Beans Wit Attitude: Scholarships

As the recession continues to beat Illinois to the ground, college costs continue to rise. According to a report by CBS, more than 150,000 Illinois college students rely on the MAP Grant and it may not be offered to students for their second semester in 2009, forcing some students to drop out.

And as financial aid decreases in Illinois, tuition costs continue to increase. According to the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, tuition at public universities has gone up every year since 2002. Between 2002 and 2008, average tuition costs have gone from $4,606 to $8,335, an 81 percent increase. During a recession, how are students and parents supposed to cope?

The high college dropout rate helps explain shortages in the workplace. Illinois faces an extreme shortage of teachers, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. There is a need for special education teachers, especially in learning behavior specializing and speech and language impairment. Also, there is a shortage in regular education, especially bilingual education, mathematics, physical education, reading and science. In particular, Chicago has a shortage of standard elementary instructors.

Healthcare is also being hammered in the workplace. The Nursing Institute at the University of Illinois issued a study that showed the ratio of potential caregivers to the people most likely to need care, the elderly population, will decrease by 40 percent between 2010 and 2030. The Illinois Center for Nursing projected Illinois would face a shortage of 21,000 nurses by 2020.

Keeping students in college and filling these positions in the workplace requires two things: need-based and merit-based scholarships. But how does Illinois balance the two?

We believe helping the financially needy is the first and most important step. While merit-based scholarships are great for filling positions for teachers and physicians, we recognize students must get through college first. This requires more financial assistance for students and less money for merit-based scholarships.

We propose 75 percent of scholarships awarded in Illinois should be need-based, while 25 percent should be merit-based or for other reasons not based on financial need. We do not support raising taxes, but instead we support filtering Illinois’ money differently.

If these changes are to take place, we realize the standards for college students must go up as well. Entering freshmen at universities must have a high school diploma or a GED. To receive his or her scholarship, the recipient must be enrolled for at least 12 hours at a university. A student would be required to achieve his or her degree within six years.

Also, to encourage students to make full use of their financial aid, we propose students must maintain a 2.5 GPA, up from the current 2.0 GPA requirement. If a student drops below the GPA requirement for a semester or does not meet the minimum hour requirement, the student will be required to reimburse the money to Illinois.

We believe merit-based scholarships can still be awarded to fill positions in the workplace. In order to hire more teachers, we support keeping the Golden Apple Scholars Program, the Illinois Future Teachers Corp Program, and the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program. In order to fill health positions, we support the Nursing Education Scholarship Program and the Medical Student Scholarship Program. We also believe in rewarding veterans and support the Illinois Veterans Grant.

We understand Illinois taxpayers do not want taxes to raise, so we believe a change must take place within the system. This means taking the money Illinois has and distributing it differently, as proposed by our plan.

Beans Wit Attitude: Physical Education

The Illinois State Board of Education requires physical education for all state schools. Many elementary schools offer recess and high schools have more intense activities and health classes. But there are always ways to get out of P.E. class. And it is starting to show.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 64 percent of U.S. citizens are overweight, and the prevalence of obesity among children has more than doubled in the last two decades. For the elementary school population, ages six to 11, the rate increased from 6.5 percent to 17 percent. For middle and high school adolescents, aged 12 to 19, the rate went from 5 percent to 17.6 percent.

In Illinois these numbers are worse. According to the Illinois Association of Park Districts, obesity has tripled in Illinois since 1980. Over 25 percent of children aged 12 to 16 are overweight, while 18 percent of children aged 6 to 10 are overweight.

From a distance, physical education s requirements are a great idea. After a closer look, it is showing its flaws.

Illinois is the only state to require physical education for all grade levels. While we acknowledge our appreciation for setting this standard, the statistics show it is not working. However, instead of removing the curriculum, we believe it should be revamped.

Some high schools offer waivers to students to get out of P.E. class. Regardless, students should be required to partake in another health-related activity, whether it be exercise or a nutrition class. The state should set standards for how much time is dedicated to physical education, but leave establishing the curriculum based on the schools’ resources and financial limits.

The state should also oversee each school remains in compliance with these standards, which will require money. While the economy is currently down, the health of our children cannot be ignored. There are currently no penalties for not complying with physical education requirements, so we believe the state must become more strict. The state should issue required testing for students, similar to math, reading, and science testing. Each district should have their inspector to administer these requirements and chaperon each school.

Controlling the obesity problem must also occur in the lunchrooms. The state should regulate the lunch menus and establish a nutritional standard of what students can eat. This means more fruits and vegetables and less junk food. Their portions should be managed as well.

We also recognize obesity is a personal problem. We are reaching out to parents to support this proposition by doing their parts in managing their children’s health habits. With the combination of school, parents and government, Illinois can help set a standard for all schools in controlling the obesity epidemic.

Beans Wit Attitude: Marijuana Legalization

On September 23, California issued short-term IOUs to their workforce. Since, California has raised $8.8 billion from individual investors who bought the loans and are looking to gain interest. California has resorted to losing money in the long run in order to bounce back now. Is there something California can do to stop the bleeding?

