Authorities in UK Mulling Over Graduate Tax Policy to Reduce the Outstanding Loan Debts

 

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In recent times, the university tuition fees have trebled causing disappointment among the students and the funding system has nearly broken. The IFS presented a report, a few days ago, which demonstrate that the new system has saved only a meagre sum of money, while the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills expects that the taxpayers will have to pay for more than they paid for replaced system. Universities have responded to the crisis by setting up a high-level panel to re-evaluate the system and government is also in consideration to change the new system. A graduate tax is looking like an initiative whose time has come for those seeking a progressive alternative.

Current funding system is flawed and unfair

 

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It has come under public domain that the funding system at present is not just unfair but flawed. In 2010, David Willetts, universities minister, had said that outstanding debt would not go beyond 32% of the amount on loan and countered Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and other organisation who asserted that debt would be somewhere nearby 38%. But, the truth is much gloomy. Mr. Willets now confirms the education debt at 45% and substantiated, BIS was representing it at above 50%. The current student debt is certain to pass the tipping point of 48.6% that marks the system as more expensive that the replaced one.

Nick Hillman, who was the chief adviser of Willetts in 2010 and heads HEPI currently, confessed in February that Willetts got it wrong on debt similarly when he said fees more than £6,000 would be exceptional. So the strange disturbance in universities due to the end of all public funding for undergraduate courses and trebling the fees debt was hyperbole.

David Willetts mulling over Australian education model

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Though Willets has publicly denied the system failure, he is mulling over alternatives with an obvious interest

in Australian education model. But, it raises questions pertaining to outstanding debts, causing failure in the attempts to sell their loan book, at the same time not producing required funds for universities.

Although Nick Clegg denies, but Danny Alexander suggests that similar to Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats would not forbid increase in the fees. Some elite universities would want to raise the cap to allow for fees of £15k or above. This will certainly open up the system to complete marketing. Moreover, students would choose the course as per their paying ability, not learning ability. Importantly, the IFS indicate that increasing the fees may not be a solution to funding crisis because it would just increase the outstanding loans debt.

Graduate tax policy is the correct answer 

 

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Therefore, the university education needs fresh thinkers. Ed Miliband recently spoke, "Young people feel they have no control because they are going to get into mountains of debt if they go to university", adding that "we do want a radical offer on tuition fees." Liam Byrne said in an interview with the Times Higher Education Supplement in December just after his appointment as shadow universities minister that Labour’s primary aim is to formulate graduate tax policy.

A graduate tax will not only offer a strong model but also a fairer system. It modifies the standard through which students make payment from cost to benefit. The contribution made by graduates would be based on their earnings post completion of their studies, and not on what they have borrowed to enrol in university. It simply means the end of fee system and a slight boost to the income tax, which was calculated by the IPPR previous year at only 1.96% over 40 years.

The existing system requires a basic revamp and graduate tax is the right answer. It would mark a change in Treasury accounting rules but the real costs of the current system is hidden and do not cater to the interests of students or taxpayers.

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Formal Education seems Attainable through Informal Learning Activities

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Education if made more informal can actually yield better results for both students and teachers. Probably, something similar was going on in the minds of the Wellcome Trust that inspired them to launch a brand new initiative on 10th April. They wanted to discover how informal learning activities could bring a positive impact on today’s young minds studying science.

Informal learning activities can be quite inspiring

An amount of £9 million would be provided by Science Learning+ that works in partnership with National Science Foundation (NSF) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This amount would act as a huge monetary support to initiate research into the learning processes that are conducted outside classrooms. In other words, this would be a sincere effort towards inspiring institutions to take up informal learning activities to educate new age learners.

A report commissioned in 2012 by the Wellcome Trust taking the new initiative into consideration found that although there are crystal clear evidences that informal learning activities can be quite pleasurable and interesting for all those studying science, such evidences are actually negligible and hence further research is essential.

Attaining formal education through informal activities

Researchers with the funding option would therefore grab the opportunity to look into how informal learning activities like visiting museums, playing games or watching documentaries can help students gain formal education. These activities would be quite engaging and students would therefore take absolute pleasure in completing their lessons.

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The initiative would further meet the following objectives:

• Evaluate how informal learning experiences would bring a bigger impact
• Enhance the impact of informal learning experiences
• Enhance one’s understanding of how informal environments would help to improve access to science for young students coming from diverse backgrounds

NSF's Division Research on Learning’s programme director, Dennis Schatz, said that the most popular projects that can help science students remain engaged towards their lessons are:

• Programmes held after school
• Science exhibitions at museums
• Projects on citizen science
• Science cafes

Schatz moreover said that it would be now easier for them accumulate together all the resources of both UK and US, which would therefore help them understand better as how these projects have helped them in the learning process. Well, there will be a couple of phases through which the funding for the initiative will take place:

1. Development of ideas
2. Starting to make plans for grants in 2014 that can support initial partnerships

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With these, long-term partnership grants for would be initiated for 2015 that would be designed for research programmes up to 5 years.

Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Wellcome Trust, Clare Matterson said, “If such ‘out of school’ experiences, such as trips to museums, theatres and galleries are important, we must make sure that they are available for young people of all backgrounds.”

