I agree with "interesting," but don't want to push too hard on "conclusions."

I was the product of a relatively large (for the time) rural high school near a small city, now a LARGE suburban school. My school work kept me challenged enough, but by being a serious student I was in line to be valedictorian. However, I skipped my senior year and took "early entrance" to college, where I found I didn't know how to study on my own and dig things out for myself.

I went from an almost straight-A student to a barely-C student. By the time I graduated, I had raised it to just above the B line. I didn't become a straight A student again until I was completing the last of my several advanced degrees, at the age of 42.

So we can look at those charts and calculate the statistics, but what does it all "mean"?

And if it means "something should be done," just exactly what should be done, by whom, about what?

I remember this from many years ago: There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

I hope that nobody looking at these statistics will get panicky and try to do something drastic to the detriment of the young people--and ultimately to the adults--of Arkansas.

But that's just me.

report 6 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

What SkyPilot said. The good opportunity for 65% is better than none for all.

report 2 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

Many young Arkansans are getting to go to college these days and some of ‘em are the first in their families to have the opportunity, thanks to the lotto. I am pleased as punch about that. Thank you, Bill Halter, and thank you, voters of Arkansas.

report 4 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

I'm with Sky. I love statistics but in this case I don't think they tell the whole story. If you drop a class and fall below the magic 15 hours you will get dropped from the scholarship lottery pool. My son is a sophomore at the U of A and has a GPA of 3.65 for the last two years but has dropped classes in the past and is now ineligible. A lot of engineering students will do this and then devote the summer to taking Calc or Physics II during the summer at UALR.

report 2 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

I'm happy to report that my younger daughter hits all these statistics in the right place. She's in her second year at the U of A, thanks to Bill Halter and the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery money. Even with 5000 free dollars per year, it takes all the rest of the money that mag and I earn to keep her in school....which I think is a damn fine investment and well worth the sacrifices mag and I have to make. Of course all of this is a crap shoot since there may not be a job waiting for our dear one when she graduates with a degree in Political Science 2 years from now.....but we must do and hope for the best.

When I was at the U of A almost 40 years ago, I had it all handed to me on a silver platter and yet I still screwed it up. I well remember not being able to see thru the fog. I didn't know what I wanted to do....I didn't know why I was at the U of A....I wanted to be back in high school where everything was comfortable. So I attended for almost 3 full years and then ran off to join the Navy. I figure my father couldn't rip me a new ass if I was safely off the coast of Vietnam. But thanks to bad eyes and flat feet the military wouldn't take me and so I had to come home and face my father....and it wasn't pretty.

Now that I'm old, I can't understand why I didn't enjoy my free ride. So some of the kids who got an Arkansas Lottery Scholarship turned out to be me...it's just the way we are. I must say I don't regret dropping out of college in January, 1976, I was wasting my daddy's money and I hated myself for it. Booze and drugs glossed over my self-hatred for a year...but then I couldn't take it any more and I bailed. At the time the only thing to do with a history degree in Arkansas was to teach school....something I've never wanted to do. Had I been smarter and had a better faculty adviser, we might have dug out a new thing to do with a history degree. But it never happened and I had to be over 50 when I discovered what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Well.....my point is that my kid is hitting all the marks the Lottery Scholarship meant to be hit and not only is that a good thing for her and our family, I feel it will be a good thing for Arkansas in 10 or 20 years. She a giver not a taker. She's a little Hillary Clinton who I think will do even better than Hillary by the time she's 40. She has some kind of magic that allows her to get people from opposing sides to sit down and listen to each other. She's a natural peacemaker and every cell in her body is about equality for all people.

I just couldn't be prouder and I will forever be thankful to Bill Halter and the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship because without it, we wouldn't be able to send her off to any college....we're just too damn poor. And we're too damn poor because neither mag or I have ever been into money....its never been a motivating factor in our lives. Yay for Alice Walton...but we have never desired to be rich and I guess unfortunately our children may have suffered from it.

Anyway....I think these are good results and reflect the way people behave when offered a good thing. Some will and some won't....but Arkansas will benefit greatly someday when we're not the most dumbass statistics on every bad list. We need to have less dumb people in our state. The only way that will happen is thru education. It will get better as long as the Scholarship money is available.

report 3 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

COngratulations HHW on your superwoman recovery. You will be running rings around me
soon!

And DBI, sounds like you have a very special daughter.

Welcome home Tap. Not the same without all family members present.

report 0 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

A lot of students in heavy engineering schools end up taking a semester off. In my son's case at WPI, a semester was only 7 weeks but he took one off during his junior year and I later found that a number of engineering students took that route, not for more money, but to clear some time to allow a period to relax. At WPI, the program was 3 courses in 7 weeks, heavy courses, a 2-week break with courses like bread baking or sand castles, and then 3 more courses in the next 7 weeks with labs mixed in.

report 0 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

Don't want to go way off thread topic or start a fight, but here's a small thought before breakfast:

Reflection on DBI's excellent post on education and the realities of life above: Take the general perspective and shift it from education to religion.

There are some who are totally committed and some who totally reject.

There are those who start in with a fair degree of enthusiasm, but then cool off and maybe even drop out.

The strongly committed make the most noise and the general public gets the idea that they represent the entire population of believers, when the truth is that most of them are the non-vocal majority.

I think the political population is about the same way. We have the avid activists and fans on both ends of the spectrum--who make the most noise. Then there are the fairly interested and firmly committed who vote is almost every election, but don't say much otherwise. Then there are the majority who don't even bother to vote.

If we can understand and make allowances for students and the educational community and the political community this well and with this much generosity of spirit, perhaps we could extend the same courtesy to the religious community.

IMHO

report 2 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

Sky, well said.... and good on you for keeping on for those advanced degrees. No one else can say what we can or will do.

report 0 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike

Well, so there it is: "I Know" has all the answers and knows exactly how all of these intricate things come about. Se, it wasn't so hard to figure out after all. All we needed was someone with superior information, perfect knowledge, and absolute judgment.

"It's just that simple."

report 0 likes, 0 dislikes   like  dislike