Comparing Fractions with Cross Multiplication

Today my 6th grader asked for with her math homework, specifically how to "cross multiply fractions with whole numbers". I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, so I took a look at her homework. I saw that she had 10 problems to compare fractions with different denominators, some with whole numbers. I started to explain how to find a common denominator, etc... but she got really upset with me.

"Thats not how my teacher showed us", she said. "My teacher told us to cross multiply."

I still had no idea what she was talking about, so I went to check with my girlfriend, Shannon, to see if she knew what our daughter was talking about. But Shannon was as confused as I was.

Both of us being confused, we did a quick google and came across this explanation of the process from mathleague.com.

Comparing Fractions
1. To compare fractions with the same denominator, look at their numerators. The larger fraction is the one with the larger numerator.
2. To compare fractions with different denominators, take the cross product. The first cross-product is the product of the first numerator and the second denominator. The second cross-product is the product of the second numerator and the first denominator. Compare the cross products using the following rules:
a. If the cross-products are equal, the fractions are equivalent.
b. If the first cross product is larger, the first fraction is larger.
c. If the second cross product is larger, the second fraction is larger.

Example:
Compare the fractions 3/7 and 1/2.The first cross-product is the product of the first numerator and the second denominator: 3 × 2 = 6.
The second cross-product is the product of the second numerator and the first denominator: 7 × 1 = 7.
Since the second cross-product is larger, the second fraction is larger.

Example:
Compare the fractions 13/20 and 3/5.
The first cross-product is the product of the first numerator and the second denominator: 5 × 13 = 65.
The second cross-product is the product of the second numerator and the first denominator: 20 × 3 = 60.
Since the first cross-product is larger, the first fraction is larger.

Well, we figured it out and were able to help her finish her homework... her way, but we are rather conflicted about it.

Though the system works, we aren't quite sure what the purpose of it is. It almost seemed to us to be cheating. Though the system works, neither one of us could give a mathematical explanation of why. Finding a common denominator is relatively easy to explain, and is also an essential skill when it comes to adding unlike fractions. Is this new math, really really old math, or something in between?

Don't be a Hater!

Transform Education: What if KIPP "worked"?
Peter Campbell: dont be a hater, be a congratulator!

For all the kids that are not "lucky" enough to get a place at KIPP, it is not tolerable. For all the kids that do make it into KIPP but are not able to endure the 10-hour days and two hours of homework every night and who eventually drop out or are "counseled out," it is not tolerable. And even for those kids who do make it into KIPP and make it out of KIPP, their "success" is not tolerable because it comes at a price, a price that is too high to pay.

Ryan at Edspresso responds with a small bit of sarcasm:

So because school choice might harm others in some nebulous way, it should be withdrawn? And "success" in sneer quotes? Is this writer suggesting that said students are faking it, or that their academic achievements are somehow counterfeit?

but I wanted to add one more point. It's very hard to shake the feeling that there are some who truly wish for equality... equality of failure. I have used the argument in the past, but I will use it again. These are the sort of people who would let everyone drown on a sinking ship, because they couldn't save everybody. To them it's not about excellence, it's about equivalence. They have already given up on success, and now they just want to drag everyone down to the lowest level.

Is Teaching in the 408 going to bolt?

The first week back to work/school is always rough, but do I detect hints that Teaching in the 408 is about fed up.

told the POY I needed a new assignment, not the on-grade level kids necessarily, not the ones who'll do whatever I say and then ask if they can wash my car and go buy me Jamba Juice, but maybe some kids whose classroom existence alters the vast input vs. output imbalance just a little. Maybe some barely there Basic kids, and I'll make sure every one is proficient and redesignated by the end of the year. They don't need to utilize fluent English, or know how to write, or really know anything at all, but maybe they could possess a little bit longer runway for the skills I'm trying to land on their brains. Because I keep cracking my skull on all the crash-landings and aborted take-offs, and it hurts.

...

And the email says, you can dramatically impact student outcomes as the Director of various teacher-training programs in Oakland.

parentalcation = parent education

Today I started my online psychology class. I would of preferred a traditional class, but the academic demands of my girlfriends nursing program, six kids, and work mean that I have to continue with online classes. (At least until fall).

