I’ve been planning a conversation lesson around the 2008 US presidential election and I thought I would share some resources I found.
With any conversation class, you want to make sure you have lots of background information. When dealing with something as complicated as the US election for president, the class is going to have a lot of questions. So you either need to read up and bring materials to look up anything you didn’t memorize. Or you need resources that the students can read and research themselves.
Here is some great …Continue

All Things Considered is running a nice comparison of the education policies of presumptive US Presidential candidates Barak Obama and John McCain.
Of most interest to international students is probably that both candidates support lowering costs for universities. Obama has a plan that would give students a tax credit worth $4000 in exchange for 100 hours of community service. He would also reform the government lending system and give the Department of Education a more direct role.
McCain’s plan also focuses on American students by increasing federal Pell Grants for needy …Continue

Inside Higher Ed has a great article up arguing whetherThe Bachelor’s Degree Is Obsolete.
The argument is primary economic, arguing that the amount of debt and time spent preparing for a four-year bachelor’s degree outweighs any benefits from having the degree.
The capital markets have pulled out of major segments of lending for college loans. Wouldn’t even a Finance 101 student say this exit means the capital markets are challenging the value of a college degree? The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has demanded explanations about outcomes from the wealthiest colleges and …Continue

Barak Obama, leading candidate for President of the US, announced today his plan to fund all universities directly from the government budget. In a speech in Pennsylvania, which holds its primaries in 3 weeks, he said:
Education should be available to everyone at every level regardless of ability to pay. The only way to lift the poor from disadvantage is through education. Education means better jobs and higher salaries and more self-respect.
He went on to cite the problem of how prestigious universities often set extremely high tuition costs which most …Continue

The Modern Language Association has released a survey on Enrollments in Languages Other than English in US universities.
The last time this survey was done was in 2002. Spanish is by far the most common languages of study, and the number of students enrolled in Spanish classes is still increasing. French and German are also extremely popular, probably because they are traditional international languages and because much scholarship is published in both.
American Sign Language is the fourth most popular, with Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Russian and Arabic rounding out the top …Continue