don’t think they’ll get caught. Sound familiar?
At Boston University, students are permitted to have small gatherings with friends, but warned to not share drinks, to social distance, and to use hand sanitizer. They prefer to have phone sex, keep consistent hook-up buddies, and discuss COVID-19 risks. It seems that Gen Z students have the “f*ck it” attitude about their personal responsibility to other students and the community.
According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, the young adult’s prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that is responsible for rational thinking — is not fully developed until they reach age 25. That’s 3 years after they graduate from college. So why would we put young adults in a college setting where they need to restrain themselves without their parents and teachers overseeing their activities? We’re simply setting them up to get COVID and to infect their friends, professors, college staff, and the communities they live in.
Maybe we should all stay home until we get the coronavirus under control, have safe treatment plans, and have tested vaccines that can save lives.
Our forefathers, who forged their way to the new America where they hoped for a life filled with opportunities they didn’t have in their native countries, sacrificed so much to improve their lives. We Americans were true pioneers and we could do anything. And, we did. We became the most innovative country in the world and everyone copied and followed our lead.
But today, that drive to achieve our dreams is no longer our inspiration. Instead, people (corporations and politicians) are taking care of themselves and not looking out for our collective future. College students party in frat houses, take spring vacations, and live their lives as if the coronavirus wasn’t threatening millions of lives. Now businesses are opening up with complete disregard for their clients’ safety. Even with evidence that when we socialize without protection (masks), we spread this virus, businesses reopened their doors.
The result: America is now the number one leader in COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world.
Why?
Because today’s America isn’t comprised of pioneers like our forefathers. We have become too comfortable – entitled – and shortsighted. We don’t need to work the fields to make sure we have enough food to make it through the winter. We don’t like others to tell us what to do or to take away our freedoms. We have become so busy that we don’t have time to read or research. We choose platforms and hate others who don’t share our ideologies.
But worst of all – we aren’t making the sacrifices we need to make now in order to stop this pandemic, improve our economy, and protect our future. We all need to grow up and work together – not apart – to survive and thrive.
So stop whining. Stop blaming others. Stop hating things you don’t understand. Instead, isolate yourself from everyone, wear a mask when going out, and sacrifice a little so that we can all survive and move on.
When colleges sent their students home last March 2020, no one knew that they wouldn’t return to campus in just a few weeks. Colleges, schools, parents, and students were making decisions and predictions every 3-4 weeks until summer rolled around. Since then, parents and students have demanded refunds for dorms and meals they couldn’t use or consume, and then they asked for partial refunds due to the online instruction that we all know was not up to par.
Now colleges are making decisions about opening their campuses up in the fall, winter, or spring based on finances. Well, of course they care about their faculty, students, and staff but without tuition and funds for housing and meal plans, many colleges are facing financial ruin. Colleges are scrambling to improve online lectures, interactions with students, socially-distanced labs, and the college experience. They are remodeling dorms, bathrooms, classrooms, lecture halls, and athletic facilities. All of this takes millions of dollars that colleges weren’t expecting to dole out in a short window of time.
Many colleges are offering 10% off tuition and student activities fees for fall term, and most aren’t charging for room and board. This helps all students, but not all college students are in the same financial place. Some colleges are doubling awards for existing scholarships so students who obviously need financial aid will get twice as much during this pandemic. This helps even the playing field because those who can pay $50,000 a year for tuition without assistance probably don’t need a 10% refund. Right?
I’m hoping that all colleges offer the financial support that low-income students need so that they don’t drop out of school. These low-income students are largely black and Hispanic. Colleges need funds to keep their doors open and to do the remodeling and restructuring to bring students back to campus again. Seems to me that an equitable way to accomplish this is to charge high-income students full tuition and room/board acknowledging that these funds will help the college prepare for on-campus classes for all.
With a gap year and our crippled economy, the silver lining is that some colleges are changing policies and admitting more students. San Francisco State University just announced that they will accept transfer students with as few as 6 credits! Normally they require community college students to complete 2 full years of courses and apply to transfer with a minimum of 60 credits. The new rules mean that students could take one fall semester of courses at a community college and then transfer spring semester to SFSU.
Thanks to thousands of students who will not be attending the online classes this fall, the admissions dept has opened up these 2500 spaces to transfer students. All that’s required for eligibility under these pandemic times are the following:
High School GPA: B- average
Community College GPA: C average
SAT/ACT: not required
Required course completion: (1) basic writing; and (2) basic math
So the silver lining is a huge bonus for students of color and students who are the first in their families to go to college. SFSU is partnering with City College of San Francisco to implement these new guidelines and to help community college students get into a 4-year university. All community college students will be considered, and other California State Universities may follow suit. Stay tuned!
