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If you have ever doubted that the ocean is rising, this may surprise you.  A small island off the northeast coast of Japan is now completely underwater. That’s right! It’s gone because of the rising sea level. The Japanese Coast Guard will confirm this in the next few weeks.

When I was a kid, we could walk down the beach during low tide in Malibu twice per day. That was a given — every 12 hours. But over the past few years, the tide has risen so high that there have been months when you couldn’t walk down the beach at all. GASP!

Not sure why this isn’t making frontpage news. We have a CO2 problem and it’s not going away on its own.

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November 28, 2018

Island Actually Disappears Due to Climate Change

If you have ever doubted that the ocean is rising, this may surprise you.  A small island off the northeast coast of Japan is now completely underwater. That’s right! It’s gone because of the rising sea level. The Japanese Coast Guard will confirm this in the next few weeks.

When I was a kid, we could walk down the beach during low tide in Malibu twice per day. That was a given — every 12 hours. But over the past few years, the tide has risen so high that there have been months when you couldn’t walk down the beach at all. GASP!

Not sure why this isn’t making frontpage news. We have a CO2 problem and it’s not going away on its own.

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November 21, 2018

15 Ways To Save Money During The Holidays – And Beyond!

With the holidays here, and budgets bursting at the seams, check out this interesting blog on creative ways to save money. 

Whether you lower your credit card interest or sign up for Ebates, you’re more likely to stay on track with your budget if you embrace a new system to save money BEFORE the holidays. 

Success begets success.  So even if you save $5 per month today, you’re more likely to make smarter choices in other areas – saving you even more money. 

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November 20, 2018

ProjectMerit Can Be The Key To College Admissions

One of the best things a high school student can do to improve their chances of getting into their top colleges is to do a project.  With grade inflation making a 4.0 (or 5.0) GPA commonplace, students need to do something to stand out.  It used to be that playing a sport and an instrument would be enough.  Then volunteering for a charity or shadowing a professional would help beat the college admissions game.  But today, colleges are looking for students who delve into and stick with something that fascinates them.  Colleges want dynamic students who might design innovative devices, solve climate change, or find medical cures.

Top colleges admissions committees aren’t impressed that students take 16 AP classes or compete in 3 sports. Yup! They don’t believe students who claim to be president of 4 school clubs and members of 10 others. It’s not about quantity, but about the quality of the activity.  Colleges want to see students explore ideas and pursue them.  They’re looking for students who start their very own project – not begrudgingly do something that is assigned by a teacher, required by a club, or completed by their parent.

Check out projects that give students the edge in the college admissions process.

By brainstorming about doing a project, students explore areas of interest.  Then they carve out their niches and do something substantial. I’ve just published the 3rd edition of Beat the College Admissions Game with ProjectMerit to walk students through the entire process of doing ProjectMerit.  These projects will help build confidence and open the doors to colleges and scholarships!

November 17, 2018

Trump Administration Wants To Protect Sexual Predators on Campus

In a time when women are stepping up and speaking out, our Education Secretary Betsy DeVos just proposed to “protect” students accused of sexual misconduct while undermining victims’ rights. Seriously? One step forward, two steps backwards.

DeVos just released a proposal to add due process protections for accused students. Rather than stepping up protections for victims of sexual assault or misconduct, she is pushing policy that better protects the accused sexual predator.  Remember Brock Turner?  He’s the Stanford student who was convicted of 3 counts of felony sexual assault back in 2016.  Because the court believed that a harsh prison sentence would “ruin his life,” he got off with just 3 months of jail time.  When did we start worrying more about the perpetrators than the victims? 

This proposal also requires that colleges be responsible for investigating misconduct that occurs within the colleges’ own programs and not in off-campus college activities or events. If a victim confides in a person who is not the “proper official on campus,” the college will not be responsible for investigating the case.  Wow! The colleges will be allowed to set their own evidentiary standard for discovering these findings, and what’s worse, they could cross examine victims – the reason so many victims of assault don’t speak out against their perpetrators in the first place.

