The Business of Edcuation








Western Carolinian












Pell Grant Reform?

Student Loan Image

I’ll probably make some people mad with my opinion about Pell Grants, but as the program is looking at a well that is quickly running dry, I believe that there is some level of accuracy in my concern.

First, let’s start with the problem I’ve stated before. The government is a business, they make money, they spend money, they do it from behind a veil of concern for you. As education is concerned the government does not deviate, hence the $41.3 billion profit posted for the 2013 fiscal year. According to the Detroit Free Press, that’s the third highest profit level in the world, behind Exxon Mobil and Apple.

Second, Pell Grants, though useful to good students that deserve the opportunity to pursue a higher education, do not need to be given to anyone over 30.

That probably sounds harsh, but when there are 18 year olds that want to pursue an education but can’t because of affordability, then no, I don’t think that a person who chose to work instead should be receiving grant money. Again, I empathize with those people that have personal or family issues that prohibit them from going to school, but having three family members that are well over the age of 30, just now pursuing their education, it upsets me to hear how much grant money they receive for an online education.

When I graduated from Western, I had never been eligible for a grant. Even in the year that my father was out of a job, a year with zero income, which FAFSA is supposed to take into account, my student loan amounts were reduced so that I was forced into taking out parent loans too if I wanted to continue my education.

Yes that was right, parent loans was the government’s answer to my family having zero income.

So if you want Pell Grant Reform, the government needs to do the same thing they should do with Social Security. Allocate money to the people that deserve it, stop handing out pity money, and at some point hold people accountable for the life choices that they make.

The older you are, the more opportunity you’ve had to pursue a career, which could be paying for the education that you suddenly realized you needed. A high school grad shouldn’t be penalized for your decision to work.

As far as money for education is concerned, this isn’t about reform, it’s about common sense.

Bullying: Everybody Cares Until it Happens

The word that has jarred people the past few years, the one that creates a stir in any conversation about the way people are treated, is bullying.

But what does anyone actually do when it comes to handling the issue?


I would encourage you to take a look at to find the laws and statutes that exist in your state, but note what the repercussions of bullying are.

Because the examples that I have both come from North Carolina, that is the state I looked at.

According to Stop Bullying, in North Carolina bullying has both laws and policies to protect victims of bullying, but when you look for the consequences of bullying, everything falls to the responsibility of the institution where the bullying occurs.

Essentially, the whole process is muddled with words so that you can feel “safer” about going to school, or sending your child to school, but there is no legitimate process for handling the issue.

Since I told you I had two examples, I’ll start with a personal one.


Interestingly enough, North Carolina believes that cyberbullying doesn’t occur between adults, because nobody has ever been stalked or harassed online after they turned 18, and so the law only applies to minors.

The exchange above happened between a person that would go on to represent our school on a national level, despite a number of issues with other students. Since she carried that kind of report, when we found ourselves in her path, we reported it to student affairs and the national organization that the student belonged to.

The response from the university…

That we should leave her alone and avoid any campus activity that she would likely attend.

Again, she virtually ran the university’s student government, so basically we were being told not to participate in anything. Because we were the problem.

Demoralized that the university would slap us in the face, it’s hard to believe that anyone actually takes bullying seriously unless it’s happening to them. But what should a victim do when the powers-at-be choose to do nothing?

That brings me to my second example.

Paige and I were in North Carolina after our honeymoon and I was told a story about an employee whose son was being bullied, and she has had to miss work because of it.

Essentially, her son was being harassed in class by some other punk that wouldn’t leave him alone. The student complained to the teacher, who did nothing, until his mom had to complain to the school. The teacher separated the two boys for a few weeks, and because the issue had calmed down, move the two students so that the bully was sitting directly behind the victim.

After a few days of being harassed again, the victim took justice into his own hands and hauled off and punched the kid.

Of course, the victim was reprimanded for getting violent, but what was he supposed to do?

Now, after hitting the guy that was bullying him, his mom has had to go back into school to discuss her son’s behavior. Oh, and the teacher put the bully in the seat behind the victim so that he can go right back to harassing the kid because he knows if the victim hits him again the victim will be suspended.

Tell me how any of that makes sense.

What type of society are we trying to build where we fake emotion, thanks Facebook, and tell someone they are protected until they’re an actual victim?

What is it that we’re going for when the victim is always wrong?

I don’t have answers to either of those questions, but as a kid that got beat up in sixth and seventh grade, I’m curious to know what your suggestions are.

My bullies stopped after I hit them back, but what do you do when that doesn’t end it?

College: Is It Worth It?


But is that really the case?

tumblr_muumxk9HyX1spokgpo1_250Gif via





I’ll offer my experience as an example.



347_1053085692656_6951_nOur first picture together, circa 2008




Millennials: We Majored in Snark

546456_1650102937714_421945185_nImage: Paige Hogan



TMS-Statler&Waldorf-BalconyBoxImage: Muppett Wiki







Are you going to help us?

School In, Education Out






Still think North Carolina is that bad?


