:)
I didn't see any concern about the carbon footprint or environment in here, either.
That really is just a tool to beat us until we accept a carbon tax, isn't it?
"School buses' vacant seats costing Hub; Issues frustrate call to end waste" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | February 2, 2009
A yellow bus pulled up at Mission Hill School one day last week and released five students bundled in hats, mittens, and puffy jackets. Then came another bus with only four students. By morning's end, 10 buses had pulled up at the Roxbury school, dropping off about 40 students in total. Two buses ferried only one student.
This scene plays out at schools across Boston each morning, with more than half of the buses arriving at their destinations at least half-empty, at a time when the district is facing a $100 million shortfall that could lead to layoffs and increased class sizes. On about a quarter of the trips each day, the buses are no more than a quarter full, according to school department data requested by the Globe....
But we have TRILLIONS for BANKS and WARS!!!!
Superintendent Carol R. Johnson's modest effort to keep more children closer to home this fall failed under opposition from advocates who believed it would prevent disadvantaged students from seeking better schools in other parts of the city. And this year, Mayor Thomas M. Menino made no mention of empty buses in his annual address....
The mayor said it will be difficult to improve the bus system until all neighborhoods have quality schools, cutting down on the number of children who must travel across town....
Broad improvement never happened and the zones have remained massive, requiring buses to sometimes snake through 10 miles of cramped neighborhood streets in rush hour traffic. The broad dispersal of students plays out each morning in the area of Geneva Avenue and Westville Street in Dorchester, where 46 buses whisk away 369 students to nearly four dozen schools across the city.
With the school district now facing a dire financial situation, school leaders plan to refocus on transportation spending, but every possible solution is rife with the same political obstacles that have stymied changes in the past.
Related: Governor Guts State Services
A return to neighborhood schools - long advocated by some city councilors and many parents - runs against the desire of parents who want to increase the number of available choices....
Boston runs one of the more expensive busing systems, with transportation consuming 9.3 percent of the schools' $833 million operating budget, compared with a national median of 4.3 percent.
Many government watchdogs expected Menino's public vow for change last year to set off a formal process, including the hiring of consultants and soliciting public opinion, but that never happened.
They SPENT PRECIOUS TAX DOLLARS on THAT?
Instead, the district pursued smaller savings through school consolidations and closures, combining bus stops, and identifying special education students who no longer required door-to-door pick-up and drop-off. But even those smaller changes - which should save $1.7 million in transportation spending next year - spurred controversy, with some parents feeling their schools were unfairly singled out....
In order for any plan to succeed, though, the process will have to be conducted in public, even though it may generate polarizing debates, said John Mudd, senior project director for the Massachusetts Advocates for Children, a nonprofit working on behalf of disadvantaged children.
The paper almost sounds as if that were not the case in our "democracy."
"There is going to be a natural interest for everyone to leap back and protect their own turf," Mudd said. "How do we get beyond that as a community?"
--more--"Oh, yeah, it's the college kids that also gotta hit the bricks:
"Cut-rate campus; Students forgo frills to save thousands" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | February 3, 2009
SALEM, N.H. - .... Twenty miles north, in Manchester, students on the school's wooded main campus shell out $25,000 in tuition to attend classes taught by some of the same professors. In addition to academics, though, they have access to a state-of-the-art gym with a rotating climbing wall and an Olympic-size pool. By next January, they will dine in a sparkling $14 million two-level food court spanning 46,800-square feet.
Southern New Hampshire is at the forefront of a push by some colleges around the country to provide a no-frills, lower-cost education for students who don't mind forgoing traditional college life and its accompanying amenities, particularly during a recession, as long as they get a diploma.
Yeah, DO WITH LESS, Amurka, while the RICHERS GORGE THEMSELVES!!
At a college stripped to its academic core, some higher education leaders worry that students are missing the dearly held residential experience. For generations, glossy brochures have touted the ideal of spending four years ambling along leafy quads and partaking in deep discussions with dormmates late into the night.
"Families come to campus and they want to see a food court, a fitness center with a climbing wall, and brand-new dorms," said Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire. "So we build everything, each one nicer than the other, to remain competitive."
