By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff

I’m writing a story about how well South Dakota scored on a recent state report card by a higher education center. According to the report, South Dakota seems to be doing a good job preparing students for college, and providing opportunities for students to go to college, but not so great with providing affordable higher education opportunities.

The report said that poor and working class families must devote 30 percent of their income, even after aid, to pay for costs at public four-year colleges. 

Some people might say that the state doesn’t have a responsibility to provide students with anything past the 12th grade (if you can’t afford it - don’t go), but I think we all know what kind of benefits a state receives when its citizens are educated.

Just food for thought - what do you think? 

 

 

 

 

By Deb Holland, Journal staff

Not until I received a call the week before Christmas did I know that South Dakota colleges have a proficiency exam for all students.

My son, a junior at South Dakota State University in Brookings, called to say he had done well on his proficiency exam. He scored especially well in mathematics. Can he actually be the son of two writers?

The tests came on the scene about 8 years ago when the South Dakota Board of Regents established a policy that states universities develop programs to demonstrate student proficiency in reading, writing, math and science reasoning.

The SDSU Web site says they did it in part because of increasing employer expectations of college graduates.

What do you think? Is this just a way for the colleges to get more grant money to bolster areas in which students need more help, or do they really have the student’s best interests at heart in testing their skills?

By Barbara Soderlin

I forced my husband to take me out Sunday night (when it was waaaayyyy below zero) to our church to see the School of Mines choir and local high school orchestra kids perform Handel’s Messiah. “You’d better be in the Christmas spirit after this,” he threatened. Sheesh.

Well, I was. The teen orchestral ensemble and college singers did a really nice job of putting on the show. It wasn’t that their musicianship was out of this world; I mean, they were good, but it wasn’t like seeing the Messiah put on by real pros. What was more impressive was the fact that these non-music majors attempted the challenging Messiah at all, and that they pulled it off with such professionalism.

The Mines choir director told a story before his students took the stage about how, when he came to the college 25 years ago, officials told him to do his best but it wasn’t like the group was really ever going to attempt (I think he said) a Bach cantata. They underestimated their own students, he said. Guess what, since then they they have performed some of the cantatas.

The director acknowledged being guilty of the same when he doubted his students could pull off the Messiah. But here they were, the beautiful setting of the church, taking their places in their formal dress, pulling it off — all those engineering majors who have such diverse talents.

The students even produced a thorough and informative program that helped ignorant people like myself follow along with the story and the meaning behind the music and lyrics. All in all it was an educational and entertaining night, and I think showed what education can do really well when it works — turn students into productive and well-rounded citizens who can share their skills and knowledge with the community.

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff

Just a note to piggyback on Barb’s earlier post about the Obama girls attending private school in Washington, instead of Chicago.

First, I absolutely believe that where you send your kids to school is a private choice and I have no doubt the Obamas had more things to consider than simply the quality of education. What about privacy and security? The press coming onto school grounds? The girls getting kidnapped?

But, with Obama’s platform of change, identifying with the common man, uniting the segregated, getting past race and economics, it’s fair to question why they will send their daughters to an elite school at a cost of almost $30,000 a year. Yes, almost $30,000.

I did a little math. Not including the cost of private tuition to the elite private school the girls were attending in Chicago (If we count that cost as well, we are probably getting closer to three quarters of a million dollars and we haven’t even gotten them out of high school) the Obamas will pay almost half a million dollars for Sasha and Malia’s grade school education if Obama stays in office for the next two terms.

If you’ve read anything lately about the debate over quality education and teachers in Washington’s public schools right now, you have heard of Michelle Rhee (as the article in Barb’s blog calls her “an activist chancellor”). She’s been hiring and firing, and on a crusade to raise the district’s content standards. It’s an uphill battle, and a worthy one, and she needs all the help she can get.

Obama says he is an advocate for public education, and the right of every child to recieve a quality education. But with the current debates over No Child Left Behind, the continuing questions over teacher pay and quality, and right here in South Dakota - the question of what constitutionally defines a quality education and who gets to pay for it, why wouldn’t we want a president who has a personal stake in it?

Private educators and students have a voice, and a lot of times it is in the form of money. Public education needs a voice, needs advocacy and needs change. That’s exactly what Obama promised and I hope he is willing to stick to that.

I think the way the Obamas chose a school was done respectfully and privately and I respect them for making an educated decision about what would be best for their daughters. As they enter the White House, I just hope they don’t lose site of the fact that all parents have the same desire to want the best education for their children - the difference is that most of them can’t afford a choice.

 

 

   

 

 

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff

I’ve spent more time on the road visiting rural schools this past two weeks than I have done in the 15 months I’ve been on the education beat. Despite the long hours in the car (2 hours to Faith, 3 hours to Isabel), I’m awestruck and fascinated by the small districts surviving on the far ends of the state.

I’m in the middle of several stories about how the state’s education funding is affecting these small schools. I’ve focused so much well-deserved attention on the Rapid City School District’s budget that it’s easy to forget how the budget woes of a small district can be just as devestating.

Rapid City has cut and continues to talk about cutting music and orchestra, the virtual high school, classroom coaches. I talked to one rural district principal yesterday who told me he would give anything to be able to offer electives and something more than the basics, but they simply can’t afford it.

Sounds familiar.