Of course with any course I have taken, the first assignment is always to do the introduction. In my web course, this is done through a discussion board. All I have to say is how amazingly inarticulate some of my fellow students are. I know it's a community college, but you think that the students would at least use proper capitalization. I can understand being lazy about contractions, but not even capitalizing the first letter of a college course. What's that about?

I am looking forward to the class though. My instructor's biography said he specialized in learning theory. Hopefully I can stir some good debates.

Affirmative Action is a Tax - Not!

I have the feeling that this post by Kevin Carey, responding to this article in the New York Times, is going to cause some controversy.

Too Many Asians at Berkeley?

First, not all students get the same opportunities in K-12 schools. Black and Latino students, on average, are forced to attend schools that receive less funding, are taught by worse teachers, have less access to advanced curricula like Advanced Placement tests, and generally suffer from the hard bigotry of low expectations. Affirmative action helps students who would have come to the admissions process with better credentials if they’d been given a fair shot to begin with.

Of course this justification for affirmative action breaks down when we consider that schools in affluent neighborhoods also do a poor terrible job in educating minorities. Ironically a few charter schools with relatively inexpensive techniques manage to succeed at what affluent schools can't.

Affirmative action is basically an educational opportunity tax on white people. Like progressive income taxes, it redistributes resources from people who have a disproportionate share to people who need them more. This seems unfair to white people who themselves come from less advantaged backgrounds, and it probably is. But it’s no more unfair than applying the same tax rate to the rich person who earned every dollar from the sweat of his brow as to the person who inherited his money and got a cushy job in the family business. Policies are by nature imperfect, and in the end it’s still better to be rich than poor in America, and white people still enjoy huge advantages that others don’t. Having to settle for a slot in a slightly less competitive college moves the traditional losers in the zero-sum affirmative action game—unusually smart, well-qualified white people—from being in the 99.999th percentile of luckiest people on the face of the Earth to about the 99.998th. They’ll be fine. (emphasis mine)

Actually affirmative action is a tax on asians, not white people so a more apt anology would be taxing self-made successful people who got what they earned by hard work, and leaving people with family wealth alone.

Perhaps instead of enrolling more people to fail, colleges and universities should concentrate on graduating the blacks and hispanics that get to college based on actual merit.

The third justification for affirmative action is diversity, which is certainly important—it makes sense for colleges to create an academic environment with broad, differing perspectives, backgrounds, and beliefs. But I tend to value diversity less than the first two justifications for affirmative action, mostly because of how the idea gets used and applied in practical terms. Proponents don’t do a good job of explaining the theoretical limits of diversity as a value, the degree of its benefits or cases when it should be subordinate to other things. Nor do they seem eager to discuss the fact that some perspectives, backgrounds, and beliefs are more worthwhile than others.

I suppose to rebutt Kevin's arguments I could point out this recent article in the Financial Times that points out that diversity isn't all its cracked up to be, but I actually think diversity is a good thing. Perhaps its because I was raised in a multi-ethnic family, or because I am in the miliary and unlike most of America actually work in a functional ethnically diverse workplace.

Me and my brother and sisters.

Unfortunately, the United States seems to react instinctively to any problems with blunt force solutions. (In politics and in education). Instead of acknowledging or addressing the root causes of the achievement gap, we have attempted to just bandage over the wounds without treating it for infections.

There are methods of affirmative action that don't rely on racial preferences. Perhaps if we improved education for all, we could at least equalize the playing field, so we didn't have to feel guilty about the results.

Much Ado About Nothing - Gifted Education

Via La Shawn Barber:

Herald Tribune: Who's gifted? Criteria in flux

Florida policymakers are considering changes to the state's gifted education program that could redefine the smart kid and let more join the club next school year.

The proposal, which effectively lowers IQ standards, has the potential to reshape one of public education's most loved and loathed programs.

Basically, law makers want to lower the IQ threshold to be considered for the gifted program from 130 to 120 to increase minority participation in the program, because their former program of having a lower IQ cutoff for low income and minority students was struck down by the courts.

Of course the article mentions the typical "experts" who say that IQ doesn't really measure giftedness, but the article also mentions that some experts think that lowering the standards will actually increase the proportion of white students to minority students.

They are right! For a detailed explanation please go to La Griffe Du Lion and read here and here, but let me attempt to sum it up for you.

Basically, due to the distribution and mean IQ scores of different groups, the difference of frequency (percentage of any group scoring any given score) varies in a nonlinear way. See the chart below from La Griffe Du Lion:

Figure 6. Interdependence of group pass rates. Shown here for typical values of black and white distribution parameters.

