The Importance of Professionalism, Responsibility and the College Education!

Good Morning and Happy Monday -

We are just 5 short days away from Spring Break which I am sure everyone is excited about.  Today, however, we are going to take a moment to read two articles and reflect both individually and as a class on your thoughts regarding the two.

The first article we are going to read discusses the rising cost of not going to College.

Article can be found here: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/

This article discusses the importance of furthering your education and gives detailed statistics and facts that will surely either curve or reinforce your opinion about a college education.  As you read the article, please take notes on a piece of paper and then share the five most interesting facts you learned or that stood out to you as you read this article on your blog.  Be sure to include an introduction of what the article was about before discussing your five chosen pointers.

The second article we are going to read is on Tennessee's plan to approve free community college for all high school graduates.

Article can be found here: http://goo.gl/WUsQac

This article, as the title implies, discusses the motivation behind Tennessee's plan to offer a free community college education to its residents.  In addition, it explains how a state like Tennessee would fund such a plan.  As you read the article, please highlight the following:

• What does the article discuss
• What are the benefits of a plan such as this one
• What negatives can you envision about putting a plan like this into place

Finally, as we close out today's class period, please write a call to action using both articles that we read today.  Within this call to action you will need to analyze the importance of an education and the state's role in that process.  As part of this, I would imagine you might discuss your experiences personally and/or those of people you know and how their education (or lack thereof) has affected their daily lives.  One discussion point could certainly be on how a free education, such as the one that Tennessee is proposing, may change one's outlook on furthering their education as we move forward.  This final paragraph should be thorough, thoughtful and should also include some statistics from the articles you read that strengthen your argument.

Thank you.