So colleges have less responsibility to protect and investigate their students, and victims will face scrutiny for standing up for their rights. Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said Devos and President Trump were “trying to take another step toward sweeping the scourge of sexual assault under the rug.”

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November 14, 2018

Free Childcare for Millennial Parents

If you’ve got a toddler or preschooler, finding quality childcare is probably an ongoing concern. Millennials spend more time with their children than any previous generation, and with their flexible work schedules, they need childcare that works for them. When my girls were toddlers, I set up childcare in my home so I could be with them yet still have the ability to work in my home office. By having childcare in my home, I customized a program that my girls loved and met all of my high expectations for academics, socialization, and exercise!

First, I created a curriculum that made learning how to read, do math, and play with science FUN! Then I added games, activities, and field trips.  Knowing what my girls loved to do, it was easy to create a monthly plan.

Second, I invited a couple of children (the same ages) to join my girls. Their families paid tuition, which paid for the teacher who ran the program – right here in my rec. room.  So, I got FREE childcare in my home! It was amazing. 

Third, I set the schedule to meet my needs.  Because I worked from home, I didn’t need childcare at 6:00 am.  Instead, my girls slept in.  I set hours for preschool to work around my schedule. It worked so well that I had the teacher come early to make breakfast, do the laundry, and get dinner started.  After the program ended, she would clean the house and prepare dinner.

I guess I was a millennial before my time! By having free childcare in my home, I enjoyed being with my girls throughout the day and I ran a successful business in my home office.  I just wrote the 2nd edition of my book that shows millennials how to set up a program for their families.  Check out The Millennial’s Guide to Free Child Care in Your Home.

November 10, 2018

Trick or Treat on Saturday Night?

Back in 1999, 10-year-old Jaclyn (my youngest daughter) told me that Halloween should be on the Saturday BEFORE October 31st.  She wanted to be able to trick or treat until midnight, sort and trade candies with her friends, and gorge herself on her favorite Sour Patches without having to worry about doing homework and going to school the next day.  Apparently she was on to something.

Jaclyn created petitions, got local dentists and politicians to endorse her plans, and gathered friends to join her in trick or treating on the Saturday before Halloween.  She held banners at major intersections in Santa Cruz, passed out fliers in neighborhoods, and rallied her friends.  Jaclyn was interviewed by several TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers. That was in 1999. 

Fast forward to 2018, 40,000 people just petitioned President Trump to change the date that the US celebrates Halloween to the last Saturday of October. Although Halloween is not a federal holiday, these petitioners – just like Jaclyn back in 1999 – are starting a movement to change the day, regardless of the jurisdiction that makes these decisions (it’s a social holiday). I hope they get some traction because it make sense to trick or treat on Saturday night!

November 6, 2018

Why Don’t People Vote?

Could it be that they are intimidated by the decisions that are up for grabs during elections like this one?  I know I felt overwhelmed as I sat down with the piles of postcards, booklets, and voter registration packets. Just getting to the polls and voting is half the battle.  The other half is wading through the propaganda and understanding how to vote in their best interests.

I would like to see a non-partisan group weigh in on the candidates and measures in a quick, simple chart that is easy to read and understand.  I’d like to see who is funding them, who endorses them, and what ramifications will result from them. In other words, I don’t think people have the time, knowledge, or bandwidth to make informed decisions for every category on their ballots, so let’s make it easy for everyone. 

Understanding the truth behind every candidate and measure is intimidating to everyone, and this is why people don’t vote!

Until someone invents the perfect system, please check out ballotpedia.org.  You can enter your address and zip code and see what will be on your personal ballot.  You can click all text in blue to read further information on all measures, candidates other items on your ballot.