And with this we can now plot the predicted B/W IQ gap relative to any given white pass rate on any given test:

Figure 7. Predicted black-white point gap vs. white pass rate.

The predicted gap dependence shown in Figure 7 makes qualitative sense. Suppose an exam is so difficult that very few students pass, both black and white pass rates will be small, and consequently so will their difference. In the high-difficulty limit, the gap vanishes. At the other end, if a test is made so trivial that nearly 100 percent of all students pass, group pass-rate differences must again be small, and go to zero in the low-difficulty limit. Between these extremes the point gap attains a maximum value.

Now we have this chart based on percentiles, all we have to do is to figure out the percentile equivalent of any given IQ score. (Note: the percentile equivalents are not disaggregated for whites but finding disaggregated IQ distribution scores is impossible unless you are willing to pay)

Now we plot the Percent of Whites Making the Cutoff (scoring a given IQ score on a test) on to Figure 7 to get the White-Black gap in percentage points. Note: Even though the gap decreases the absolute ratio of black students to white students will still be disproportionate due to the demographics of the state.

The same thing can also be seen in this chart from the Wikipedia article on Race and intelligence (Average gaps among races)

As you can see, lowering the IQ threshold for the Gifted program in Florida from 130 to 120 will result in an greater ratio of whites to blacks to the program, even though more blacks will qualify. (Some of you might notice that this is basically the same sort of thing that educators do to reduce the achievement gap as measured against state standards. See Charles Murray's article on this here.)

Of course all this arbitrary setting of cutoff points doesn't mean anything in the real world because...

gifted education in most school districts sucks!

That's right, gifted education is for a large part a waste of resources.

Unfortunately, due to the political climate in education, educrats disdain for truly gifted students, and a tendency for educators to provide enrichment instead of acceleration, gifted students get shafted.

In some ways above average students are even more shafted than average students in our country. First of all gifted education usually disappears once students get into middle school, only to be replaced with honors and AP classes. And due to a prejudice against to much acceleration, young students who are probably capable of performing at several grades above the standards aren't given the opportunity. Instead they are saddled with all sorts of enrichment activities that usually involve some multidisciplinary project that emphasizes application of skills... bla, bla, bla.

Sure it appears to outsiders that gifted programs must work since the students are so bright, but they were bright before they got into the gifted program. Just as high SES schools appear to be successful based on the performance of their (mostly upper middle class white) students, gifted programs appear successful for the exact same reasons.

If Florida's law makers ultimate goal is to reduce the achievement gap, increasing the number of minority students in gifted education is not going to do it, but somehow I think its more of a numbers game that a true effort to improve educational opportunities.

Disclaimer: My son is in his 3rd grade gifted program and it sucks!

Note: Even if my logic about lowering the IQ threshold for gifted programs is totally screwed up, gifted programs still suck.

Duke Professor Sued For Retaliation Against Duke Player

LAX Player Files Lawsuit Against Duke University

Kyle Dowd filed the lawsuit Thursday against against Duke University and visiting associate professor Kim Curtis. Dowd, who graduated with David Evans in May 2006, was not indicted in the rape case but says that Professor Curtis gave him and another lacrosse player in class a failing grade in class as a form of retaliation after the Duke Lacrosse scandal broke. The two players were apparently receiving passing grades until the scandal, and Duke University revised their grades upward months after graduation. (sic)

The Lawsuit (Note: I had to right click and save to computer to open in adobe)

Kim F. Curtis, a visiting law professor, was one of the Duke 88. In her Politics and Literature class in the spring of 2006, she gave exactly two failing grades... both to Duke Lacrosse players. Neither one of them is one of the three accused players.

Go read the case, but to sum it up. She failed the two lacrosse students, even though both were earning passing grades up until the case broke. She gave two different reasons for them failing to the students and to the faculty. Duke revised their grades up to a "D" during the summer, but only after Kyle Dowd had to beg to graduate.

