HAPPY PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES EVERYONE!

RESOURCES FOR SENIORS

...did you know that the WHS Counseling department has a web page devoted strictly to helping you plan for what you're going to do after you graduate? It includes news on senior appointments, a list of upcoming college and military visits, and checklists for those of you considering...

• getting a job right out of high school,
• joining the military,
• attending a 2-year school, and
• attending a 4-year school!

There's also a link to several scholarship opportunities that you probably don't even know are out there. Check it out!

MEME OF THE WEEK

COLLEGE APPLICATION FEES HURT POOR KIDS, by Matthew Yglesias

This is an article from Slate magazine about the effects of college application costs on high school students. You can read the whole thing, but here's the most important takeaway:

When the makers of the ACT test began allowing students to send their results to 4 schools for free (rather than 3), a) low-income ACT-takers began attending more selective colleges, and b) expected earnings for those students increased significantly.

So applying to more colleges--even beyond the 4 free ones--is a smart move, even though each additional score costs $6. Check it out:

I've written before about the problem of "undermatching," where smart kids with low-income parents often don't apply to attend the kind of selective colleges that give them the best chances of graduating and moving up the economic ladder. When I wrote the piece, a number of correspondents suggested to me that the literal cost of doing the applications might be a bigger barrier than the research I was writing up suggested. That theory gets some important backing from this piece of research from Amanda Pallais that examines the consequences of a small change in the rules made for takers of the ACT test.

Basically it used to be that if you took the ACT, you could send the scores for free to three colleges. Then they changed the rules and made it four colleges. Pallais looked at confidential ACT microdata and assessed the consequences of this switch.

What she found was a substantial increase in the number of people who sent scores to exactly four colleges and an equivalent decline in those sending scores to exactly three colleges. No huge surprise here. But the follow-in consequences of that change were large. First, "low-income ACT-takers attended more selective colleges after the cost change." Second, "by inducing low-income students to attend more selective colleges, the policy change significantly increased their expected earnings." Pallais observes that both before and after the change, the cost of sending ACT scores to an additional school was only $6, so it was always irrational on a strict cost-benefit basis for poor kids to be applying to only three schools rather than four. And indeed the research suggests that today's low-income kids are shortchanging themselves by applying to four schools rather than five. She proclaims this a "surprising" result that "suggests that students may use simple heuristics in making their application decisions."

I would say that it's more an example of one of dozens of small and not-totally-obvious-to-the-nonpoor ways in which society screws the poor. It's not that the $6 is such an insurmountable burden. But saying that X applications are free but X+1 applications costs $6, you're sending a strong implicit message that X applications is the thrifty and responsible quantity of applications to send. And poor people are always being told they should be more thrifty and responsible! Except in this case acting thrifty and responsible is disastrous, and really you should be scrounging up the money to apply to five or six schools. The system is just set up at every level to trip people up, so as to ensure that heritable financial wealth and social capital will be extremely valuable even in the quasi-meritocratic sorting mechanism of standardized tests.

WHO'S WHO (Week of 9/23/13)

We finished 339 lessons in the Academy last week, which is an increase from the week prior, but still below our production the first two weeks of the semester. Can we hit 400 again?

TOP OVERALL PERFORMERS...after 6 full weeks in the Academy are:

1. Juan Flores (118 lessons)
2. Mike Van de Carr (117 lessons)
3. Noe Cazares (100 lessons)

MIKE VAN DE CARR...completed 24 lessons last week, the most of any Academy student. He is in 2nd place overall this semester, just one lesson behind Johnny Flowers.

WEEKLY GOALS...Congratulations to Noe, Juan, Thad, Mike, and Brooke for all achieving their weekly goals for at least 3 consecutive weeks! Small goals lead to big goals!

FIRST UNITED METHODIST PRE-SCHOOL JOKE OF THE DAY (from Simon Baker, contributor)

Q: What's black and white and black and white and black and white and green?
A: Three skunks eating a pickle.

THE PATH TO 120

Our goal is to complete 120 courses in the Academy by December 20th. With 13 weeks remaining, we have completed...

31 courses

DISCIPLINE

I was fortunate to attend a basketball coaches' clinic last weekend, and one of the coaches made a comment that stuck with me and that, I hope, might stick with you.

If a kid's discipline has to come from school, we want him to stay the hell away from our program. If the kid's discipline comes from home and parents, we can work with him. But if a kid's discipline comes from inside? Those are the kids that have the potential to be great.

Be honest--do you have the kind of self-discipline Coach is talking about? Or do your parents have to discipline you? Or, worst of all, do your parents allow you to behave in such a way that the school has to discipline you? Remember our #1 Point of Emphasis in the Academy this year:

Teach people how to treat you!

WHO'S WHO (Week of 9/23/13)

We finished 339 lessons in the Academy last week, which is an increase from the week prior, but still below our production the first two weeks of the semester. Can we hit 400 again?

