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What do Bill Gate of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Michael Dell of Dell Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook have in common?  They all dropped out of college.  College costs are rising fast – faster than the cost of inflation.  So there is a valid question, is the cost of college worth it?  Statistics and studies still show that a college degree usually translates to a higher income.  But in these globally hard economic times having a college degree is no guarantee of higher income.

Based on current estimated cost of tuition, room and board, four years at Harvard University costs $188,860.  The four-year cost for an in-state student at the University of Kansas is $60,236.  Paying for college today, for most students means either they or their family takes loans.  The average student debt after foru years is $22,656.  Yet less than 1 in 5 students in the graduating class of 2009 had a job at graduation.

There are many benefits that come with college attendance.  College students are healthier, vote more often, smoke less, exercise more and according to a Pew study say they are happier.  In addition, according to the Census Bureau, the incomes of people 25 years or older in 2008, who graduated from high school was almost $33,800 while those who attended college salary was $39,700 and those with a bachelors degree, $55,600.

And even in today’s economy, the gap between the earnings of a high school graduate and a college graduate is still growing.

US News and World Reports had an interview with Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States (www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2009/10/15) I find her comments worth repeating here.

“We all remember the impact a special teacher had on us””a teacher who refused to let us fall through the cracks; who pushed us and believed in us when we doubted ourselves; who sparked in us a lifelong curiosity and passion for learning. Decades later, we remember the way they made us feel and the things they inspired us to do””how they challenged us and changed our lives. So it’s not surprising that studies show that the single most important factor affecting students’ achievement is the caliber of their teachers. And when we think about the qualities that make an outstanding teacher””boundless energy and endless patience; vision and a sense of purpose; the creativity to help us see the world in a different way; commitment to helping us discover and fulfill our potential””we realize: These are also the qualities of a great leader.

Today, more than ever before, we need precisely this kind of leadership in our classrooms. As the president has frequently said, in a 21st-century global economy where jobs can be shipped to any place with an Internet connection and children here in America will be competing with children around the world for the same jobs, a good education is no longer just one road to opportunity””it is the only road. And good teachers aren’t just critical for the success of our students. They are the key to the success of our economy.

But the reality is that with each passing year, we are losing more and more of our most experienced teachers. More than half of our nation’s teachers and principals are baby boomers. And in the next four years, as many as one third of America’s 3.2 million teachers could retire. The U.S. Department of Education projects that by 2014, just five short years from now, our nation’s schools will hire as many as 1 million new teachers. And the challenge to our schools is not just an overall teacher shortage but a shortage of good teachers in the schools where they are most essential: high-need schools that face some of the most daunting obstacles but have students with so much potential. We also have a shortage of teachers in subjects like math and science that we know will be critical to our children’s future.

Today, we need a new generation of leaders to take their place in our nation’s schools. We need passionate, talented, committed men and women to step up and devote themselves to preparing our students to succeed in this new century.

We need universities to double down on their efforts to prepare teachers and to improve and expand effective alternative routes to certify teachers. We need to encourage more experienced professionals to consider teaching as the next chapter in their careers. And we need to treat teachers like the professionals they are by providing good salaries and high-quality professional development opportunities. We need parents to do their part as well to match that leadership in the classroom with leadership at home. We need to set limits and turn off the TV. We need to put away those video games and make sure that homework gets done. We need to reinforce the example that’s being set and the lessons being taught at school and make sure that learning continues at home.

And we need government to support significant efforts to recruit and retain teachers and to reward high-performing teachers. Along those lines, President Obama is already investing more than $3 billion to turn around struggling schools. And he has proposed a nationwide Teacher Recruitment Program to attract more people to the profession, especially in high-need schools. I look forward to being involved with this program and encouraging people across America to put their leadership skills to work in our nation’s schools.

Much work lies ahead, and it won’t be easy. But I am confident that with a new generation of outstanding leaders in our classrooms, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of our young people and a lasting impact on the life of this nation.

A survey commissioned by Seventeen magazine and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, asked 42 questions of 1,200 males between the ages of 15-22 about sex and relationships.

The findings indicate:

• 30% said they were virgins
• 45% lied about how far they have gone.
• 24% lied about the number of sexual partners they’ve had.
• 23% claimed not to be a vigin when they were.
• 57% of sexually active males said they had had unprotected sex.
• 51% said having sex before marriage was acceptable in their family.
• 53% said they had had a conversation with a parent about preventing pregnancy.
• 66% said they be happy in a serious relationship that didn’t include sex.

