Youth Issues

Student Violence from… a lost generation(?)

Herbert Marcuse, a ’spiritual father of the Student Left’, said “We have a truly lost generation, lost to war and the preparation of war,… lost to hypocrisy… lost to a whole society which reproduces poverty and injustice… This loss may never be retrieved until we recognize, and act accordingly, that in and behind their often bizarre and explosive forms of protest, they voice the demand that this society, finally and thoroughly, use its vast resources for the abolition of misery and oppression.”

And that was back on May 17, 1969.  More than 40 years later ‘this society’ has not used ‘its vast resources for the abolition of misery and oppression’.  It has, instead, re-created the situation of the 60’s… and again birthed a ‘lost generation’.

Today, are we not witnessing what many feel is a ‘bizarre’ protest?  Let’s hope that once again it does not go the same course, that we do not, once again, come to blows, that we look at those times and, as a society, this time do what should have been done then; call for the morality of the majority to overrule the actions of the minority.

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LA Free Press, 1969 Marcuse on Student Violence

The Rise of College Student Borrowing

by Rebecca Hinze-Pifer and Richard Fry, Pew Research Center
November 22, 2010

Overview

Undergraduate college student borrowing has risen dramatically in recent years. Graduates who received a bachelor’s degree in 2008 borrowed 50% more (in inflation-adjusted dollars) than their counterparts who graduated in 1996, while graduates who earned an associate’s degree or undergraduate certificate in 2008 borrowed more than twice what their counterparts in 1996 had borrowed, according to a new analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project.

Increased borrowing by college students has been driven by three trends:

More college students are borrowing. In 2008, 60% of all graduates had borrowed, compared with about half (52%) in 1996.

College students are borrowing more. Among 2008 graduates who borrowed, the average loan for bachelor’s degree recipients was more than $23,000, compared with slightly more than $17,000 in 1996. For associate’s degree and certificate recipients, the average loan increased to more than $12,600 from about $7,600 (all figures in 2008 dollars).

More college students are attending private for-profit schools, where levels and rates of borrowing are highest. Over the past decade, the private for-profit sector has expanded more rapidly than either the public or private not-for-profit sectors. In 2008, these institutions granted 18% of all undergraduate awards, up from 14% in 2003. Students who attend for-profit colleges are more likely than other students to borrow, and they typically borrow larger amounts.

Other key findings from the Pew Research Center analysis:

• One-quarter (24%) of 2008 bachelor’s degree graduates at for-profit schools borrowed more than $40,000, compared with 5% of graduates at public institutions and 14% at not-for-profit schools.
• Roughly one-in-four recipients of an associate’s degree or certificate borrowed more than $20,000 at both private for-profit and private not-for-profit schools, compared with 5% of graduates of public schools.
• Graduates of private for-profit schools are demographically different from graduates in other sectors. Generally, private for-profit school graduates have lower incomes, and are older, more likely to be from minority groups, more likely to be female, more likely to be independent of their parents and more likely to have their own dependents.
• Although private for-profit schools specialize in different fields of study than do public and private not-for-profit schools, the differences in borrowing patterns persist within fields of study. For almost every field of study at every level, students at private for-profit schools are more likely to borrow and tend to borrow larger amounts than students at public and private not-for-profit schools.

Read the full report at pewsocialtrends.org.

Yesterday, it was the Counter Culture. Today, it’s…
Thursday, November 25, 2010 and it’s all about us.

Est. 1964 Re-Incarnated by Public Demand

This is the original, 60’s, counter culture, LA Free Press. Today’s Best Alternative View & Our Old Hippie Headlines, Too! A Head Trip for Smart Minds.

The Counter Culture is all about us! It’s a statement with a two-fold meaning that explains why what was once imagined may now become our better reality.

Published by One p.m. (PST)

Series 17 – Day 3 of 3

Ecology. Who Cares?

(In addition to our postings here, please check out Peter Bergman’s blog ===>)

Going Beyond Coal – A Student Movement Going in the Right Direction

Contributing Writers Rosalie Murphy and Megan Scott

Despite a tumultuous national election cycle and an impending divided Congress, college students refuse to surrender their dedication to protecting the planet and fighting for a clean energy future.

Campuses Beyond Coal, a division of the Sierra Student Coalition, is a key player in organizing this concern into productive efforts. While the prime mission is to ensure that the campus on which a Chapter is located moves ‘beyond coal’ as its energy source, so, too, is there a determination to have their adjacent community take up the cause.

