(Victor Nuno/Flickr)

Have you heard the phrase “green collar jobs”?

I hadn’t, until today. But if the governor of Pennsylvania is thinking about trying to orient his state’s economy to take advantage of the coming opportunities in green collar jobs (I heard it on NPR’s On the Media), I’m thinking I’d better start learning!

Here are some of what I’ll be reading as I try to get up to speed:

• Green Collar Jobs, by By Raquel Pinderhughes at Urban Habitat

• Douglas MacMillan’s article in the January 10th issue of Business Week on “Switching to Green Collar Jobs“

• Kevin Doyle’s guest column over at the GristMill

Got any suggestions for further reading? My sense is that these are all pretty positive views… any interesting counterpoints out there?

Some colleges that might be worth checking out if folks are thinking along these lines are over here.

Photo courtesy of Qwirksilver, aka Kristine,
via a CreativeCommons license.

What courses should one take in high school, and why?

When speaking with academically focused rising juniors and seniors about course selection, I feel that I have to share with them the perspective that many years of working on “the other side of the desk” has given me. Highly selective colleges will look for them to have completed four years of each of the five academic “solids.” (English, science, math, history, and language.) These same colleges may place a greater value on AP Calculus than on AP Statistics. On balance, students applying in very selective circumstances may stand a better chance if they take Physics as a senior than that fourth year of Ceramics which meets during the same class period.

Many of the admissions offices at selective colleges in the US are overrun with applications. Many if not most of those applications come from students who are absolutely qualified to do the work. So it’s understandable when colleges express their desire to matriculate a class full of students who have shown a willingness to take on challenge and a desire to have a positive impact on their communities.

What’s problematic is the rush to a “one schedule fits all” mindset. Colleges see AP Calculus as being a more challenging course than AP Statistics, and so students are encouraged to take the former, even when the latter might be a better fit for their current interests or long-term goals. Students join clubs they have no real interest in because they’ve been told that colleges care about that.

What can we can do, in high schools, to move our schools beyond the role of sorting hat? What kinds of outcomes can we aspire to, beyond a list of college matriculations that seem impressive to an outsider who knows nothing about the individual students involved?

What class are you most grateful for having taken in high school?

Me? I fought the powers that be and took typing. Had a hunch that this computer stuff was going to mean something to me.

admissions college curriculum course+selection Advanced+Placement

These from a page in the Spring Branch School District’s employee handbook

Teachers who blog are encouraged to publish information including, but not limited to:
• Weekly reports on what will be taught during the upcoming week, how it will be taught and why.
• Background information on topics currently being taught in the classroom, creating a context for students and for parents.
• Homework assignments.
• Descriptions of projects, including procedures, expectations, suggested parent involvement, assessment rubrics and links to last year’s projects.
• Achievements of students in the class, students in other classes, and other teachers, school support and administrative staff.
• Pictures may be inserted into your blog. Make certain that the image is appropriate for use in a school document and copyright laws are followed. Photos of students MUST be accompanied by a signed release form provided by the district. This signed form should be kept on file with the teacher. Under no circumstances should identifying names or other personal information of any kind accompany the photos.

District Teacher/Employee bloggers will not use their blogs to:
• Conduct or promote outside business activities.
• Promote or advertise for commercial products unrelated or related to instruction.
• Defame or cause defamation of the character of any individual, organization or institution.
• Divulge any personal information about students, or jeopardize their safety in any other way.
• Link to their own personal blogs from their school blog, or vice versa.

Hmmm…