The College Diploma Fraud

Africa has two species of elephants, not one
Chicago (Reuters) - Instead of one species of elephant, Africa has two, researchers said on Tuesday, confirming suspicions about the two distinctly different looking pachyderms. Using gene sequencing tools, teams from Harvard, the University of Illinois and the University of York in Britain have shown that instead of being the same species -- as scientists have long believed -- the African savanna elephant and the smaller African forest elephant are distant cousins, having been largely separate...

Tim Pawlenty repeats questionable statistic on growth of federal workforce
Tim Pawlenty, a potential Republican Presidential Candidate, ran afoul of the Truth-O-Meter for a statement about the expansion of the government Workforce. In the Dec. 13, 2010, edition of the Wall Street Journal, outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- a potential contender in the 2012 Republican presidential primary -- wrote a column that blasted public-employee Unions. Pawlenty wrote that government employees, especially those who are unionized, have become unfairly advantaged compared to pr...

Are social media jobs here to stay?
The demand for Social Media jobs has exploded, even as overall Unemployment heads in the opposite direction. But in a fledgling field surrounded by hype, some industry insiders are saying it may be too good to last. With billions of dollars on offer for fledgling Social Media companies and even the biggest corporations refining their approach to the Tweet, the budding Social Media industry seems like a goldmine for young and tech-savvy jobseekers. The demand for Social Media jobs has exploded, ...

Social media jobs: Here to stay?
Are Social Media jobs here to stay? December 21, 2010 12:36 pm The demand for Social Media jobs has exploded, even as overall Unemployment heads in the opposite direction. But in a fledgling field surrounded by hype, some industry insiders are saying it may be too good to last. By Anne VanderMey, contributor With billions of dollars on offer for fledgling Social Media companies and even the biggest corporations refining their approach to the Tweet, the budding Social Media industry seems lik...

Growing numbers of Americans enrolling at UK colleges
WASHINGTON — When Adelaide Waldrop learned that she had been consigned to the wait list at each of the four universities she wanted most to attend, it was as if all the excitement had drained from her collegiate quest. Then she remembered her wild-card school: the University of St. Andrews, the medieval cobblestone campus in Scotland. Now Waldrop, of Silver Spring, Md., is a St. Andrews sophomore, one of a growing number of American Students who enroll at top-ranked British universities, ...

Choir emphasizes teens' ability to sing
A slight boy with glasses, Chris Choe walked to the front of the choir room and raised his hand to signal for attention. The 16-year-old junior needed silence and support to rehearse the lines he would repeat in a week before an auditorium packed with Students at New Trier Township High School. For him, it wasn't just about nerves. Choe has Noonan syndrome, a Genetic Disorder that can complicate Speech and vocal articulation, among other symptoms. Introducing himself in a loud, clear voice to h...

After FCAT hype -- true test for success
After the hype this month when a record number of Florida's public High Schools received an A or B grade from the state, the reality has set in: Next year's measuring stick will have to be tougher. That's as it should be to measure true learning gains and not allow grade Inflation. That's also the challenge facing Florida now that it's getting Race to the Top federal funds to devise a plan to gauge teachers' performance and pay them their worth based on Students' learning gains and other as-yet-...

Nearly 1 in 4 fails military exam
U.S. map shows percentage of failed aptitude tests in each state by applicants between the ages of 17 and 20 between 2004 and 2009, and percent of failed tests nationally by race during same period. Miami, Florida - Nearly one-fourth of the Students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday. The report by The E...

Hearing Wednesday on Thornridge HS fight
He only had one year of High School left, and Vivienne Williams envisioned her athletic and academically gifted teenage son graduating from Thornridge High, the neighborhood school down the street from her house that he has attended for two years, she said. So when she got a letter in the mail explaining that Thornridge would be closed for upperclassmen next year and that her son would have to attend school in Harvey, Williams was more than taken aback. She was angry. "This means he'll be disp...

Scott's advisors want universal vouchers and teacher pay tied to performance
Florida Gov.-elect Rick Scott gave every indication in recent weeks that Florida schools are in for a wild ride. And on Tuesday, his education transition team lived up to the hype. In a 20-page report, the 20-member team offered one radical recommendation after another. Among them: * Vouchers for all. Scott hinted at the idea two weeks ago, but the report offers more detail. Parents would be eligible for an “education savings account” equal to 85 percent of the amount the Student wou...

Politically motivated cyberattacks rising
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Web sites posting Controversial materials or promoting Human Rights are up against rising numbers of politically motivated cyberattacks, U.S. researchers say. Harvard University researchers who conducted the computer attack survey identified almost 300 attempts to silence independent media and Human Rights Web sites over the past year, NewScientist.com reported Tuesday. "There is almost always a political component to these attacks," Jillian York, one of the re...

New ways to find jobs: cash bounties, texting
Fernando Elizalde has tried the traditional ways of gaining employment. He asks his family and friends for leads. He attends networking events. He sends out resumes constantly. But after more than a year of looking for a job in Private Equity, and despite a master's in Business Administration from UCLA, the 28-year-old finds himself with few leads and a growing sense of frustration. So Elizalde took a different tack: He recently posted a bounty - $10,000 to the person who lands him a job. Eli...

