Week 161 of The Carnival of Education is up today over yonder at The Education Wonks–many amazing writings on and about education from the EduSphere. Sam Jackson hosted #160 last week. That boy is off at Yale—how does he have time to host a blog carnival? He probably needs a nap.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

It may not be the best time of year to bring this up. It’s conceivable that it’s the worst time: any and all students (college or otherwise) are completely burnt out; winter is cold and therefore miserable and expensive; the school year started way back in the fall and summer vacation is still so very far away; everyone is exhausted and cranky and has too much work to do in too little time and there is no end in sight. If you’re heading for a breakdown or a moment of clarity, this is the time of year when it will come.

So pointing out an excellent blog post about college and whether or not it really matters could certainly upend a few apple carts. Whatever. I upended my own apple cart (at this exact time of year, oddly enough) during a particularly intense discussion with a good friend of mine about the meaning of life (duh, what else would it have been about?). I suddenly saw with perfect clarity (I’d just had a double espresso) that life is short and it was imperative that I postpone my studies for spring and summer quarters while I worked, saved money, traveled around Europe, and then moved to Seattle. It was entirely necessary, I’m telling you.

Of Course College Matters
I started right back up with my formal education in the fall. I’m a school junkie, and it never once occurred to me that college might not be a necessary part of my life. I come from a pretty educated family, and I crave learning on a cellular level. I never considered NOT attending college. Which made reading that blog even more mind-blowing for a girl like me. What do you mean?! College might not matter? Of course college matters! Choosing to opt out of higher education would be like deciding to not breathe. Who would choose the no-oxygen way of life? Not me, pal.

And yet, the author’s daughter makes an excellent argument for not running right out and going to college. I adore school, I would be a student in a professional capacity if I could find someone schmucky enough to pay me for it. But I have no snappy comeback (let alone a well-stated argument) for this woman’s daughter. She makes a solid case for college not being necessary for everyone. Yes, future doctors should go. There are several careers that require degrees, certification, a large amount of information, etc.

Dorm Life - Only the Real Thing Will Do
And if you really want to have the full-on college experience, then only the real thing will do. I have fond memories of the vomit and urine-stained industrial carpeting that covered the floors of my dorm building; dorm life is dorm life, you cannot replicate it. Nor can you skip a few years and then decide to try dorm living. There is a miniscule window of time, between ages 17 and 19, when you’ll find it marginally acceptable to reside in a foul-smelling hall surrounded by constant noise and obnoxious people with entirely too much time on their hands who are away from home and parental supervision for the first time and feel an intense need to be always inebriated and to come up with newer and much improved ways of destroying each other and said dorm. It is conducive neither to sleep nor to the absorption of academic material. But it’s fun and, as I said, impossible to duplicate.

Self-Taught Renaissance Types
There are a lot of careers that people find themselves in which are in no way related to what they thought they wanted to be when they grew up. They may have needed a degree when first starting out as fresh college grads with minimal experience; sometimes having a degree, even if it’s in underwater basket-weaving, can get you in the door. It’s a good first step, but not always necessary. College might not be necessary for those renaissance-types. My dad is one of those bastards; he can teach himself anything so thoroughly that he can apply it practically (building stuff, fixing stuff, designing stuff) AND can recall ridiculously detailed tidbits from the random mechanical engineering text he read (and apparently memorized) 15 years ago because he found it compelling. Almost as interesting as the history of maritime law and the chemical properties of metals. He’s amazing. Anyone who feels comfortable teaching themselves what they need to know or is good at learning as they go would be an excellent college-skipping candidate. I am not one of those people. Someday I’ll be more with the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and less with the craving-an OCD-set-of-instructions. I want to get the answer right, and because of that, not being thoroughly trained and educated scares the crap out of me. I’m working on it.

Posted by Alexa Harrington
College | University | Life

Yes, it’s another college ranking list, but this snarky / cheeky one really stands out. Radar Magazine Online recently put together a “semi-scientific guide to the most substandard schools in America.” Using a wide variety of sources, Radar took up the challenge of choosing which accredited 4-year colleges with physical campuses made the “dishonor roll.”

Worst Party School: (Tie) California State University-Chico; San Diego State University
Illustrious Alumni: Chico lays claim to good-time-guy novelist Raymond Carver (who graduated elsewhere) and bare-knuckled political consultant Ed Rollins, while SDSU graduated disgraced former CIA executive director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo and oft-disrobed former C-movie actress Raquel Welch.