Here in Los Angeles, the University of Southern California (USC) and LA City College (LACC) have had active Campuses Beyond Coal groups.  They, like the other Chapters, not only have been working to free their campuses from any dependence on coal, they have been actively advocating for a coal-free city.  A recent compatriot of the cause is the Los Angeles Valley College.   One concern of them all is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, as nearly 40% of the electricity with which it powers the city and , therefore, the campuses in it, comes from coal.

On November 16th, these chapters, and more than fifty others, participated in a National Day of Action to demand bold clean energy leadership from all levels of government.  As an artistic instillation of their vision for a future fueled by renewable energy sources, chapters nationwide displayed more than 6,000 signed and hand-folded pinwheels.  These will be collected and shipped to Washington, D.C. for a similar show of solidarity at the National Mall at the end of this month.

As a participant in this National Day of Action,  the chapter at USC also collected pinwheels, and then strung them between trees in the campus’s Alumni Park.  Afterwards, Alex Talishinsky, a USC undergrad and Beyond Coal member, said “We wanted to highlight how much fantastic renewable energy potential there is in Southern California – we have abundant renewable resources right here. We don’t need dirty and dangerous coal power, and we’re calling on our university, city and national leaders to recognize that.”

To that end, for a second time, USC students formally met with their university officials.  “The administrators we spoke with share a lot of our goals, and the campus Sustainability Office has done a lot of great work,” said Carrell Hambrick, the campus’s Beyond Coal Grassroots Coordinator.  Last year, the office of the university president sent a letter to LA City Council, endorsing the mayor’s commitment to a coal-free city in the next decade. However, Hambrick wants to see her campus undertake ambitious, concrete clean energy goals for itself:

“We talked for almost two hours about possibilities to drastically improve efficiency and even generate solar power on campus. The administrators asked us to draft a proposal for an energy task force, which we’ve done, and we hope it’ll lead to substantial changes on campus.  USC is a globally renowned school and we should be on the forefront of energy innovation, too.”

As for the LA City College Chapter, they, too,  displayed the air-powered pinwheels they collected and also called on their Administration, demonstrating the unity, power and purpose of this national campaign:
“We’re out here to ask the administration to commit to a coal free future on campus at LACC and to demonstrate our support for moving the entire city off of coal as soon as possible,” said Carlos Hernandez, President of the Beyond Coal Campaign at LACC.  “The [LA City College] District has already taken steps in the right direction to becoming a leader among sustainable schools with initiatives like green buildings and some small-scale renewable energy projects, but in reality, as long as a large portion of our power comes from coal, we are still dependent on dirty, old technology.” Likewise, these students want their school to be “a national leader, not just in academics, but in solving the world’s energy challenges.”

“We have a choice as to how long Read more…

Commentary on: Ecology. Who Cares?

Series 17

Day 3 of 3

Commentary will be posted at 5 pm (PST)

Est. 1964 Re-Incarnated by Public Demand

This is the original, 60’s, counter culture, LA Free Press. Today’s Best Alternative View & Our Old Hippie Headlines, Too! A Head Trip for Smart Minds.

This article refers directly to the contents of the Los Angeles Free Press. Specifically, to the Series mentioned above to which there is an Intro below.

HERE is a link to the first postings of this Series.

After any day’s reading, come here again to find discussion on the thoughts generated and the conclusions that can be drawn. And please don’t hesitate to add whatever you have in mind!

by Steven M. Finger

Come visit at 5pm (PST)

Los Angeles Free Press, Los Angeles Free Press Archives, LA Free Press Archives, LA Free Press, Ecology, Ecology Movement, Ron Cobb

Here are links to the Series’ items:

(Day 1 of 3)

[1] 2010’s Dirtiest Opponent of Clean Energy

[2] Oil Companies Deny Pollution Responsibility

(Day 2 of 3)

[1] The Story of Electronics has just been release

[2] Toxic Substances Portal

(Day 3 of 3)

[1] IS Coal Coming Clean?

[2] Is Coal Really Dirty?

[3] Video Reviews of the Hidden Coal Issues

[4] Going Beyond Coal – A Student Movement Going in the Right Direction

[5] The Los Angeles Free Press Makes its First Major Contribution to the Ecology Movement (41 Years Ago!)

The Youth Agenda

Lindsay McCluskey, USSA President