For me, the most disturbing data, are the percentage of sexually active males who had had unprotected sex and the low percentage who had had a conversation with their parents about preventing pregnancy.   Peer pressure continues to play a major role in what males tell other males about sex.

USA Today reported that while the number of students taking the Advanced Placement Tests “hit a record high last year”, the number of students who failed to reach a 3 score (in order to gain credit) fell.  Last year 2.9 million examinations were taken in order to gain college-level credit.  The newspaper found that more than two in five students (41.5%) earned a failing score of 1 or 2, up from 36.5% in 1999. In the South, nearly half of all tests- 48.4% earned a 1 or 2.

The newspaper also reported that “more students, rewarded by weighted grades, and in some cases, cash payments,are taking the bait.”

Schools have pushed Advanced Placement testing as a means of increasing student performance and have failed to adequately prepare both teachers and students for the rigor of the higher standards demanded from Advanced Placement courses.  There needs to be an investment of time, funding and preparation if school districts and principals which to offer advanced placement. Not doing so is deceptive to students, parents and the community and in the long run, is harmful to everyone.

Board member Randy Freeman, an elementary school teacher and parent to four daughters in Menifee schools, said he supports the initial decision to ban the dictionary temporarily.After a parent complained about an elementary school student stumbling across “oral sex” in a classroom dictionary, Menifee Union School District in California, officials decided to pull Merriam Webster’s 10th edition from all school shelves earlier this week.

School officials will review the dictionary to decide if it should be permanently banned because of the “sexually graphic” entry, said district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus.

“It’s just not age appropriate,” said Cadmus, adding that this is the first time a book has been removed from classrooms throughout the district.

Meanwhile, some parents are questioning the district’s response.

“If we’re going to pull a book because it has something on oral sex, then every book in the library with that better be pulled,” she said. “The standard needs to be consistent ….”

Freeman said it’s “a prestigious dictionary that’s used in the Riverside County spelling bee, but I also imagine there are words in there of concern.”

Let’s get real.  With all of the things that schools have to deal with, one parent’s complaint has started the ball rolling.  I looked at the dictionary and words like, “kill”, “murder” and “war” which to me, are more offensive and obscene are still in the dictionary.

Franklin has been selected to be the “author of the month” by Eye on Education.

Please check out their blog at https://blog.eyeoneducation.com/

If you need additional information about his books or having him speak at your school or conference, call him 505/823-2339.

A survey conducted by Peter Hart Research Associates based on interviews with 302 employers revealed the following most important staffing requirements:

89% said effective communication, both orally and in writing.

81% said critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills.

79% said the ability to apply knowledge and skills to real-world settings   through  internships or other hands-on experiences.

75% said analytic skill, complex problem-solving.

75% said the ability to make ethical decisions.

Notice none of the employers said that passing high performance tests, as required by No Child Left Behind is on the list.

Teen age pregnancy continues to make headlines with Sarah Palin’s daughter announcing that she would be abstinent until marriage.  This is after she bore a child while a teenager.  Data indicate that abstinence doesn’t work with teenagers.  A new report from New Child Trends indicates that 34 percent of young women who had been teen mothers did not earn a high school diploma or a GED, compared with only 6 percent of young women who had not had a teen birth.

Among the other findings presented in a fact sheet entitled Diploma Attainment Among Teen Mothers:

Slightly more than one-half (51%) of teen mothers received a high school diploma by the age of 22, compared with 89 percent of young women who had not given birth during their teen years.

A higher proportion of teen mothers earned a GED (15 percent) than did their counterparts who had not experienced a teen birth (5 percent).

Younger teen mothers are less likely than older teen mothers to earn a diploma.  Among young women who had a child before the age of 18, only 38 percent earned a high school diploma by the age of 22, compared with 60 percent of those who were 18 or 19 at the time that they had their first child.

Black teen mothers are more likely than Hispanic or white teen mothers to earn a diploma or GED by age 22.  More than two-thirds (67 percent) of black women who had a child before the age of 18 earned either a high school diploma or GED, compared with 55 percent of white women and 46 percent of Hispanic women in this category.

Data used in this study were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1997 Cohort.

With the nation’s increased emphasis on increasing graduation rates, stopping teenage pregnancy would seem to be a topic of discussion in homes as well as schools. Giving birth as a teenager determines the rest of a child’s life script.