Here we are again in the middle of a perfect storm: Fires are raging in California after Sunday’s lightning thunderstorms that sparked fires amidst some of the hottest days we’ve had on record. This is unnerving as we’re already dealing with fears of COVID-19, loss of jobs, displaced students, and isolation from friends. This is the best time to fill out my Micro-Community Disaster Plan and Information packet to prepare your family now. Here are 5 proactive things you can do now to give you more control over the many things that feel completely out of our control today.
#1: REACH OUT TO YOUR NEIGHBORS
Put your differences aside, and email or visit with your neighbors today. Check in with them to update their contact information so you can help if they need support in evacuating or taking care of pets if they’re not at home.
#2: CREATE A FAMILY DISASTER PLAN
Select a meeting place to avoid going in circles searching for one another should there be an evacuation or a disaster. Make sure all family members understand that they should meet at this location and wait for everyone to arrive. Choose an out-of-state (or out-of-area) person to be the contact person. That way, if cell phones aren’t working or your internet is down, your contact person can retrieve messages and keep everyone informed of the status of each family member.
* Disaster Plan
#3: MAKE YOUR GO-BAGS
Gather the things you absolutely need to survive, and place them in a backpack or suitcase. Think: medications, personal items, clothing, water, food. Be prepared as evacuation orders don’t give you much time. If evacuation isn’t eminent, then create a Go Bag for your car and your house so you’ll always be ready.
#4: SIGN UP FOR CODE RED
Go to your alert notification systems and sign up for alerts. That way, you’ll be alerted to evacuation orders and you can start preparing by gathering your family, pets, and Go Bags. You can also help your neighbors by giving them a heads up and helping those who are non-ambulatory.
#5: PROTECT YOUR HOUSE
Move wooden or flammable items that are within 5 feet of your house. That means that cord of wood next to the garage, wooden picnic tables, old planter boxes, and other things. Ideally, move them 100 feet from your house but do whatever works for your home and property.
If time permits, remove dead branches and lower limbs on trees that are within 100 feet of your house. This could reduce the chance the wildfires would make their way to your homes. Weedwhack dense areas to create a firebreak. Clean out gutters and debris that have collected on your roofs. Learn more here.
Whether you’re waiting for evacuation orders or you just haven’t had time to prepare for disasters, let this be a wake-up call to get started. Share this with family and friends, and encourage them to do prepare now.
Fresh squeezed apple juice on a blistering hot summer day. Yum. I wish I could say that my Fuji apple trees produced so many apples that I had to juice them – but, not so much. I only got about a dozen apples this year – up from last year though!
So where did I get the apples? A lovely lady on NextDoor had a bumper crop of apples and lots of then were falling to the ground. I responded to her post and she’s called me every week for 3-4 weeks to give me bags of bruised apples. They’re perfect for juicing!
I pulled out my 30+ year old juicer and made a jug of apple juice for Nicole and Brad. During this heat wave, I plan to juice another 3 bags tonight!
Discrimination comes in many forms. In a time when headlines like Black Lives Matter, Voters’ Rights Act, and others consume the press – as they should, — I’d like to address discrimination in college admissions against Asians and white applicants.
As a private college advisor, I work closely with hundreds of students as they apply to the Ivy League and other top universities in the world. My students conduct independent projects that change the world and make them dynamic young leaders. They study hard – like all college-bound students – but they separate themselves from their peers by doing unique projects over 1-4 years. They get in based on their academics and projects.
Yale University is under investigation for violations to the 1964 Civil Rights Act (considering race and ethnicity in admissions policies). Harvard is dealing with a similar case under appeal. What’s different now is that Asians and white students are being denied admission even when their scores and rankings might be higher than those of people of color who get in. The original Civil Rights Act was established so colleges wouldn’t discriminate against black and Hispanic students for simply being people of color. Now the Act is being challenged by the opposite end of the spectrum.
I completely support the BLM movement and believe that we as a society need to even the playing field so people of color have opportunities available to them. The rates at which blacks and Hispanics are incarcerated, killed by police, and receive higher education is appalling. Systemic changes need to be made starting in preschool so they will receive the skills and guidance needed to lift them out of this unconscionable state.
I do believe, however, that students should be accepted to colleges based on their academic and innovative skills. Isn’t that why universities were organized in the first place? They were designed to be places of higher education where intellectuals gathered to share ideas and improve society. I don’t believe admissions officers should consider race or ethnicity and base admission decisions on a formula that factors in discriminatory practices against anyone.
