The Best of NOW: Issues and Insight

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Commenter: Paul Seitz
I did not know about NOW. Watching The best of NOW on the internet. I'm looking forward to watching more episodes. Thank you for the insites on our world.

Blessings

Paul Seitz

Commenter: mc
Economy Shows New Signs of Growth, but Jobs Still Lag.
(This was Originally Aired: Oct. 29, 2009 on PBS).


Where is the American Economy going?
There is no job creation. It is true that even to this day, our economy has not improved. I wonder what they mean by the New Signs of Growth.

I think our Universities have a lot to do with designing a new curriculum that would certainly improve the present conditions. There were some talks going on that Universities of California (UCs) want to reduce the Four Year Degree Program to a Three-Year Degree. That makes sense.

We can save lot of time and money spent on colleges. As it is California Economy is bad and it is not going to come back sooner unless we make some major changes in our college curriculum.
It is worth considering the Three-Year Option. Quantity is not Quality. We need Quality Education that will help us improve the poor conditions we are in now. We should look at some of Universities such as University of Phoenix and National University. These Universities offer similar Bachelor's degree courses only for Three-Years.

And it is very clear that if we have the Three-Year Degree Programs at UCs and CSUs, we would be better off and we could perform well.

The Question is this:
How could we reduce the Degree Program from 4 to 3 year course?

The Answer is simple. We are spending too much time on studying GEDs at UCs and CSUs. We don't need that at the College/University level. We could move some of the GED Courses, why some, most of the GEDs to High School and help the high school students study these courses when they come to Grades 11 and 12.

We need to look at our present high school curriculum. First of all our High School Education in LAUSD are not at par with other school levels. We have to be really honest and critically evaluate the situation on hand. We must take a deep look at our curriculum.
Are we producing enough talented graduates at high school level? If the students do not succeed, they need to study some new courses before enrolling in colleges and these courses can be and should be completed in high school before stepping into college.

Recent Statistics indicate that most LAUSD high school students are poor in English and Mathematics. That is sad. We have highly qualified and well-trained credentialed teachers to guide our young and promising students. But still most of the high school students either do not do well or simply drop out of school. That trend should change.
It is not a bad idea to move some of the GED courses from the colleges to high school level. This way we can change our 4-year Degree Program to a 3- year Degree Course without sacrificing the quality of the program.

Let us remember the old saying:

No one plans to fail; we fail to plan.

CSUs – California State Universities
GED – General Education Development
LAUSD – Los Angeles Unified School District
UCs – Universities of California

Commenter: JoAnn
All important programs. I hope you will have an internet program, even if not, a TV program. I get your program on the internet, anyway. Please, persevere and Thank you!

Commenter: wolf
WOLVES GOT A BAD RAP. THERE VERY FRIENDLY ANMAILS.WHAT HAPPEN IF THE ANMAIL TURN BACK AND START FIGHTING BACK .LIKE THE MOVIE THE DAY OF THE ANIMALS.I THINK THE WOLVES SUCH FIGHTING BACK. THERE WERE HERE BEFORE MAN WAS HERE.THAT WHY THE BUFFALOS ALMOST COME EXP.