LeBron James wants NBA players to give up their No. 23s to honor Michael Jordan. The Cavaliers superstar, who has worn 23 since he was a high school sophomore, believes players should pay tribute to Jordan for the Hall of Famer's impact on the game. "I just think what Michael Jordan has done for the game has to be recognized in some way — soon," James said.
First lady Michelle Obama launched a mentoring program Monday to give local high school girls access to women at the White House.
Posted by: The Connector
A new report chronicling the whereabouts of past high school dropouts shows that all dropouts, and particularly African-Americans, are far more likely to wind up incarcerated or unemployed than those with a high school diploma.
Compiled by researchers at Northeastern University, the report shows that high school dropouts are roughly six times more likely to become incarcerated than high school graduates. But the more startling statistic was that between 2006 and 2007 around 23 percent of 16- to 24-year-old African American male high school dropouts were incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized at some point, compared with 6.3 percent of all dropouts.
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A former foster child overcomes his poverty-stricken past to win more than $1 million in scholarships. In high school Derrius Quarles achieved stellar grades while living on his own. Now a student at Morehouse College, he is still setting his sights high: “I want to show people that I can be all those things people said I could never be.”
Posted by: Illmatic
The grieving family of a 13-year-old Queens boy shot to death outside a car wash pleaded for witnesses to come forward as investigators took a suspect into custody, police sources said Sunday.
“Do the right thing!” begged Donna Greaves, whose son, Kevin Miller, was gunned down Friday in Cambria Heights. “And let someone know who’s responsible.”Investigators have a 16-year-old “person of interest” at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village who was being questioned and will be part of witness lineup, the police sources said.
Miller, a freshman at Humanities and the Arts Magnet High School, was shot in the head about 3 p.m. after he and a friend stumbled upon a fight near Campus Magnet High School Linden and Springfield Blvds.
Posted by: Wavey Willie
Civil rights Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan are attending the funeral of a Chicago teen beaten to death on his way home from school.
Farrakhan on Saturday called 16-year-old Derrion Albert “a special young man.” Jackson said “children deserve safe passage to school.”
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Educating young minds for some 30 years is no small feat. But it was a love for children that inspired Larry and Brenda Breland to become schoolteachers. While educators don’t always get paid their true worth, these native Mississippians managed to retire from the public school system in 2002 with $180,000 combined from their state retirement plans. The couple also owns several rental properties valued at nearly $1 million, which provides about $3,000 in monthly rental income.
Posted by: Wavey Willie
Shortly after a fight near Fenger High School, Albert said her son’s principal called her at her home in Mount Vernon and told her to come immediately.
“They said he was trying to help another student and kind of got mixed in with the crowd of the fight and he was hit,” Albert said.
Albert said she moved here briefly last year to take care of her mother. She brought along Derrion and her 11-year-old daughter.
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A high school football player is being hailed as a hero off the field for disarming a girl who brought a gun on a Mississippi school bus. On the way to Yazoo County High School on Tuesday, a girl pulled out a loaded gun and walked up and down the bus aisle, among 22 kids on board whose ages ranged from 5 to 18, authorities said. The 14-year-old girl ordered the bus driver to pull over and the driver did, they said.
Filed under: Personal Finance, Careers, Dr. Boyce Money
I was invited onto “Tell Me More with Michel Martin” to discuss college and whether or not it makes sense to invest in college during an economic downturn such as this one. I have written extensively on the value of going to college, since I argue that education plays a huge part in determining whether you end up being a true player in life or just end up getting played. Black college students must really note the significant impact of attending college, since people of color benefit the most when we get ourselves educated.
Here are some thoughts regarding whether or not college is a good idea during a recession:
1) You must decide if college is a necessity or a luxury item for you. If you are a wealthy kid who can rack up $80,000 in debt to major in Philosophy and Theatre, then God bless you. But just make sure you are aware that the major you choose plays a huge role in your ability to manage debt after graduation. This is not a slap at those who choose majors that don’t have a strong job market, it’s just a reminder to make sure you know what you’re stepping into. Personally, I majored in business, because college was not just my path toward educational enlightenment, it was my way to pay the bills when I got older.
2) Figure out what you hope to get out of college. If you want to simply get a good education and are not worried about the job market very much, then you don’t need an expensive school to do that. Education is what you make of it. I’d rather be a student at a state university who studies 7 hours a day than to be a frat boy at Yale living at the bottom of a beer bottle. The student who studies is going to learn; the one who doesn’t study won’t learn a thing. College is what you make of it. But if your goal is to use the name of your campus to open doors for great job opportunities, then this might justify the cost of an expensive university.
3) Parents, the debt is not all yours. You are getting ready for retirement, your children are young. Pretty soon, they will be earning more money than you. Does it make sense that you’ll spend your golden years paying student loans for an able-bodied adult? Perhaps it’s time for your children to learn how to take care of you? They will never learn to be financially independent if you don’t teach them. Allowing your child to manage some of his/her student loan debt doesn’t make you into a bad parent. You got them to age 18 in one piece, some would say that you’ve done enough.
4) Grad school anyone? Some majors require additional education for you to be competitive in that particular market, some do not. Think through this carefully when deciding if you want to make the massive investment of going to graduate school. I believe that an MBA is usually worth the investment, while a masters in Anthropology may not always get you the job you’re seeking. But outcomes can vary depending on the major, and you should do your homework.
5) Education gives you job security. One thing that many autoworkers learned during the recent economic downturn is that having a good job with little education makes you highly vulnerable to economic flucuations. African Americans were the hardest hit during the recession, and many of us lost our jobs when the auto industry tanked. Even if you earn a lot of money, you should never stop believing that additional education doesn’t have value for you. You don’t want your financial future to be in the hands of someone else.
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Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about College.” To have Dr. Boyce Commentary delivered to your email, please click here.