US corporations move to create a part-time, contingent workforce
Big employers in the US are increasingly using part-time and temporary workers to hold down labor costs, according to the latest figures from the Labor Department. In a trend that has been accelerated over the last two years, corporations are moving to phase out full time positions and create a Workforce earning far lower wages and fewer, if any, benefits that can be hired and fired at will. In November there were a total of 9.2 million "involuntarily part-time" workers in the US. After adding...

Time to invest in tampons and Chardonnay.
image via Tampon Crafts. Women will recover faster from the Recession than men, which leads Economists to suggest investing in female-centered companies like Ann Taylor and Lululemon. Women will rebound from the U.S. Recession faster than men because females didn’t lose as many jobs as men did during the recession, the report said. Some of the industries most affected by The Economy, such as Manufacturing and construction, had more male than female workers. The Unemployment Rate for wome...

Should the Rise in Temporary Workers Scare Us?
Temporary workers have been a growing segment of the Labor Force since the recovery began. In 2010, 26.2% of Private Sector hiring can be accounted for by temporary workers alone. A front page article in the New York Times today by Motoko Rich explores this phenomenon. Rich worries that firms hiring more temporary workers is the start of a disturbing new trend. But looking a little more deeply at the data shows that this fear is overblown. This is bad news for the nation's workers, who are alre...

Kaplan Sued Over Alleged Job Discrimination
Federal authorities on Tuesday filed a Lawsuit against Kaplan Higher Education Corp. for allegedly discriminating against black job applicants by screening the credit history of potential employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the practice of rejecting job seekers based on their credit history has a discriminatory impact on some racial and Ethnic Groups. The Lawsuit alleges that Kaplan's practice is not job-related or justified by business necessity. The Lawsuit seeks lost...

Danny Wong: No School, No Jobs -- Take the Leap With 20 Under 20!
Co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, is encouraging going Cold Turkey. Instead of fighting the war against drug Addiction, the vice here is Conservatism, being ordinary and taking the safe route in life. The Thiel Foundation is now sponsoring the Thiel Fellowship, also known as 20 Under 20. It seems it's never too early to be done with school or to forget about the cushy corporate life and take the incredibly brave plunge to become an entrepreneur. There are many notable entrepreneurs that rea...

Morning Shorts
* Ryan’s son calls judge’s ruling ‘heartless and cruel’… Longtime friend and lawyer, the former Gov. James Thompson, said if an appeal fails, he would make a plea with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to place Ryan on supervised release and allow him to tend to his ill wife. “The BOP policy would be a last resort if he has no judicial relief,” Thompson said on a phone interview from Paris. He said the Ryan family never held their hopes high. * Sneed: Dressed in the clo

Alexander Paganelli
Alexander Dwyer O’Brien Paganelli of Dover, a Hamilton College Student, died Sunday. He was 21. Born in Providence, he lived in Dover all of his life. Mr. Paganelli graduated in 2008 from Dover-Sherborn High School, where he was co-captain of the Lacrosse and golf teams and a member of the a cappella team. He was expected to graduate from Hamilton College in 2012. He was majoring in chemistry with coursework in the pre-med program and was a member of the varsity Lacrosse team. He had just...

Before cops whip out cuffs, they ought to do homework
No one would complain about police handcuffing a suspected drug dealer or robber. But someone who might be skipping school? That's a form of detention way out of proportion to the infraction. Make that "possible" infraction. Consider the incident involving a senior at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk. Dominique Marsh, 17, is a good Student and star Quarterback. He plans to attend college. The principal and his coach say he's a serious young man - not a knucklehead. A few wee...

ODU gets grant to promote ties with Europe
NORFOLK Old Dominion University has won a $157,000 grant from the European Union aimed at fostering ties between Hampton Roads and Europe. The money will fund ACCESSEU, an 18-month project led by ODU's graduate programs in international studies and Business Administration. The initiative will offer educational activities for High School, college and graduate Students in European history, politics and government, and a model Europe simulation exercise in cooperation with other universities in the...

Strong earthquake hits off southern Japan
TOKYO (AP) - A strong Earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 struck in the Pacific Ocean in the early hours of Wednesday, triggering a brief Tsunami warning off the southern coast of Japan. Japan's Meteorological Agency said the quake occurred about 80 miles (130 kilometers) off the southern coast of Chichi Island in the Pacific Ocean. The offshore quake struck at around 2:20 a.m. (1720 GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers). The Japanese agency issued a Tsunami Alert of up...

Nearly 1 in 4 fails military exam
MIAMI -- Nearly one-fourth of the Students who try to join The Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a study released Tuesday. The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among Military and education leaders that the pool of Young People qualified for Military service will grow too small. "Too many of our High School Students are not graduating r...

Nearly 1 in 4 fails military exam
MIAMI -- Nearly one-fourth of the Students who try to join The Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a study released Tuesday. The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among Military and education leaders that the pool of Young People qualified for Military service will grow too small. "Too many of our High School Students are not graduating r...

Union comes to defense of teachers
Randi Weingarten, right, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks to reporters Tuesday. CENTRAL FALLS — The turbulent effort to transform Central Falls High School needs a “midcourse correction,” the national president of the American Federation of Teachers said Tuesday. In response, state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist said it’s still possible to to fix the school if local and state school leaders sit down and talk — and if AFT president Ran...