November 2, 2018

The Bias In Letters Of Recommendation

There are 4 ways to get better letters of recommendations

College-bound seniors request letters of recommendation from 2 teachers and their guidance counselor every fall creating angst and stress for those “lucky” recipients.  Some teachers have to write upwards of 200 letters of recommendation and counselors even more. That means they are writing these letters after school, on weekends, and during the holidays – and they don’t get paid to write them!

Students who attend elite college-preparatory schools have a clear advantage because the teachers have pressure from parents and stakeholders to give each student the edge needed to get into selective colleges.  Many of these teachers and counselors request that students and parents complete surveys and write short answers to several questions so that they can write comprehensive letters of recommendation. 

But students who attend large public high schools don’t have the same privileges.  Their teachers often use form letters to pump out hundreds of letters in an afternoon.  When they’re underpaid and not compensated for the hours required to complete these forms and write these letters, the student generally receives less glowing and personalized recommendations.

There are 4 ways to get better letters of recommendations:

  1. Create a complete resume listing all of your activities and accomplishments since 9th grade.
  2. Write a cover letter that describes your goals for college (major) and why you have selected these colleges.
  3. Give the teacher and counselor at least 4 weeks to complete these letters.
  4. Thank the teachers and show your appreciation by being kind and respectful.

If you put in just as much time to help your teachers and counselor as they do to write your letters of recommendation, you’ll get the best results.

October 30, 2018

Socioeconomic Status Beats Academic Achievement In The Game Of Life

Attending a high school with wealthy students has more influence on both education and life successes than attending a high school with high achievers.  A recent study by University of Tubingen and University of Illinois Urbana Champagne indicates that high socioeconomic status correlates to a lifetime of academic and career success.  Students do better if the other students are average academic achievers rather than high achievers.  Hmm. 

So go to school with rich kids who are B students? Obviously networking is a given with wealthy connections, but average students?  Maybe it’s because competing against overachievers may be debilitating whereas competing against average students creates a healthy and doable challenge.  Either way, the rich get richer, and sadly, the poor remain poor.

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October 26, 2018

Grade Inflation Doesn’t Help Anyone

Grade inflation hurts students.  Yup!  Don’t get me wrong, parents and students love to see A’s and B’s on report cards and transcripts because it gives them a sense of security that they can get into a “good” college and that everything is okay.  The problem is that this false sense of security leads to relaxed study skills, and worse, the misleading belief that the student has a mastery of the material and will be successful at the next level. 

One of my clients took the entire math series – all the way to Calculus – and received A’s and B’s in every course at her public charter school in California.  When she entered community college upon graduation, she was surprised that she would be required to take a high-school-level math course after taking the math placement exam.  What surprised me was that she failed that Algebra 1 course TWO TIMES because she didn’t have 5th grade math skills.  She couldn’t add and subtract fractions, solve equations, or even understand Algebra concepts. This is what happens with grade inflation.

When students get high grades for lackluster performance, they don’t learn to read critically, they can’t solve problems, and they believe that they’re doing just fine.  We need to give students the grades that they deserve so they can learn early on how to study to get their coveted A’s. 

A friend who teaches at a prestigious university told me that he feels like he is teaching remedial classes.  The students enter his class with such poor academic skills that he seriously can’t teach the class and cover the material he needs to because the majority of the students wouldn’t pass the class.  The administration puts pressure on professors to give good grades, so once again, we have grade inflation even at the highest levels. 

I attribute this problem to “helicopter” parenting that starts in elementary school.  When parents swoop in to protect their children from hurt feelings when they don’t win 1st place awards or get straight A’s, the student doesn’t have the real-life opportunities to improve their skills so they can earn the trophies or grades that they deserve.  Besides, the students know when their parents or teachers don’t believe in them and helicopter parenting contributes to students’ low self-esteem and all of the negative behaviors as a result.

So what’s the solution?  Rather than protect students from the truth by inflating grades or giving trophies to every student, teach the students how to be successful.  Guide them to improve their skills and give loving and healthy feedback along the way.  After all, we don’t want a society filled with entitled adults without skills or knowhow!

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