Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 3-29-19

News From Around The Nation
In statistical terms, this is the golden age of American higher education. More than 1 in 3 Americans has at least a bachelor’s degree, the most ever. Almost 70 percent of high school seniors graduating this spring will go to college in the fall, compared with about half during the mid-1970s.
The benefits of all that edu- cation, however, are highly un- even. The campuses of elite colleges remain disproportion- ately populated by the rich. At selective universities—ones that admit fewer than half of applicants—3 out of 4 students come from the richest quartile of families. According to Op- portunity Insights, a research group led by Harvard econo- mist Raj Chetty, children from families in the top 1 per- cent of income distribution are 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy-plus school—Ivy League plus Duke, MIT, Stan- ford, and the University of Chicago—than those from the bottom 20 percent.
Put another way: Higher ed- ucation in America is a racket. On March 12, just as mil- lions of nervous 12th graders were about to find out where they’ll be spending the next four years, the FBI announced the arrests of 50 people—in- cluding two Hollywood ac- tresses, the co-chairman of a prominent global law firm,
and the former chief executive officer of Pimco—in a scandal that exposed a culture of fraud at the heart of the college-ad- missions process. The FBI in- vestigation, called Operation Varsity Blues, found that wealthy Americans are no longer buying spots for their children the old-fashioned way, with seven-figure dona- tions, or finagling them through family legacies and social connections; they’re ac- tively conspiring with criminal fixers, coaches, and college of- ficials to cheat, lie, and bribe their way in, too.
As Andrew Lelling, the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, put it in a press conference, “The case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud.”
Getting a college degree has long been integral to the mythic promise of American opportunity. Yet for millions, it’s become exactly that, a myth—and a very expensive myth at that. The average stu- dent leaves school carrying $30,000 in debt. More than 40 percent of students who enter college fail to earn a de- gree within six years, and many of them wind up in the workforce lacking the creden- tials and practical skills re-
quired to get ahead. The U. S. system of higher education isn’t the main source of eco- nomic inequality in America. But it’s almost certainly mak- ing things worse.
A 27-year-old entrepreneur who dropped out of Harvard, Rebecca Kantar, has a plan to fix it. The American obses- sion with college admissions, she says, benefits the wealthi- est and highest-achieving stu- dents, while leaving the vast majority ill-qualified for the jobs of the future. She says a big part of the problem is the avalanche of standardized tests students take from kindergarten through high school, a $10 billion industry that drives much of what’s taught in the classroom. At the top of the pyramid sit the SAT and ACT, the generations-old multiple-choice tests that still help to determine who gains entry to top colleges and uni- versities.
Since coming up with the idea for the company four years ago, Kantar has raised more than $23.5 million in funding, hired a dozen Ph.D.s, and persuaded the consulting giant McKinsey and Co., and a few others, to work with Im- bellus to create game-based tests that measure prospective employees’ decision-making, adaptability, and critical thinking.
Kenyan Teacher Who Gave Earnings To Poor Wins $1M Prize
A Kenyan educator’s lesson in selflessness has just earned him the title of the best teacher in the world.
Peter Tabichi, who teaches at a school with just one computer and gives most of his money to the poor, took home $1 million as part of the coveted Global Teacher Prize.
The 36-year-old, who teaches science to high school- ers at Keriko Mixed Day Sec- ondary School in the remote Pwani village, beat out nine other finalists and 10,000 ap- plicants.
But he said the award, which is the largest of its kind
Kenyan
Tabichi reacts after winning the $1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai.
and presented Saturday by Australian actor Hugh Jack-
man at a ceremony in Dubai, wasn’t about him.
“Every day in Africa we turn a new page and a new chap- ter... This prize does not rec- ognize me but recognizes this great continent’s young people. I am only here because of what my students have achieved,” Tabichi said. “This prize gives them a chance. It tells the world that they can do any- thing.”
In his acceptance speech, Tabichi said his mother died when he was 11, leaving his fa- ther, a primary school teacher, to single-handedly raise him and his siblings.
A member of the Roman Catholic brotherhood, Tabichi was dressed in a plain floor-length brown robe to re- ceive the award from Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Ham- dan bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He in- vited his father on stage with him amid roaring applause.
“I feel great. I can’t believe it. I feel so happy to be among the best teachers in the world, being the best in the world,” he said.
teacher
Peter
Whistleblower Gets Nearly $34M in Duke University Fake Research Case
Duke University campus in Durham, North Carolina.
Whistleblower Joseph Thomas, a former Duke University lab employee, will receive nearly $34 million after Duke on Monday settled
his False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that another lab technician faked research data to obtain funding from federal agencies.
What If Instead Of Taking The SAT You Got To Play A Video Game?
Homeless 8-Year-Old Chess Champ Gets A New Home, Scholarships And Movie Offers
TANITOLUWA ADEWUMI
The homeless boy who cap- tured the heart of a nation after securing the New York state chess champion title de- spite his distressing circum- stances, now has a home with his family.
“Ihaveahome!Ihavea home!” 8-year-old Tani- toluwa Adewumi, yelled out before jumping on his dad’s back, The New York Times reports.
The family was living in a homeless shelter in New York when he won the state’s chess championship for his age bracket. Tani, as he’s called
by friends, and his family fled northern Nigeria in 2017, re- portedly fearing attacks by Boko Haram terrorists. When they immigrated to New York City a local pastor connected them with a homeless shelter. But now, thanks to the New York Times story going viral, Tani’s family is now calling a two-bedroom apartment home thanks to a generous donor who paid a year’s rent in advance.
“I think I am still dreaming,” said Tani’s dad, Kayode Adewumi told the NY Times. “I hope I don’t wake up.”
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