Higher Education Observer

 I have cut and paste this here; I am not making money here, but this is vital, and scary.  We are already seeing these results with Fall 2022's freshmen class.  What will happen moving forward? How can we maintain college-level learning? There are plenty of time-honored ways to deal with a bad report card. “Forget” it in your locker, bury it deep in your book bag—tear it up and eat it if you’re really desperate. But no amount of deception would be enough to hide the lousy grades America’s schools got this week from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The NAEP tests a representative sample of 4th and 8th-grade students on reading and math skills to determine how their learning compares to past students at that age. Scores were already slipping before the pandemic, but in the latest round—administered this spring—about a third of students didn’t meet the lowest reading benchmark, and math performance saw its steepest decline since the NAEP’s first test

 Just so you know, we have our SACS visit this week.  This is my third. I presented on the QEP this morning, my second QEP leadership.  I should go on the road with workshops on how to do it.   They are a lovely group, and I know they will give us great feedback.  No irony here. 

Politics in Georgia are crazy this year.   The incumbent Republican governor has a pretty good  chance of winning. I joke around that I am voting for him because he made sure all state employees got a permanent  $5000 raise.   Seriously, what has Stacey Abrams done for me? Even more seriously, I am not that crazy about the Republican party, but that doesn't motivate me to vote for a slate of Democrats. Maybe one.... Remember, I am in the 14th District.  Anyway, the news about Herschel Walker will probably sink his boat, which is fine for me. Having a Republican Senate (to counteract the incompetence of the Biden administration, if for no other reason) is not important enough to violate all sanity, ethics, and good sense by voting for a person who was only put in the race as a token African-American and someone with UGA football recognition. None of that makes him qualified to be in the Senate. The Dobbs decision by  the Supreme Court, sending abortion law back to the states, has ha

 I am writing my memoir of 45 years working in higher education and 50 years studying the communication discipline.  Has anyone else out there thought about doing this?  It has to be a balance of good stories, reflection, best practices, and theory/research. It's also tips on teaching "speech," which is the hook. My life is not that interesting to write about, but ..... teaching public speaking is a lot of fun sometimes. And it's hard not to laugh when a student says "Jeffrey Dahmer discombobulated his victims." (despite the horrid subject)

 Bots? Spam? I got 222 hits this week. I don't have that many posts here! I am going to write a book: What You Need to Know About College* (before, during  and after). It will explain to non-academics what college is really about.  I. Why higher education is higher: the goal of college II. Accreditation  II. The truth about costs and how to pick a good college/university III. How colleges are set up, or should be IV. The culture of higher ed: The myth of ivory towers V. How to succeed in college with really trying VI Supporting one's family member in college VII. The care and feeding of college professors. Any other chapter ideas???