The ex-chief inspector for Ofsted, Sir Michael Tomlinson, called for the STEM development just the previous month. The intention was to bring the same during the early years at the primary school where these subjects would be brought alive in daily contexts. In other words, sharing experiences with students outside classrooms in informal settings would always give rise to better results. 

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21st Century Classrooms can be Better with Technology & Social Media

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No matter who says brick and mortar classrooms would take no time to shut down with the emergence of digital learning tools, it’s not going to be easy. Although it’s true that the 19^th century Industrial model have rather nothing left in it to serve the needs of the 21^st century learners, countless academicians still believe that classrooms will never lose their importance.

 Social media in conventional classrooms

Schools and other brick and mortar institutions that comprise straight rows of desks and shelves of books can just not decide to wrap up things so easily. What is required is not only gradual implementation of digital learning tools in classrooms but utilising them in such a manner that can clearly bring out their effectiveness. One such unconventional learning approach that is now being used at conventional learning platforms is social media.

To some extent, it can be accepted that books are fading in importance, and of course the reasons are valid. Technology is giving rise to such exciting and digitally enriched learning tools that students are taking pleasure in clinging towards these devices instead of doing the same with books. It’s not that books are monotonousness, but they fail to hold on to one’s interest and attention for long. Therefore, the social media strategies are playing more efficient roles by keeping students engaged towards their lessons for hours.

So, how this social media is actually working out?

·        Blogging – Imagine how monotonous it is to typically answer questions from a chapter. Rather, if students can create blogs of their own and write on a certain section of that chapter or a story, it’s certainly going to be more interesting. They can even write their own observations and opinions and share them with their classmates. In fact, this would let them impart knowledge to each other, which in other words is called collaboration.

·       

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Videos – Who doesn’t like watching videos on YouTube? In fact, blackboards if replaced with audio-visual equipments can bring a deeper impact in the classrooms. Learning through visuals instead of texts actually generates more interest and enthusiasm among students. So, videos if made interesting and useful are bound to make students understand their lessons faster.

·        Google Drive – In this age of digital learning, what students prefer is using file storage platforms for writing collaborative summaries. Google Drive here plays a key role where students with the help of keyboards initiate discussions and group findings. Once done, they share with their group partners as well as with people outside their classrooms.

·        LinkedIn – LinkedIn is one of the most renowned social media platforms meant for professionals and students. In fact, this is a reliable platform where students can get in touch with several learning communities, groups, experts and instructors. In a classroom where students are limited to their teachers’ instructions, these professional social interaction platforms can actually make students more knowledgeable and smarter.

So, the more these social media activities get introduced to classrooms, the better will be the productivity. Books and blackboards are age old strategies that must be replaced with technology and social media, and then only we can expect our education system to achieve maturity.

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Google Mining Students’ Data through Education Apps

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After the advent and development of the information technology, we can now easily access a sea of valuable and relevant information. The internet has become the most prominent resource for gathering information both for us and the major corporations. Nowadays, online data collection and data mining has become an essential process for various market research companies and other organisations.

It has been reported that some search engines and social networks follow data mining practices that do not affect the privacy of the users. Search engines like Google stores and studies the data that users search on the internet. However, most users are concerned about this as the stored data might be used against the users in near future. Generally, if a company wants to gather data from individuals then it needs to attain permission from the users for accessing their personal information and encroaching on privacy rights.

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Google has been collecting data from the users through the various services it provides in order to sell advertising. But now Google has admitted to scanning received and sent emails of innumerable students using its Apps for Education suite. It creates unauthorised and hidden profiles of them for the purpose of targeting the students with advertising. Earlier Google had launched a new privacy policy to enhance its capacity for targeting its users with ads that are developed through online data mining. Then it claimed that students who used Google Apps for Education would not be affected by this. But the recent announcement tells a completely different story.

Through its Apps for Education, Google has been gathering data by scanning and indexing the emails of 30 million users and this data is utilised by schools all across the globe, although the new consumer privacy policy does not include Google Apps for Education. The California based multinational corporation is now facing a lawsuit for inappropriately scanning personal emails to deliver advertisements as it directly violates federal and state wiretap laws. It collects the data through an automated process which can’t be turned off for potential advertising. However, Google has denied that the data is used for ad targeting to particular users.

 A Washington-based advocacy group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, is representing a group of 9 plaintiffs who affirmed that such data mining practices breach the basic principles for student privacy and it also infringes state and federal wiretap laws. The plaintiffs aim to make it a representative action lawsuit that would result in a compensation of millions of dollars and make the company more transparent about the data collection and mining practices. This case can strongly influence the interpretation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Google Apps for Education, the free productivity apps suite is used by almost 30 million users worldwide. These are included in Google’s laptop range Chromebooks which are highly popular in American public schools. Google has admitted to scanning and indexing for different reasons, which includes advertising, as well as marking received and sent emails as important and filtering out spams. The company has confirmed that it’s not possible to turn off the system; but Google has said the data is not utilised for targeting users for Apps for Education with ads until they preferred receiving the ads.

