Susan is spreading the news about ProjectMerit and the book Beat the College Admissions Game with ProjectMerit!  Her latest interview is with Jim Beach of School for Startups Radio.  The interview is an excellent way to spend a few minutes and is available here:

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USC, or the University of Spoiled Children – also known as University of Southern California – is now known to as being the most afflicted by the college admissions scandal.  According to E-Poll Market research, USC’s “dislike score” jumped from 26 (2016) to 40 (2019); and their “appeal score” dropped from 24 to 16 during the same period.

Also mired in the same scandal are Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, but their ratings didn’t tank the way USC’s did.  Hope this is a wakeup call for colleges and universities. Level the playing field and admit students based on their merit, not their parents’ deep pockets.

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College dorms, classrooms, and dining halls can be cesspools of germs and viruses. Students share drinks and hygiene isn’t always a priority – hence, remember dorm bathrooms the morning after Saturday night parties? Combine college lifestyles with students who have skipped their “shots” and you have mumps outbreaks like the kind that Temple University saw last month.

Although mumps and measles were completely eradicated, college campuses are seeing an uptick in sporadic outbreaks. Rather than recite a long list of facts and statistics to encourage everyone to get their “shots,” I thought that I’d share photos of people with mumps and measles. Seriously, why would anyone think that a shot is worse than this!

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There’s a huge gap between what skills colleges teach and what skills employers expect. Colleges were originally designed to provide a liberal art and basic science research education. But today, employers need highly-skilled technical workers, not necessarily college-educated workers. Amazon has taken the bold step to spend $700 million over the next six years to retrain 100,000 employees. With a competitive labor market and more automation, Amazon decided to retrain a third of their employees to strengthen their workforce. Google is doing the same, and they have enrolled 75,000 students in their online IT support certificate program.

Both Amazon and Google are also working with colleges so they can offer credit-bearing courses. Amazon Technical Academy helps technical employees get the skills needed to transition to software engineering careers. Amazon also recently created Machine Learning University, which is designed for tech and coding employees to learn skills in machine learning. They’re opening 60 campus across the country for their Career Choice program, and they’ve partnered with over 800 post-secondary providers in 35 countries to offer cloud computing credentials.

Seems like colleges will either need to step up their programs to teach the skills that employers are seeking, or they’ll become the intellectual liberal arts institutions that they used to be.  Maybe we will start seeing vocational colleges again. Not every high school grad should go to university. I certainly hope so — too many students are deep in debt for a 4-year degree that they got because they were pressured to “go to college.”

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In this podcast, I interview Chief Steven Hall of Central Fire.  We discuss a wide range of topics, including things we can do to ensure the safety of our homes, and the importance of working with neighbors via the micro-community method to make the entire neighborhood as fire-safe as possible.  We also talk about the recent problems people have been having with fire insurance.  This is a must-listen episode!  You can listen to it here, or find Gakkomom on iTunes and subscribe to my podcast.  It’s also embedded here: 

Are you ready for the 3rd annual TEDxMeritAcademy?  We are!  Get your tickets now and see our wonderful 2019 speakers who have ideas worth sharing!  

We’re at DNA’s Comedy Lab this year, at 155 South River Street near Trader Joe’s.  Stay tuned for more information on specific speakers and don’t forget to purchase your tickets at tedxmeritacademy.com/tickets!

350,000 California homeowners have received cancellation or non-renewal notices based on their high-risk zip codes this year. The insurance companies are in flux themselves as they grapple with which zip codes to cover and which ones to cancel. They’re in the business of making money so offering fire insurance where wildfires have consumed the state is not smart business for them. Over the years, when insurance companies failed, homeowners were rescued by the state at the taxpayers’ expense. When you’ve paid for years (decades) of fire insurance and never had a claim, it seems unethical that the insurance companies can cancel your policies when you need them the most.

In this podcast, I talk about the fire insurance problem, and what you can do to KEEP your existing coverage. You can listen to it here, or find GakkoMom on iTunes and subscribe to my podcast.  It’s also embedded here:

Susan is spreading the news about ProjectMerit and the book Beat the College Admissions Game with ProjectMerit!  Her latest interview is with Kimberly Bailey Tureaud on KCEP-FM’s “Enterprising People” show.  The interview is an excellent way to spend 25 minutes! 

Listen here:

Imagine if a public school system could help students who want to use education as a way out of poverty and crime? A public charter school in the San Francisco Bay Area is doing exactly that. They will offer a free public school DORM and MEALS on Treasure Island for the most at-risk high school students – those who have failed in traditional schools and have had run ins with the law.

24 students will receive free room and board. Many of these students consider homeless shelters their homes. The school, Life Learning Academy, enrolls 50-70 at-risk students and now they’re offering dorms and meals to those who need it the most. Their goal is to give these students a chance to turn their lives around and graduate from high school.

Rather than send these students to juvenile hall, where it costs each teen $375,000 per year, the dorms/meals program only costs about $33,000 per student. That’s about a tenth the cost.  95% of the students at Life Learning Academy graduate high school. Besides juvenile hall doesn’t improve the students’ chances of graduating from high school and leading a life without crime.  Instead, 40% of kids that are incarcerated in juvenile detention centers end up in prison by the time they’re 25 years old.  Love this new concept in helping students who need help the most. We need to offer this to all at-risk students.

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Fed up with school options for your children? If you’re considering homeschooling, check out Merit Academy’s curriculum.

We offer our curriculum framework to homeschoolers who want a high-caliber education that builds a strong academic foundation and prepares them for success in college/career. In addition to our academic classes, students also start businesses, do weekly internships, and do projects using the Project Merit model.

Imagine giving your child a Merit Academy education at a fraction of the cost!

Check it out: https://www.meritworld.com/wp/high-school-curriculum/