Scholarships for Preschoolers

Last week a group of preschoolers from Camden, New Jersey had their graduation ceremony at Rutgers University's Camden campus. There they were, the high school class of 2029, all resplendent in their white caps and gowns, receiving their “diplomas” with beaming parents in the audience. But this group of graduates received a gift that they cannot possibly comprehend at this time. Any of these students who graduate from the Camden Leap Academy High School with a GPA of 3.5 or higher will receive a full scholarship to Rutgers University. This program would be funded without taxpayer money, yet gain the essence of what Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been campaigning about for the last year.

American education standards compared to other industrialized nations have been declining in recent years. Couple that with the increased importance of a college education and the spiraling cost of tuition and we can visualize the need for alternative means of funding these costs.

If we could get other colleges and universities to institute similar programs or if we could encourage philanthropic organizations to do the same, then we perhaps we could break down the economic barriers to a college education. In Southwest Florida, an organization called Champions for Learning, offers many programs that offer scholarships to worth high school students. Programs like there are being replicated across the United States. In a country where creativity counts, we should be able to develop the means for anyone who qualifies for college admission should be able to attend.

c.2016 J. Margolis

Doing Away With Class Rank

 A number of high schools around the country have decided to eliminate class rankings of their students. There are a number of reasons for this major paradigm shift from a decades old tradition of ranking students for college admission. One reason is that many colleges and universities in the United States have shifted away from class rank and focused more on GPA and the strength of the high school program that the student pursued. Those factors plus student performance on SAT or ACT scores have become more prominent in the decision making process according to the National Association of College Admissions Counselors.

This decision has been met with mixed reviews from students and high school teachers and administrators. Students feel that eliminating class rank relieves them of some of the pressure of having to take the most difficult courses rather than electives that they would like to take. Those who calculate rankings in some schools, where students can have a GPA as high as a 5, sometime would have to calculate to three or four decimal places to get a valedictorian. This takes away some of the burden in the decision process.

Administrators in a number of these schools have noted that their decision has not impacted student admissions to the most competitive colleges or the service academies. We have yet to hear the parents weigh in, especially those who are the “ tiger Moms and who Dads, ” who were pushing their children to graduate as number one in the class.  Only time will tell if this is going to become a nationwide trend.

c.2016  J. Margolis