I don't mind liberal or right wing professors. I enjoy a good debate. When students get to University they should be mature enough to deal with a bit of politics inserted into the lectures. However, political bias should end at the grade book. If these allegations are true, her actions were disgusting.
Hat tip: KC Johnson

My Hero - Seriously

Good Samaritan Risks Life To Save Man On Subway Tracks

A Good Samaritan jumped onto the tracks at a Manhattanville subway station at 137th Street and Broadway Tuesday afternoon to save the life of a stranger who had fallen after having an apparent seizure. The man stumbled off the platform onto the tracks, where he could have been killed if not for the heroic efforts of 50-year-old Wesley Autrey who did the unthinkable and jumped onto the tracks with a train approaching.

Ok its not about education, but we could learn alot from Wesley Autrey.

New Years Resolutions

1. Loose 10 pounds

2. Blog more reliably

3. Improve said blogging skills

Happy New Year!

The Times Shows its Stripes

KDeRosa at Kitchen Table Math, the Sequel correctly points out that an ugly baby should be called an ugly baby, just as failing schools should be called "failures" despite what this article in the NY Times says.

The editorial is pretty forgettable, but I did notice one thing. While I am always skeptical of claims of liberal bias in the MSM, one part of the article did catch my eye.

The value of the standards movement itself was underscored this year in an analysis that was part of Education Week magazine’s annual survey of student achievement. Analyzing student performance between 1992 and 2005, the study found clear signs of progress, especially in fourth-grade math performance, which had gone up nearly two grade levels since 1992. Black and Hispanic students, by the way, showed larger gains than their white counterparts over that same period. Had the scores of white students not risen at all, the progress by black and Hispanic students would have substantially erased the white-minority achievement gap.

Does anyone else detect a bit of sour grapes here. Damn those pesky white students for improving their test scores.

Oprah Winfrey’s Lavish South African School

MSNBC: Newsweek: Oprah Winfrey’s Lavish South African School

Jan. 8, 2007 issue - Two thousand and six was the year Africa went Hollywood: Madonna, Clooney, Brangelina. And now, in 2007, the most exclusive spot on the continent will undoubtedly be in the town of Henly-on-Klip, about 40 miles outside Johannesburg. Set on 22 lush acres and spread over 28 buildings, the complex features oversize rooms done in tasteful beiges and browns with splashes of color, 200-thread-count sheets, a yoga studio, a beauty salon, indoor and outdoor theaters, hundreds of pieces of original tribal art and sidewalks speckled with colorful tiles. Julia Roberts, John Travolta, Stevie Wonder, Nelson Mandela and the reigning African Queen herself—Angelina Jolie—are expected to attend the grand opening this week. By now, you're probably wondering how much a spread like this goes for per night. Actually, it's free. There's only one catch—you have to be a 12- or 13-year-old African girl to get in. As spectacular as this place sounds, it's not a resort. It's a school: the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

Winfrey has spent five years and $40 million building the school to her own Oprahlicious specifications—did we mention the huge fireplaces in every building? The talk-show diva always does things in grand style, of course. But $40 million for a school for impoverished girls in Africa does seem a bit, well, extravagant. In fact, the South African government had planned to build the school with her, but it pulled out amid reported criticism that the academy was too elitist and lavish for such a poor country. Oprah doesn't care. "These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire," she says, sitting on the couch of her hotel suite overlooking the deep-blue Indian Ocean. "I wanted this to be a place of honor for them because these girls have never been treated with kindness. They've never been told they are pretty or have wonderful dimples. I wanted to hear those things as a child."

I suppose I have become a major education cynic, but I read stories like this and the first think to myself is what sort of curriculum are they going to be using. It probably doesn't matter though since these girls have been hand picked by community leaders and Oprah. I am going to assume this process ensures that they are all have enormous potential and thus will probably do well if given the slightest opportunity.

The article does bring up the question of whether $40 million is to much for 152 girls and whether the money might be better spent in other ways. In fact it is hinted that the South African government pulled out of the project for this very reason. I myself hold the opinion that its Oprah's money to do with as she pleases.

I don't know enough about South African society and culture, but I wonder if even with a superior education these poor girls will be able to make a difference in South Africa. I suspect that the power structure in SA relies a good bit on nepotism. Perhaps the majority of them will emigrate to other nations, but hopefully I am wrong.

You do have to admire Oprah for one thing though... she doesn't do things half way.

Workplace rewards tall people with money, respect, UF study shows

Workplace rewards tall people with money, respect, UF study shows:

Judge's study, which controlled for gender, weight and age, found that mere inches cost thousands of dollars. Each inch in height amounted to about $789 more a year in pay, the study found. So someone who is 7 inches taller – say 6 feet versus 5 feet 5 inches – would be expected to earn $5,525 more annually, he said.

