Comments | texaslawchick: Money and education

texaslawchick

Money and education

Jan 12, 2010 15:50

The Pembroke College Foundation of North America in support of a small college at Oxford University gets 100 of my charitable contributions to higher education. In part, this is because I consider Pembroke to have been the best education that I received from the five institutions of learning that hound me for money every year. (St. John's School ( Read more... )

school

Comments 6

twistedcat January 13 2010, 00:31:57 UTC

you went to PO. *blink*

when?

texaslawchick January 13 2010, 03:39:59 UTC

91-94. My 15th reunion is coming up!

twistedcat January 13 2010, 04:45:26 UTC

did we talk about this already and my brain is on the fritz again?

thatrachie January 14 2010, 23:29:20 UTC

Well we are moving from a system where only the academic minority go to university to a system which encourages everyone to go to university. So the old funding model no longer fits. University fees used to be entirely state-funded (my year was the last to benefit from these grants) and people have never really got to grips with the whole 'college fund' principle that is such a familiar concept in the US ( ... )

thatrachie January 14 2010, 23:35:22 UTC

Plus a big problem with encouraging everyone to get a degree is that it is simply not appropriate for many people. Far better to give them the opportunity to learn more vocational skills or take on an apprenticeship in a particular trade.

My boss regularly receives the CVs of people with sports and leisure degrees (or those about to graduate in related subjects) and we just don't know what to do with them, because what we actually want are junior admin staff who will learn and grow within the organisation, but all these graduate hopefuls have too much student debt to be able to take on a junior role.

And I don't disagree that people should have ambition and that 'anything is possible', but the fact is that in life not everyone can be the CEO. Nobody wants to be the junior admin but the CEO cannot run the company without them!

Higher education is one of my pet topics - apologies!!

Re: giving to Pembroke anonymous January 15 2010, 13:59:06 UTC

Hi Christina - Nice to see all your supportive words about Pembroke - wish everyone was as au fait with the issues we face. However, I have recently tried to contact you because, in my role as Database Manager for Development at Pembroke, I know that in 2008 you pledged to give us $300 a year, for which we were terrifically grateful, but when I tried to take the latest instalment from your credit card in December 2009, I was told the card was invalid. (I have tried emailing you to get another one, but that email clearly never reached you) If you would like to try again, then the easiest way to give to Pembroke is by going to the PCFNA website at http://pcfna.org/giving.html because gifts via this route are tax-deductible for Americans. And if you would like to email me a new email address for you, please contact merrill.herbert@pmb.ox.ac.uk.
All the very best!
Merrill