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano believes proposed bill AB390 can, also known as The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act. According to the bill, taxing marijuana could raise $1 billion annually. In addition, the marijuana business would create jobs and have benefits of $12 to $18 billion a year. Maybe it is time Illinois followed down a similar path.

With a debt of $42 billion in May, Illinois needs to take action. The money raised from taxing legalized marijuana could not only save us from the recession, but benefit in the long term as well. If California can receive up to $18 billion, how much could Illinois raise?

The numbers will actually be higher than you think. Legalizing marijuana will also eliminate the war on drugs, which cost the federal government $19 billion in 2003, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Why so much?

First, the cost of hiring law enforcement to patrol drug traffickers is high. But, more importantly, prisons are the big issue. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, over 1.3 million have been arrested this year in the war on drugs, or one every 17 seconds. 25 percent of those arrested are incarcerated. It costs about $450,000 to put a single dealer in jail, according to the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy. That means over $146 billion has been spent on imprisoning drug offenders this year alone.

According to the Department of Justice, more than 50 percent of prisoners are drug offenders, a number which increased 80 percent between 1985 and 1995. Also, 18 percent of those imprisoned committed their crimes to obtain drug money. The average sentence for violent crimes is 63 months, while it is 75.6 months for drug offenses.

So what have we learned? Eliminating the war on drugs would reduce costs of patrolling drug traffickers and more violent crimes would be investigated. It also reduces the amount of prisoners, thus saving the money to put them through jail.

The money saved from prisons and the money raised through legalizing marijuana could go towards public education. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, spending on prisons rose 30 percent between 1987 and 1998, while spending on education only rose 18.2 percent. A report by ABCNEWS.com showed state prison budgets were growing twice as fast as spending on public universities. It is time we put less focus on correcting criminals and more focus on preventing criminals through education.

We propose Illinois follows guidelines similar to alcohol. A citizen must be 21-years-old to legally possess, sell, and manufacture marijuana. In order to manufacture or sell the product, the seller must be licensed. As with alcohol and cigarettes, the marijuana packaging must include warnings of possible health hazards and potency of the product. Penalties would be issued for driving under the influence or selling marijuana to minors. Only for medicinal purposes is a minor allowed to utilize marijuana, likely through THC pills, which will be at the doctor’s discretion.

The biggest gain from legalizing marijuana will be the revenue. With the new law, the government will be allowed to tax the wholesale and retail sales of marijuana. Also, Illinois would impose higher taxes for products with higher potencies.

Information Beans: A Spark of Hope for Newspapers

In a market where online journalism grows every day, newspapers across the country are downsizing staff, using fewer pages, and revamping their design. Many see this as the beginning stages of extinction for printed news. Why should someone buy the tangible newspaper when they could read it online for free? As an editor, these are things Gary Metro has to consider every day when putting out his newspaper, which stretches across 12 counties that are critical for business. Metro’s paper is unusual, because he has managed to maintain a steady circulation during his tenure as editor. How has his newspaper done this while others continue to die out?

It’s all about change. The news market has changed in the last 30 years, which means newspapers have changed too. One thing that is more important is advertising. Making space for advertising is crucial for business, especially in today’s poor economy. Not only are there advertisements in their newspaper, but on their website as well, where they collect revenue for the number of page views their stories get. The stories themselves have changed as well, where there is more emphasis on government and big business. People do not want to just read numbers and figures anymore, but want them broken down and explained. An editor always has to look for new ways to present this information and can’t just do it anymore with a photo and a few lines of text. To make the information morer accessible to the readers, newspapers have now implemented various images into their stories: maps, graphs, more photos, and illustrated drawings. It’s all about attracting eyeballs to the page and keeping the reader interested. Metro’s newspaper has done something unique to maintain circulation, which is turning his newspaper into an “information company.” This means he puts out not only the newspaper, but also a magazine, a business journal, and even calendars.

And the one thing that a newspaper must have is a website. Today’s news crowd has a thirst for online journalism thatt must be quenched. A website allows the newspaper to supply unlimited amounts of information and content. If a reader wanted to find a story from a year ago, he or she could search and find it in the website’s source directories. Readers can even comment on the stories and read what other people have to say. A website also allows the paper to provide round-the-clock news. Metro claims his website will have a breaking news story at least once every hour, which means the site is always changing. Keeping up on competing newspapers’ websites also allows an editor to see his competition and find out what their edition could look like the next day. So if a reader has access to unlimited news and gets it all for free, is it only a matter of time until online journalism destroys the printed newspaper?

Newspapers are still the big horse for now and online journalism is the little horse. But the little horse is learning and growing every day, and nobody knows how big it will be in a few years, Metro said. There are some that believe newspapers should begin to charge for their online product. The counter-argument is t people have gotten used to the idea of free news and it would kill site traffic. Metro believes his website, if separated from the print productt and staffed independently, could potentially be its own business, but doesn’t know if that will ever happen. He maintains that while there will be fewer newspapers in time, the demand for news will always be there. Metro believes every new generation brings more curiosity. And whether it’s with newspapers or websites, he will be there doing his part.