This Week in Education…

A couple of education-related notes.

Firstly, for those of you considering your kids’ educational future, don’t forget that a four-year degree may not be the most appropriate route to go.  Depending on what your son or daughter wants to do, a community college education may actually be a better investment.  This is interesting not just from the anticipated earned income disparity, but because community colleges are significantly cheaper than most four-year institutions, even for an in-state four-year university.  Community colleges have done a wonderful job in the past several decades of aligning themselves to provide relevant and timely skills training for an amazing variety of careers.  While they aren’t a replacement for full degrees in all cases, it’s something to keep in mind.

Secondly, thanks to Becky for sending me this article from the Los Angeles Times.  An alternative sexuality student group has the ACLU threatening to sue a school district for not giving them adequate announcement time in the morning.

Many of us can remember announcement time in high school, a collection of inane and occasionally insane announcements about various student groups and goings on.  Literary clubs.  School spirit events.  Fundraising campaigns.  A variety of things.  I don’t remember anyone particularly enjoying them, but they were a few minutes less of a teacher lecturing or making you do work, so we couldn’t complain too much.

I’m pretty positive that anything sex-related was not allowed as an announcement.  Teachers and administrators were all-too-keen, I’m sure, to minimize talk of sex in any way, shape, or form.  They know their students are hormonal wrecking balls already.  The last thing desired would be to stir that up with morning announcements.

That’s what I find particularly ridiculous about this lawsuit threat.  I’d like to think somebody is going to laugh at the ACLU and dare them to take the school to court so a judge can kick the case out as being ridiculous.  I can’t imagine a morning announcement for a heterosexual support club: “Guys and girls, are you heterosexual?  Do you spend a lot of time thinking about this and wondering about what it all means?  Do you want to talk about it with other guys and girls?  How about getting together at lunch with other like-minded people to provide mutual support encouragement.”  It’s ridiculous even to consider it.  Yet just because it’s alternative sexuality oriented, there are people ready to sue over the necessity of broadcasting this topic in announcement time.  

Come on, people.  Really?