The Director of Google Apps for Education, Bram Bout, said “Ads in Gmail are turned off by default for Google Apps for Education, and we have no plans to change that in the future.” However, the company utilises the information it collects from Apps for Education and advertise on other online services like YouTube and Google Search.

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Google has tried to dismiss the lawsuit by saying these apps are included in the new privacy policy that covers all Google services. But as the data from the Gmail accounts is utilised for the purpose of advertising, the group of plaintiffs assert that the corporation is using the information from Apps for Education emails in the same way. This is certainly a violation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act that protects the privacy of educational records. This might result in an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and the Education Department on Google. However, the Education Department has not made any comments on this issue.

The plaintiffs are claiming that even non-Gmail users have also been affected by this data mining process of Google as they have merely sent emails to different Gmail users and have never agreed to Google's terms of services or their privacy policy. The group of plaintiffs, which also includes 2 students who have used the education suite, are looking for compensation for every user who has been affected by such controversial practices of Google. They are looking for financial damages of $100 for every affected individual for each day of violation.

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An Update on Education Standards in Arizona

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As most of you know, the Common Core State Standards was introduced in the U.S. back in 2009 in draft form. It is an education reform for K-12 students in English language arts and mathematics that would help the students to apply for various college courses and programmes. The initiative was commenced by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) and aims to set consistent standards in education in all U.S. states.

Challenges in Arizona

Although most of the states have participated in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, some states like Arizona are facing challenges in adopting them. The policy, planned to be successfully implemented by the 2014-2015 school year, was eventually renamed as Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards (AZCCRS) to pacify the opponents. The initiative expects the students to meet certain criteria before they complete their education which will help them in graduation and make them job ready.

Currently, the state’s Republicans are engaged in an argument over the abolition of Common Core Standards policies. However, the argument is mainly among sections of the Republican Party, rather than between the Democrats and the GOP members. Arizona has faced challenges in adopting Common Core from the beginning which even led Republican Governor Jan Brewer to rename the Common Core programme in the state to alleviate the controversy. However the new name, College and Career Ready Standards, included little changes to the education initiative and failed to appease its opponents.

Even after the renaming, the State Republicans have been bickering about whether to adopt the new standards which are barely different from the Common Core initiative that has been opposed by the tea party groups and the parents since its introduction. Currently the argument has shifted to the Arizona State Board of Education. Moreover, 2 appointees from the Board of Education, who have voted in favour of the policies, are set to lose their seats.

Conflicts in the Board of Education

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In the Board of Education, the nomination period for its members expires after one year if they remain unconfirmed by the Senate and the 2 targeted members are rather close to the end of the nomination period. Apparently, these members had voted in favour of Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards during their terms. Thus it is most likely that Diane Ortiz-Parsons and Vice President Greg Miller have not been confirmed due to their votes for Brewer’s programme.

Kimberly Yee, the Chairwoman of the State Senate Education Committee commented that the pair had serious attendance problems and that is the source of the issue. Ortiz-Parsons had not been present in 4 meetings from 2009 to 2014. Her opponents are using this pretext to contest her return to the education board.

However, the office of Governor Brewer is strongly criticising Kimberly Yee, Chairwoman of the Committee, and Senate President Andy Biggs for not confirming Ortiz-Parsons and Miller. Although Yee has been looking for replacements, but Andrew Wilde, spokesman for the Governor affirmed that Brewer is not set on nominating someone else for these positions. It can be clearly inferred that Republican Governor Jan Brewer and her Republican partners are striving to block the elimination of Common Core Standards in the state of Arizona.

Common Core Relief Bills

Senator Kelli Ward has co-sponsored Senate Bill 1388, which is one of the 4 Senate bills that intend to free public schools from implementing the Common Core policy. Ward’s proposal aims to remove the imposition by Arizona State Board of Education to follow federal academic standards and let the charter schools and districts to develop their own programme. He believes that as the new standards are unproven, it might turn out worse than the earlier education standards in the state.

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Senator Al Melvin has sponsored the Senate Bill 1310 that proposed to ban the Arizona State Board of Education from imposing the Common Core. He believes that schools need to have the liberty to design their own educational objectives and that implementing the standards would result in unnecessary investment of money, effort and time. Melvin said, “We can do a better job at the state level than the federal government dictating standards.”

Moreover the House Bill 1395 was voted 17-12 by the state Senate in March that permitted the public schools to choose their own curriculum and reject the new standards. The charter schools and school districts are supposed to commence schooling under the Common Core standards by the current school year. Some of the school districts have already purchased materials and trained teachers by spending millions in order to follow the new curriculum.

Steve Gallardo, Democratic State Senator of Phoenix, opposed Melvin and said the new education standards can be beneficial as they were designed by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). He said, "Republican and Democratic governors coming together to look at how we are going to advance our education system throughout our entire country.”

Currently, we can observe the same scenario in most U.S. states all over the nation, especially those states that are dominated by Republicans. In states like Georgia, Iowa, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, the Republicans are also experiencing intra-party arguments as some are supporting the move while others are opposing the policies.

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