As someone who is short... this sucks royally. Perhaps instead of saving for my kids college expenses I should just be paying for growth hormone treatment.

Nifong Drops Rape Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Team

Rape Charges Dropped In Duke Lacrosse Case

Nifong's investigator interviewed the woman Thursday, and she told the investigator that she couldn't "testify with certainty" that she was raped.

Prosecutors said they couldn't proceed without her testimony, so they decided to dismiss the rape charges in the case.

Nifong said he plans to proceed with kidnapping and sexual assault charges against the three player

About frickin time. 1/3 of the way there. Keeping any charges is a joke at this point.

I wonder which Duke blogger will be the first to comment? I think I beat them all.

Update 1: 12:49 pm

MSNBC picks it up:

“It’s highly coincidental,” Cheshire said, that the charges are being dropped a week after the director of a private DNA testing lab acknowledged that he initially, with Nifong’s knowledge, withheld from the defense test results showing none of the players’ DNA was found on or in the accuser’s body.

You think?

Update 2: 12:50

LaShawn Barber is the first to post.

Final comments: 12:57

I don't know what is worse... that a prosecutor would use the case for political gain or that Duke University turned their back on the players.

Duke is probably regretting their stance now. According to the N&O, they have launched a major (read expensive) PR campaign to repair their reputation after early admission applications dropped by 20%.

Can you blame students and parents for not wanting to go to a school that faculty like the Duke 88? I have several Duke alumni that go to my church, and to a person they are disgusted by how the University treated the Lacrosse players, especially the three students charged.

For further info check out the following:

John In Carolina

Talk Left for great legal analysis

Durham in Wonderland

This Scares Me!

I ran across the 2005 science Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) from the NAEP.

Summary: Austin and Charlotte kick ass if your middle class white, everyone sucks if your black or low income, and Cleveland is terrible all around.

The good news is that the worse a school district does the smaller the achievement gap. The secret to eliminating the achievement gap isn't improving education, its obviously way more efficient to make everyones education equally shitty. Perhaps the education establishment has already figured it out and all the hodge podge of kooky curriculums out there is their attempt at finally achieving equality. (irony intended)

Work the System Baby, Work the System

So as you know, our 3rd grade boy was enrolled in a 2 day a week after school program called "STRETCH" designed to make sure advanced students score advanced on the SC PACT test. Last week I ran into a parent of one of the kids in my son's TAG class and she mentioned that she wasn't going to be able to let her kid do the Stretch program because of daycare issues. That started me thinking, so today while visiting the kids school for their holiday parties, we ran into the curriculum director for the school. We asked if we could get our 3rd grade girl into the program since we knew they had at least one drop out. She basically told us no problem, and then went on to explain how she was perplexed because so many kids opted not to take advantage of the program. Its too bad, but those parents/kids loss is our gain.

I'm Not Dead and "Innovation"

Yes I know, I have been slacking... you try raising six kids. First the local education stuff:

A few weeks ago, we got a letter home informing us that our 3rd grade son had been selected for an after school tutoring program called the "Stretch" program. Basically, twice a week kids who have the potential to score advanced on the South Carolina PACT will be receive extra tutoring. They are going to spend 7 sessions each on math, language arts, social studies, and science, with the soul purpose of boosting the schools test scores. Several thoughts:

1. Isn't this why he is in the Talented and Gifted program... this is what the TAG program should be about instead of all the "inquiry" based (read art projects) that they do. I did talk to the schools curriculum director and she told me that basically the TAG program is district run so they have no input, but this program is set up and run by the school.

2. Our other 3rd grader who is a little behind in her decoding skills only gets tutoring once a week. Average students get no extra help at all. It makes me wonder about the schools priorities.

3. Of course its blatant teaching to the test, but if it benefits my child then I am willing to take advantage.

Now on to Innovation:

Innovation is the latest "buzz word" that I keep reading about. Supposedly "innovation" is the key to our countries future. If we just fostered more innovation in schools, our country will maintain its lead in the global market.

