Journalism+Final+Assignment

 Go to __www.wikispaces.com__ ; User- saigenewton; Password-advocate09  Overview: In this final assignment, you will expand on the information you have gathered for our class’s wikispace about the college experience, and more importantly, about the value of a college degree.  Objectives:  Students will:  1. Share opinions about the value of a college degree.  2. Learn about the statistics surrounding an analysis of the economic value of a college diploma by reading and discussing the article "A Diploma’s Worth? Ask Her."  3. Read articles related to the topic of the value of a college degree, and respond.  4. Interview adults in the community to learn their reflections on the education and career choices they made.  Activities: READ THESE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY!  1. "In his 2004 album 'College Dropout,' Kanye West questions the value of a college degree, saying, in the song 'All Falls Down:'  'Man I promise, she's so self conscious   She has no idea what she's doing in college    That major that she majored in don't make no money    But she won't drop out, her parents will look at her funny    Now, tell me that ain't insecure  <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The concept of school seems so secure  <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Sophmore three years ain't picked a career   <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> She like [forget] it, I'll just stay down here and do hair.'  <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I have created a discussion page on the wikispace specifically for this assignment. Go to the wiki home page, click on the “discussion” tab, and respond to: What do you think a college diploma is worth? Explain your answer. <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> 2. Read this article "A Diploma’s Worth? Ask Her" found at: [|__http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20080522thursday.html__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> and the graphic "Growing Gap" found at  [|__http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/05/21/business/21leonhard.graphix.ready.html__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. Answer the following questions under the wiki’s discussion tab titled “A Diploma’s Worth? Ask Her”, graphic “Growing Gap”. <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> a. What position does musician and producer Kanye West assert on the value of a college degree? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> b. What do the statistics presented in the article tell about the economic value of a college education? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> c. What segments of the population were compared in the study cited in the article? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> d. Why do some economists still feel that education is the key to prosperity? e. What specific evidence is cited to support that claim? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> f. Despite that claim, what inequities still exist between men's and women's salaries? Why might that be? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> g. What factors, other than those addressed in the article, might influence an individual's ability to prosper after college? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> h. Overall, how do you feel about Kanye West's assessment of the value of college? Explain your answer. <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> 3. Next, You will need to use the following resources for this section: <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -Prerequisites and earnings statistics for a variety of fields from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook at [|__http://www.bls.gov/oco/__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -Earnings statistics for administrative fields from the International Association of Administrative Professionals at [|__http://www.iaap-hq.org/ResearchTrends/Salaries_2008.htm__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -Earnings statistics based on college major choices from the Princeton Review at [|__http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/articles/majors/majorsSalaries.asp__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">  -Earnings statistics provided by peers from Students Review at  [|__http://www.studentsreview.com/salary.shtml__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -A selection of readers' comments responding to today's article at [|__http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/05/21/business/21leonhardt.html__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -The New York Times article "Different Lives, One Goal: Finding the Key to College" at [|__http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20020506monday.html__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -The NPR article "Opting Out of College for a Blue-Collar Life" at [|__http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7504120__]<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -The New York Times College Essay Contest winner "Why College Matters" at [|__http://essay.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/why-college-matters-6/__] <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Browse through the various resources and respond to one by writing a short comment or question on the wikispace, under the discussions tab titled “Resources.” Once again, make sure your name is at the beginning or end. You will not get credit otherwise! <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> 4. Lastly, interview three adults to learn what choices they made about their education and careers based on the options available to them at that time in their lives. In preparing your poll, consider questions designed to learn how factors such as gender, race, salary and personal goals influenced your subjects’ decisions. Might any of the subjects make different choices today? At what age did they feel they had to make a choice about their careers? When did they make their actual choices? How likely were they to change their minds before, during or after college, or after they had entered a profession? When comparing past to present, what changes do they find most significant? <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> From the three, choose the best one. You are posting only ONE person’s testimony. From the wiki homepage, look at the right side where you posted your information from the One-Question Interview. You will see “What the Adults Say” on that navigation bar; post your one subject’s testimony on that page. Just like last time, you will click on “edit” and insert your text. Make sure you save. <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Total points: 100