TOP OVERALL PERFORMERS...after 6 full weeks in the Academy are:

1. Juan Flores (118 lessons)
2. Mike Van de Carr (117 lessons)
3. Noe Cazares (100 lessons)

MIKE VAN DE CARR...completed 24 lessons last week, the most of any Academy student. He is in 2nd place overall this semester, just one lessons behind Johnny Flowers.

WEEKLY GOALS...Congratulations to Noe, Juan, Thad, Mike, and Brooke for all achieving their weekly goals for at least 3 consecutive weeks! Small goals lead to big goals!

FIRST UNITED METHODIST PRE-SCHOOL JOKE OF THE DAY (from Martha Baker, contributor)

Q: What is a cat's favorite color?
A: Purrrrrrple.

THEN & NOW

A quick comparison for you...

FALL 2012

Weeks 1/2 (7 days): 299 lessons completed

Week 3 (5 days): 202 lessons completed

Week 4 (4 days): 179 lessons completed

FALL 2013

Weeks 1/2 (7 days): 464 lessons completed

Week 3 (5 days): 425 lessons completed

Week 4 (4 days): 353 lessons completed

You have nearly doubled our production from the same time period last year!

Keep up the good work!

30 FASTEST GROWING JOBS

This list came from Mrs. Harmer, the Career Facilitator for District 200. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, these jobs will have the highest growth rate over the next 5 years. To learn more about any of these careers, check out the article at boston.com.

1. Biomedical Engineers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $77,400
2. Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $66,310
3. Home Health Aides
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $21,440
4. Personal and Home Care Aides
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $19,690
5. Financial Analysts
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $73,150
6. Medical Scientists
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $72,590
7. Physician Assistants
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $81,230
8. Skin Care Specialists
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $32,040
9. Biochemists and Biophysicists
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $54,230
10. Athletics Trainers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $39,640
11. Physical Therapist Aides
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $46,140
12. Dental Hygienists
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $66,570
13. Veterinary Technologists and Assistants
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $28,900
14. Dental Assistants
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $32,380
15. Computer Applications Software Engineers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $85,430
16. Medical Assistants
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $28,300
17. Physical Therapist Assistants
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $46,300
18. Veterinarians
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $79,050
19. Self-Enrichment Education Teachers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $40,920
20. Compliance Officers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $53,760
21. Occupational Therapist Aides
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $28,890
22. Environmental Engineers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $74,020
23. Pharmacy Technicians
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $28,500
24. Computer Software and Systems Software Engineers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $85,430
25. Survey Researchers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $36,220
26. Physical Therapists
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $72,790
27. Personal Financial Advisers
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $69,050
28. Environmental Engineering Technicians
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $41,100
29. Occupational Therapist Assistants
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $50,830
30. Fitness Trainers and Aerobic Instructors
MEDIAN PAY IN 2008: $29,210

CODE RED

Good job to everyone on today's Code Red Drill. A reminder for those who weren't in the Academy at the time of the drill:

During a Code Red, turn off your computer monitor and move to the areas behind the file cabinets at the northwest corner of the room. You should not be seen or heard by anyone outside of our classroom.

MEME OF THE WEEK

"WE'LL GO FORWARD FROM THIS MOMENT," BY LEONARD PITTS, JR.

Today is the 12th anniversary of the tragedy that took place on September 11th, 2001. The day after the planes went down, Leonard Pitts, Jr., wrote the following column for the Miami Herald. It it one of the best things I read in the aftermath of the events of that day. Take a few minutes to read it today.

We'll go forward from this moment, by Leonard Pitts, Jr. (Miami Herald, 9/12/01)

It's my job to have something to say.

They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard.

What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.

Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.

Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.

Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae - a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though - peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

Some people - you, perhaps - think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.

IN PAIN

Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.

But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future.

In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined.

THE STEEL IN US

You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold.

As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started.

But you're about to learn.

THE PATH TO 120

Our goal is to complete 120 courses in the Academy by December 20th. With 14 weeks remaining, we have completed...

19 courses

IS IT HOT IN HERE?

Did you know that the temperature reached 95 degrees at 2:20 p.m. on Tuesday, September 10th? That ties 1983 for the hottest temperature ever recorded in the area on that date. The normal high for September 10th is 78 degrees.

WHO'S WHO (Week of 9/9/13)

Welcome back to the Academy! We finally have the web site up and running for the 2013-2014 school year! The format will be a little different this year, hopefully with more frequent posts and more information that you can use. Make it a great day everybody!

TOP OVERALL PERFORMERS...after 3 full weeks in the Academy are:

1. Juan "Johnny Flowers" Flores (67 lessons)
2. Dominic LaTour/Emily Palmer (53 lessons each)
3. Noe Cazares (49 lessons)

CYNTHIA ARROYO...completed 17 lessons in the 4-day week last week, the most of any Academy student! That gives her 45 total lessons so far this year, tied for our 5th-highest total.

WEEKLY GOALS...Congratulations to Mike Barna, Noe Cazares, Juan Flores, Emily Palmer, Ryne Rivas, Zaza Solomon, Mike Van de Carr, and Brooke Weyrough for achieving their weekly goals 3 weeks in a row! Remember, if you haven't had your weekly meeting with Mr. Baker yet, talk to him today!