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Young Americans tell us they're not getting much help from their high school counselors when choosing a college, career, or in getting financial aid. In the second of our series of reports on college completion, Can I Get A Little Advice Here?, six in ten of young adults who went on to further education gave their high schools poor grades for college advice. Nearly half felt like "just a face in the crowd." With costs rising and college completion rates sinking, this raises serious questions about what kind of help young people need, and whether they're getting it. Read the full report, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
TRILLIONS OF REASONS TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT OUR FISCAL FUTURE
That was the title of a discussion at the Urban Institute, with Public Agenda president Ruth Wooden among those considering the deficit (see our fact sheet) and what it will take for the public to become truly engaged on this issue. Wooden is a member of the Committee on the Fiscal Future of the United States, which last month released a report with questions the public can ask to evaluate the fiscal wisdom of any budget plan. Other panelists included Rudolph Penner, who chaired the Committee on the Fiscal Future of the United States, and Maya MacGuineas of the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform. Click here to check out the archived webcast of the event.
SQUEEZE PLAY 2010
Are college and universities doing all they can to keep costs under control? According to Squeeze Play 2010, a new report from Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, six out of ten Americans believe that colleges mainly care about their own bottom lines instead of making sure that students have a good educational experience. Squeeze Play 2010 is part of a series of surveys, dating back to 1993, tracking public attitudes about college affordability and accessibility. More than half of Americans now say college is essential for success in the work world. Even more, 69 percent, say there are many qualified people who do not have access to higher education, up seven percentage points from two years ago and 22 percentage points compared to a decade ago. Find out more about Squeeze Play 2010 here.
TOWN HALLS: REAL DEMOCRACY OR ADVOCACY CENTRAL?
Thomas Jefferson called them the "wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government." He was talking about town hall meetings, which can rise to the potential of that early ideal of citizen engagement and participation, but can also devolve into a less likely forum for listening, bridging interests and developing solutions. Given the serious issues we face as a nation, we'd like to remind citizens of the tools of public engagement: a nonpartisan way to work through public policy trade-offs and tough choices. To learn more, see our commentary by Ruth A. Wooden and Andrew L. Yarrow, which first appeared in the Baltimore Sun.
ABORTIONMore than a generation after the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the U.S., public debate on the subject continues to follow the well-worn path between condemnation and choice. Public attitudes do not.
Where advocates on both sides tend to lay out their arguments in terms of absolute moral rights and wrongs, the public seems to see conflicts and conditions. Solid majorities support a woman's right to choose abortion - if her reasons seem sound and if it's not too late in the pregnancy.
On an individual level, medical technology is making the issue more complex. In some respects, changing technology - such as the "abortion pill" and ultrasound-guided abortions available as early as eight days after conception – have made abortion both easier and more accepted. In other respects, new technology – such as ultrasound photos from the womb and developments making a fetus viable at earlier stages of pregnancy – has sparked new questions.
