Editor's memo

It will come as a surprise to nobody that local television news producers are more intrigued by crime stories than education stories, to say nothing of tigler education stories. The national Consortium of Local Television Surveys reports that crime and criminal justice accounted for 23 percent of local television news from January 1999 to May 1999, while education accounted for a meager 5 percent. What if higher education were to attain the dependable newsworthiness of a good felony? What might we hear some 11 p.m.?

Good evening and thank you for joining us. We begin tonight with mixed news on college admissions. Freshman applications to New England colleges as of the traditional May 1 deadline rose by 5 percent from spring 1999 to spring 2000, and by 7 percent the year before, according to a survey by the New England Board of Higher Education. But the modest uptick comes too late for Bradford College in Haverhill, Mass., which enrolled about 600 students before closing its doors for good in May. And New England's total college enrollment dropped steadily during the 1990s from a peak of more than 827,000 in 1992 to about 795,000 in 1991. Jeff?

Wow, Karen, that's a lot of Bradfords. In a related story, nearly 80 percent of the 2,000 students admitted to Harvard's Class of 2004 chose to enroll, resulting in the highest admissions "yield" of any selective U.S. college and leading to a fair amount of gloating in Cambridge. Back to you, Karen ...

That's fascinating, Jeff, but what about that other 20 percent? Who are those 400 or so students who stay thanks, but no thanks, to the world's most famous institution of higher education?

Don't know. But it all reminds me of a Gordon College magazine sent here a few years back with a story headlined, "Why I Chose Gordon over Yale." Well, Karen, new at 11, Lesley College has signed a transfer articulation agreement with Urban College of Boston, a two-year institution distinguished by the fact that it was established by an anti-poverty agency, Action for Boston Community Development. The agreement provides access to Lesley's bachelor's programs for Urban College grads, most of whom are inner-city minorities, immigrants or otherwise nontraditional students.

`Nontraditional. " That means the,y'r not white 18-to-22-year-olds, right, Jeff? Er, I guess so, Karen. In other news, new rules require students applying for federal student aid to reveal whether they've ever been convicted of a drug-related offense. As for more affluent students, they can just say they just said no. Karen?

OK, Jeff. "Moses is coming and he's packing heat. " That's the word tonight from Brandeis University students greeting National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston. Jeff?

In tonight's special feature, author Jonathan Kozol notes that teachers in the South Bronx "want to find the treasures that exist already in those children, and they know they cannot do this if they are forced to march the kids in lockstep to the `next' objective or, God help us, the next `benchmark,' so that they'll be ready-and God help us, please, a little more-to pass the next examination." Karen?

Strong stuff.

Yeah, strong stuff.

And finally, Jeff, research by a University of Massachusetts Amherst professor reveals that only about one-quarter of U.S. engineering schools require all, undergraduates to take a course in the ethics of engineering. No word on how many ethicists take courses in engineering.

That's the news. Goodnight.

John O. Harney is executive editor of CONNECTION.

Copyright New England Board of Higher Education Summer 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved