Cheating in the Air Force

Earlier in the year the US Air Force found out that many of their officers were cheating on their proficiency tests. Although the over one hundred officers that were cheating or are believed to have known about the cheating have not been fired, nine people throughout the entire chain of command were fired yesterday, March 27th. Along with the firings, Col. Robert Stanley resigned on thursday. Stanley has been responsible for all of the officers caught cheating on the test (The article can be found here).

The cheating was revealed when there was belief that some officers may have been in possession of illegal drugs and the Air Force was forced to confiscate cell phones during the investigation. When in possession of the phones Air Force Officials discovered that answers to test questions have been sent via text messages from officer to officer during the time of the testing. A former missileers are saying that cheating on the proficiency tests has been around for a long time and is not anything new. Bruce G. Blair, a former missileer, said that "Cheating has been extensive and pervasive at all missile basis, going back for decades." Obviously, cheating is not a new problem if this is true, but this is the first time that the public is hearing of the allegations of the cheating. This leads many to believe that either the Air Force has been turning a blind eye or was somehow oblivious to the problems. 

The fact that many official have either ignored these blatant acts of cheating or just somehow did not know about them is quite concerning. The United States, in my opinion, is a country that is incredibly strict when it comes to safety. Yet, these members of the US Air Force whose primary job is controlling missiles are able to cheat there way through their job. Something about this does not seem right. What are your opinions on the topic? Do you think more people should have lost their jobs after news of this scandal was released? 

College Athletes: What Rights do They Have?

This past wednesday it was deemed legal for the Northwestern University football team to become unionized. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that the athletes were employees of the school and in turn should have the opportunity to unionize. On the basis that athletes spend upwards of fifty hours  week working solely on their athletics and that many players are being compensated through

scholarships is enough to make them considered employees. In the decision it is said "It can not be said that the employer's scholarship players are 'Primarily Students.'" This would go to imply that for these particular students athletics come first, not their education.

For a long time it would never have even been dreamt of for a college athlete to be considered an employee, that is just way too close being paid, and as we all know it is illegal for a college athlete to be paid. Now that student athletes are allowed to unionize do you think it will change the face of college athletics? Do you think less athletes will leave college early for the pros now that unionization is an option?

Women's History Museum

Today in the New York Times and article was released about the possibility of a museum being created solely about the History of Women (The article can be found here). The new museum would be located in Washington D.C. near the National Mall. The article states that in the past the house has proposed bills that would lead to the creation of a museum on the history of women but it has never had nearly enough support to be passed. Now it is seeming like the odds may be in the favor of the mall.

I feel that the fact that today we can finally come this close to creating a museum for women shows immense growth in the United States of America. Also the fact that America has become supportive enough of women in recent history that enough feats have been accomplished by them to open a museum solely for that also shows tremendous growth. Do you think the museum will end up opening? How do you think this portrays what the future of the United States in regards to women will look like?

Talking to Your Children

An article in todays New York Times talked about a new initiative in Providence, Rhode Island to help close the gap in learning between the rich and the poor (article can be found here). The initiative called, Providence Talks, is geared towards poor immagrants who are statistically shown to be behind in learning when they enter preschool at the age of four. It is believed that children of wealthy families are more prone to hearing and digesting a wider vocabulary at a young age, so Providence Talks is calling for lower income families to have their children wear a recording device one day a week so that analyst can listen to how the child is being talked to.

Providence Talks is joining a growing number of initiatives across the country that are trying to fight the battle against the gap in education based on wealth.  With Providence Talks we are beginning to see a shift in the ideals of Americans who instead of wanting what is best for them is striving for greatness and equality for all. We have seen this occur in other times throughout history but not in this context. Do you think Americans believe the success of the entire country lies on the education of all not just a select few? Do you believe the success of the country lies on the education of all and not just a select few? Please share your opinions.

SAT Overhaul

Yesterday College Board announced that as of 2016 the SAT would be totally redesigned. For a long time people were being judged with scores that often time did not reflect how good of a learner the student truly is. David Coleman, the president College Board, said that both the SAT and ACT have "both become from the work of our high schools". Coleman goes on to say that "What this country needs is not more tests, but more opportunities."

Colman and the College Board team have completely redone the SAT test. More common and important words will be added to the Vocab section, and the math sections would be more narrowed in on certain topics that are crucial to the development of students.

College Board announced that only twenty percent of high school teachers believe that standardized testing is a fair measure of how prepared a student is for college and the rest of their futures. The changes in the SAT are designed to help change this. Also, the ACT has recently surpassed the SAT as the number one standardized test in America. These changes will hopefully help make a change to this as well.

Finally a company realizes what american students really need to become successful. Do you think these changes are beneficial? What else could a standardized test do to change into something that helps judge how prepared a student really is?