But, LeBlanc added: "I'm not sure that improves education. It just drives the price up. Not everybody needs it, and frankly, not everybody can afford it."
Southern New Hampshire began its discount two-year model in the fall for freshmen who commute to satellite campuses in Salem or Nashua, and it intends to start one in Portsmouth. Daniel Webster College, a tiny private school in Nashua, plans to offer a similar tuition break this fall for freshmen who agree to live at home and commute to the main campus; instead of the $26,000 yearly tuition, they would pay $15,000.
The public university system in Pennsylvania is also considering the possibility of creating four-year colleges without dorms, athletics, or extracurricular activities to lower the price of a bachelor's degree. Parents and students struggling to pay ever-soaring college costs say they welcome the new options, especially at a time when families are worried about layoffs, loans are scarce, and there is greater aversion to debt.
So much for college being fun.
Southern New Hampshire's satellites, which offer more personalized attention, appeal to parents whose children have amassed less-than-stellar academic records in high school and who wonder whether their investments in a traditional college would simply be buying four years of "Animal House."
So what does $10,000 - comparable to tuition and required fees at a state school - buy? A full load of prescribed introductory courses in English, math, psychology, and history, intimate classes of fewer than 10 students, and built-in office hours with professors, so students don't drop out.
The only amenities at the Salem satellite: computer labs, vending machines, and a lounge with a stack of magazines and a chess board.
"It's not the mainstream college experience, but it helps keep your sights focused on your work," said Matthew Gambardella, an 18-year-old business major who commutes 40 minutes from his parents' home in Peabody. He has a twin brother who attends another private college, at full tuition, but he chose the no-frills option to help his parents keep costs down.
It pains me to see the kids so easily accepting this degradation.
After two years at the satellite campuses, attending classes four mornings a week, students can transfer to the main 320-acre campus, where they then must pay the full tuition. Room and board costs another $10,000, bringing the total traditional college experience to about $35,000 a year.
On the Manchester campus, signs of college life buzz. Students shoot pool in the campus pub, which routinely hosts stand-up comedy. Fliers on dining hall tables advertise Greek rush and an activity fair showcasing more than 50 student clubs. Hallway bulletin boards tout upcoming ski trips, a speaker series on entrepreneurship, themed housing options, and intramural badminton, ping pong, and racquetball.
While some may call that residential experience an elite ideal, others question whether a cheaper, commuter education model is as effective. Research has shown that students who live on campus are, on average, more likely to graduate on time, get better grades, and be happier with their college experience, higher education leaders said.
I can only speak from a commuter's point-of-view (I rode a BIKE in ALL TYPES of WEATHER -- because I believed in global warming then).
"A no-frills approach is better than nothing, but it's very difficult to achieve the same thing as having a total educational experience that comes with living on campus," said Richard Eckman, president of The Council of Independent Colleges in Washington, D.C.
Teri Gambardella had always envisioned a traditional residential college education for her twin sons, but rapidly rising tuitions outpaced the family's college savings. She and her husband asked their sons to compromise: They would have to live at home and commute to a school of their choice for the first two years. Under that scenario, the family expected to save $20,000 a year on room and board costs for both teens.
But we have TRILLIONS to GIVE AWAY to WAR LOOTERS and BANKS (and BILLIONS to ISRAEL, don't forget that).
Then they heard of the steep tuition break at Southern New Hampshire.
"I nearly fell over when we were interviewing and they told us the cost," Gambardella said. "I said, 'You're kidding!' My husband and I just looked at each other and we were praying that Matt might like to go there. When he said yes, we said, 'Whoopee!' "
She knows the savings - a combined $35,000 a year - come at an experiential cost. She and her husband had attended residential colleges in Boston, a rite of passage that taught independence, self-discovery, and how to live among diverse peers.
"By being with other students and listening to the way they handle projects and even problems in life, you learn a great deal," Teri Gambardella said. "That's what they're missing right now. They just leave at the end of the day and go home."
Aaaah, who cares if the kids get ripped on their college experience; it will still be better than the draft and unnecessary wars they are sent to fight.
--more--"