Worst Trust-Fund-Baby College: Bennington College (VT)
Notable Course: “SHHH! The Social Construction of Silence,” a class focused on breaking down the classification of silence as an absence of sound and “establishing it as a presence.” Or, the class where you sleep off your hangover.

Worst Ivy League University: Cornell University (NY)
School Pride: “I haven’t overheard a single intellectual conversation in three years, unless it was between Indian or Asian students,” writes an architecture major on Students Review.

Worst Christian University: Liberty University (VA)
School Pride: “The mountains and all are beautiful. It’s right near the Wal-Mart too,” writes a student on Campus Dirt.

Worst of the Big Ten: Michigan State University (East Lansing)
It’s not surprising this hard-drinking football school hasn’t made it to the Rose Bowl since 1988: Much of its student body seems to be in jail. Over 1,000 students were arrested for drug and alcohol offenses last year, along with another 1,224 perps in the crime-ridden city.

Worst Military Academy: Virginia Military Institute
VMI excluded women from its ranks until the U.S. Supreme Court forced the academy to admit female cadets in 1996.

Worst Women’s College: Texas Woman’s University
Notable Course: Cultural Perspectives of Personal Appearance.

The Worst College in America: University of Bridgeport (CT)
Fun Fact: At orientation, all incoming students are given a “personal alarm locator” that will send swarms of campus policemen racing to their rescue whenever they press a panic button.

College | Humor | College Education

To follow up on an earlier post about graduate students with blogs, I found a great blog by an MD / PhD student who provides insight into her life as a hardworking, frazzled, short on sleep graduate student. An MD / PhD is probably the most challenging and intense degree out there.

She also shares other interesting tidbits like music for a graduate student and her take on how Grey’s Anatomy most definitely does not resemble the life of a real surgical resident. She’s also human and honest (she’s got crazy in-laws).

For anyone interested in pursuing an MD or MD / PhD, this type of blog is perhaps the best way to learn more about the field, the ups and downs, and what your life will be like if you choose this route. You’re reading their diary, after all. And, since, in this case, the writer does not reveal a real name, school, or location, she can afford to write openly. Graham Walker’s previously mentioned blog about life as a medical student at Stanford is also a good resource.

Anyone follow other good “student blogs?”

Posted By Sindya Bhanoo

Medical School | MD/PhD | Student Blogs

I was in Barnes and Nobles a few days ago, flipping through the most recent edition of U.S. News and World Report and I came across this article on “student bloggers.”

Many students these days are going public with their graduate school experiences. By writing about their lives on a blog, they open a window into their world for their friends, family and the world to peer into to. Blogs can also help people connect with others with similar interests and experiences, and create a sense of community.

The article highlights a great blog run by Stanford Medical student Graham Walker. Walker shares his life and experiences as a med student with frankness and honest emotion. It’s a good read.

Other noteworthy student blogs that were highlighted: www.rebecca-goetz.blogspot.com, www.schoolnerdblog.blogspot.com, www.onebluesun.org/trj

Many professors maintain blogs as well, both officially through their academic institutions as well as personal blogs. One of my favorite profs from college, Chad Hermann, runs a popular blog that covers everything from politics to popular culture to his personal experiences as a teacher. Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Students at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, maintains an official blog with important information for his students. The faculty at the University of Chicago Law School maintains “The Faculty Blog.” Here’s a list of more professor blogs.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
Education | Blogs | Students | Bloggers

College students are now being warned during orientation about posting too much information, or innappropriate information about themselves on the Internet, especially on social networking sites.

According to the cnn.com article,
“…it’s not hard for prospective employers to get a “.edu” email address from an alumnus or an intern, and recruiters are increasingly trolling the Internet to scope out prospective hires…A recent survey there found that a third of employers recruiting there ran job applicants’ names through search engines, and 12 percent said they looked at social networking sites.”

There are more serious issues to consider too. Students, “at numerous schools from North Carolina State to Northern Kentucky have been busted for alcohol violations based on digital photographs. Students at Penn State were punished for rushing the field at a football game. A University of Oklahoma freshman’s joke in Facebook about assassinating President Bush prompted a visit from the Secret Service.”

I’ve gotten back in touch with many old friends through these tools, and found out about connections that I never knew I had, but I tend to be conservative, providing little information, and sharing my profile only with people I really know.

I’m a big proponent of “safety first,” particularly for women. The strangest, most twisted people are out there. Why advertise more than you need to? The FTC has started offering tips for “socializing” safely online.

Has anyone out there had any creepy experiences when using Facebook, Friendster, Orkut, MySpace, or any of the other social networking tools that have been cropping up?

Facebook | Myspace | social networking | College