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Thursday, March 2, 2006
Paying for College Counseling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some parents pay top dollar for a private counselor to shepherd their child through the college admissions process. This AP story says, “one exclusive two-year consulting program rings up at nearly $40,000.”
Yikes!
I wrote about local private consultants a few years ago, and the prices were not anywhere close to that. The main advantage I saw was that students got exposed to many low-profile schools, like Elon University, that might not have otherwise gotten onto their radar. With so many students focusing on the same few schools like Duke and UVA, the chances of even a smart student getting in are often slim.
Parents who paid for the service generally told me they thought the guidance counselor at their child’s school was too busy to provide the level of service they wanted.
Parents, have you paid for counseling? Would you consider paying?
Teacher’s Pets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Okay, so maybe it’s not the most pressing issue in public education, but I still enjoyed visiting classrooms with pets. Here’s the story.
Teachers who have pets in their classrooms tend to be interested in educating their children beyond what’s called for on the CRCT and believe that there is still room for fun in school. DeKalb appears to be the most animal-friendly school district. I couldn’t get to all the pets I heard about in DeKalb classrooms. Cobb was home to a teacher with more than a dozen pets as well as a teacher with a therapy dog that fully participates in the school day.
Any other animal-loving teachers out there? Parents, do pets in your child’s classroom make you smile or sneeze?
