Paying for college is unnecessarily hard, according to an unlikely trio of MTV, the U.S. Secretary of Education and College Board.
The three parties convened via conference call Monday to promote Get Schooled, a Viacom campaign that encourages students to talk about preparing and paying for college.
Get Schooled? No Child Left Behind? Is someone getting paid to come up with this stuff?
The three spent a conspicuous amount of time praising each other. “Extraordinary,” “thoughtful,” and “gracious” are adjectives I’d hesitate to use when speaking about efforts in public education. That being said, the men also discussed recent and proposed educational policy.
Get Schooled encourages students to propose creative ways to reform the financial aid process, while publicizing the importance of secondary education. In MTV’s own words, the initiative will “use MTV’s superpowers for good.”
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan mostly avoided corporate jargon and focused on the issues at hand. He restated the goal mentioned by President Obama last week: reclaim the number one ranking in college graduation rates worldwide.
The goal represents “the north star of all of our educational efforts,” Duncan said.
North by Northwestern asked College Board President Caperton about furlough days, which send teachers — and students — home when budgets are tight. We wanted to know what message “canceling school” sends to America’s youth.
Caperton’s response was lengthy and vague. Ultimately, he said state officials “don’t have any alternatives.”