BULLSHIT

Yep, I said it. Innovation as near as I can figure out it a way of saying that schools need more "inquiriy" learning and that facts are outdated. Don't get me wrong, innovation is important in todays global market place, but the for every innovator out there in the work place there has to be another hundred employees that perform the routine day to day tasks. Our country isn't lacking in innovators. Our competive swim or sink capitalist based economic system ensures that there will always be innovators out there ready to capitalize on the next great idea... think Google. Not everyone can be a Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Our country needs many many more mid-level managers, systems analysts, technichians, nurses, machinists... you get the point.

Essays and College

Why don't we just combine the college entrance essay requirement with the SAT essay. Eliminate all the editing, hand-wringing, and yes... cheating that goes with the typical college entrance essay. Give every student 25 minutes to express themselves and demonstrate their writing abilities.

Right Wing Nation#comments

Right Wing Nation#: Not Enough Homework

First, let me say I am one of those whining parents:

As far as I know, every university defines a college credit as one hour of class and two hours of outside work a week. Most classes are three-credit classes (yes, there are a few one- and two-credit courses in the catalog, but very few). By the university definition, then, a three-credit course is three hours of class and six hours of out of class work a week. In order to be full-time, a student must take at least 12 credits per semester — that would be a minimum of 12 hours of classes and 24 hours of out of class work per week.

Which means that a full time college student should be actively doing school stuff for 36 hours a week.
My 16 year old has 4 90 minute classes a day, 5 days a week. She is in class for about 30 hours. She easily has about 2 hours of homework a night. So 30 + 10 = 40 hours of homework.
My two 3rd graders and my 1st grader have 6 hours of instruction a day plus 1 hour of homework a night. At age 8 they have 35 hours of class work, not counting at home reading.
College kids have it easy.
As you mentioned, a big problem is the quality of homework that is required. To much of it, especially at the elementary school level, requires a parent to actively participate and teach to make up for the lack of instruction in the classroom. This is great if you have only one child, but for those of us with more... then after school is hell.
The amount of homework assigned at the elementary school level should be progressive, and not start until around 3rd grade. Then there should be only enough homework to reinforce what is taught at the school.
At the Middle and HS level, I really have no problems with the amount of homework given. By this time, students should be self-sufficient. I also agree that students should be taught the value of hard work.

What an Idiot

Student tapes teacher proselytizing in class

Via Joanne

On Sept. 14 -- the fourth day of class -- Paszkiewicz is on tape saying, "He (God) did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sin on his own body, suffered your pains for you and he's saying, 'Please accept me, believe me.'"

He adds, according to the tapes: "If you reject that, you belong in hell. The outcome is your prerogative. But the way I see it, God himself sent his only son to die for David Paszkiewicz on that cross ... And if you reject that, then it really is to hell with you."

Paszkiewicz didn't limit his religious observations to personal salvation, according to the tapes.

Paszkiewicz shot down the theories of evolution and the "Big Bang" in favor of creationism. He also told his class that dinosaurs were on Noah's ark, LaClair said.

And you wonder why American students fair so poorly when compared against other nations?

The Swarm of the College Super-Applicants -- New York Magazine

The Swarm of the College Super-Applicants -- New York Magazine

I have read all the stories about what it takes to get into a top-notch college, but this article really puts it into perspective.

Hmmm... I wonder if I could get into Harvard?

Rory H.

Central Carolina Technical College, Sumter
GPA: 3.8
SAT: probably somewhere around 2000 if I studied for several months.
AP scores: Whats AP?

Academic honors: Presidents Honor List for Part Time Students. Honor Graduate in Track Vehicle Mechanic School, US Army 1988.

Extracurricular activities: Currently raising six children from the ages of 8 months to 16 years old. Frequent visits to Jails, Doctors Office's, First Sergeants office, Hospitals, and Public Schools. Stationed for 12 years in Europe with the United States Air Force. Able to order beer in seven different languages. Been drunk in over 50 cities in 9 nations, on 3 different continents and four islands. Spades champion of Switzerland, 2001. Amateur blogger on eduction, despite no practical knowledge or experience. Acting as surrogate father figure to the 23 young Airmen I supervise.

Sports: Huge USC Trojan Fan. Family tag champion. Undefeated kid tickler and wrestler.

Applying to: Who ever will take me.

My chances: Slim to none.

Maybe one day colleges will realize that diversity means more than supporting different charities. Maybe I should tell my kids to just go ahead and apply to community college right now, because they obviously have one thing working against them: They are human and not cookie cutter super achieving academic clones.