When an Asian or white student is denied admission to an elite college, to open up a spot for a student who has lower academic and innovative skills, this is discrimination. It bothers me when I tell my students that if their last name is “Wong” or “Agrawal,” their applications have to be substantially better than student applicants who are black or Hispanic.
I met with a student who got into a 4-year college back under Affirmative Action. His academic foundation and ability to succeed in the freshman year was low; his reading comprehension and writing skills were substandard. Even with tutoring and psychological support, the student dropped out and felt like a failure. Admitting students who don’t have the same high-caliber academic skills as the other students at the university will only exacerbate the low rate of graduation and career opportunities for these students.
Fixing this problem doesn’t start with admitting these students into colleges that they won’t prosper in. Instead, we need to create better preschools so underrepresented students have the same, or better, exposure to academics before they start kindergarten than their white and Asian counterparts. Elementary, middle, and high schools that serve students of color should receive more funding, smaller class sizes, better teachers (with better pay and benefits), computer equipment, and everything each student needs to be successful in school. Students who live in poor neighborhoods should be equipped with personal computers, internet, smart phones, and wifi. And during turbulent times like today, these students should also receive personal tutoring to ensure that they are learning, making it to classes whether on site or online, and completing daily homework and keeping up in classes. Then, and only then, will these students of color have a fair chance at moving up the ranks and succeeding in a world that is designed to keep them down.
Then, I believe the playing field will be more level for high school students applying to the elite colleges. I’d like to see a day when all students can compete to get into college based on their own merit.
And if two students (one Asian/white; the other black/Hispanic) have the same academic and innovative skills, I believe the black or Hispanic student should be granted admission until our K-12 education truly offers equal educational opportunities.
I remember worrying about the public and private schools in my neighborhood when I was pregnant with Nicole, my first child. I visited many classes to find the “perfect” school for her – and didn’t find one school that provided the academic rigor, depth in critical thinking and problem solving, the arts and theater, and the physical activities (dance, sports) that I was looking for. I didn’t bash schools for not offering what I wanted for my daughter; instead, I supplemented both of my daughters’ education so they would love to learn and get all of the important experiences to keep them engaged.
That’s exactly what parents will need to do during this pandemic, and most likely after this pandemic has passed. Yes, things are different now. Whether your school is 100% online, hybrid, or on campus, you can supplement your child’s education so they thrive. Use this time to experiment and try new approaches.
You can tell if your child is engaged in classes and work (asynchronous or synchronous). This is where you can fill the void by giving them interesting assignments or even inviting a mentor or teacher to work with them in virtual sessions. Here are some activities that I’ve set up for families during this pandemic:
1. Bamboo vs Oak Tree Experiment (to find faster, efficient ways to produce oxygen in the atmosphere)
2. Reading Challenge (to increase their reading fluency and comprehension)
3. Math Challenge (to build a solid math foundation so they’re prepared to move on to the next level)
4. Gardening Experiment (to determine which organic pesticides work best)
5. Research Writing (to teach them how to write a comprehensive research paper – something they probably will never learn in school)
6. Create a Podcast (to find their voices – and do research – and share their opinions)
7. Start a business (to learn about marketing, accounting, ecommerce)
If you find that your child is not thriving in whatever mode of learning they are engaged in, you can hire teachers to teach their classes one-on-one. Some states require that students be enrolled in a public or private school, so check with your state. It’s actually easier to open a private school for just your children (in most states) than to jump through hoops with homeschooling or independent studies programs.
You can also start a pandemic pod, see my blog: How to Form a Pandemic Pod for Free that can be free to the hosting family. In this setup, the hosting family hires the teacher, sets the curriculum and invites 2-3 other families to join. The other families’ tuition covers all costs so the pandemic pod is free to the hosting family. I’ve even written curriculum for preschool through high school.
While this is a stressful time as you make difficult decisions about whether to send your child back to school (if they’re opening) or worry that your child is slipping behind academically (for online classes), know that you have many options. Sometimes chaos gives us the unique opportunity to reinvent ourselves, and in the case of our children’s education, we can create something really stimulating and challenging for them. For me, I started Merit Academy with the projectMERIT theme. And yes, it was created when I realized that the existing academic options just weren’t good enough.
UCs are requiring all students, faculty, and staff to get flu vaccinations before Nov. 1st. They already required that all students have the measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, meningococcus, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccinations prior to this pandemic. Really worried about colleges that are opening up this fall when the seasonal flu and the coronavirus are expected to create havoc on our already stressed bodies and medical communities.
Purdue Univ, Univ of Miami, and Univ of Tennessee Knoxville have also added the flu vaccine to their entrance requirements. Glad to see that some of the universities are taking proactive steps in protecting their students, professors, and staff.