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Dr. Ralph Kerr with the “Teaching and Learning Institute” is discussing this week…
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There’s a lot going on in our schools these days. Christian education watchdog Ralph Kerr does a “deep dive” into all of it on Family Life’s “Issues in Education” news feature.
Dr. Ralph Kerr is a former teacher, school district administrator, and current President of the Teaching and Learning Institute. Dr. Kerr is a guest on the Family Life Noon Report most Mondays. Those interviews also are available for listening, subscribing and downloading on FamilyLife.org
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“Issues in Education” on Family Life
It’s Parent-Teacher Conferences time. How can parents and guardians make these meetings most effective and helpful for students. Former school administrator and now education watchdog Ralph Kerr gives his insights and advise on this edition of our Monday news feature “Issues in Education”. There are several questions which are particularly fruitful for this mid-semester check-in.
Also this week, Dr. Kerr talks about interactions parents and other constituents can have with their local school board, plus an update on standardized test scores.
Dr. Ralph Kerr with the “Teaching and Learning Institute”. TLI describes its mission as the emphasis to get Christians involved in their local public schools and become candidates for school board. The institute studied a recent election where fully half of 139 western New York school districts only had one candidate running for each of the open seats.
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“Faith Under Fire”
A new academic year begins, and the president of a Christian university in the Family Life listening area offers insights into a trend he sees: some students are moving away from traditional colleges whose curricula, faculty and motivations differ from what some families see as their own academic and social priorities. Houghton University‘s President Wayne Lewis says the 24-hour news cycle and the reach of social media has given young people and their parents more information about how students are accepted and supported in their college experience. Dr. Lewis says students should not feel ostracized if they hold positions which differ from those of their professors. At his school, he says administrators strive to assure that students feel welcome at a Biblically-centered university, wherever that student may be on the conservative-moderate-liberal spectrum.
Also in this conversation with news producer Greg Gillispie, the president offers a bright and optimistic picture of today’s college students — and the energy and faith of young Christian adults.
You can hear (or download) our previous interview 
on similar topics with President Lewis last semester on our News Podcasts page.
Dr. Wayne Lewis became president of Houghton University two years ago and is a strong spokesperson for the gospel and for Christian higher education. You can read his blog and hear other conversations with him here and here.
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Real Answers
As students head back to high schools soon, there will be some focus on vocational counseling and college preparation. Christian counselor Christopher Anderson says students would do well to have calm and open guidance from schools — and their loved ones — because it can be a challenge to map out 40 or 50 or 60 years, especially when you are 18 or 16 or 14.
Anderson, a frequent Family Life guest, not only has advice for young people, he also tells how his own life journey meandered through several different vocational chapters. He sees how each stage was all part of a great life to which the Lord had called him.
This week’s “Real Answers” news feature also discusses the costs of college, the number of times student change majors, and why some young people might do well to follow alternate paths or take a sabbatical year after high school. Anderson (based on issues which come to him frequently in his private therapeutic practice) recommends that not every student needs a four-year degree. He says trade schools and on-the-job internships can, for some, lead to a lucrative career and a fulfilling life.
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After a tenuous debate and weeks of negotiation, the Pennsylvania legislature agreed to a budget bill which would allow “the money to follow the student”. State Representative Clint Owlett authored the “Life-Line Scholarship” program which would have given families school-choice options, including to move their student from a school which does not serve the student well.
Gov. Josh Shapiro announced this week that he would use his executive authority to strike that element out of the new law.
Family Life News aired an extended interview with Owlett to get more background, plus his reaction to these latest developments.
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President Biden’s actions to write-off some of the college loans for some college students has been controversial. Some who would benefit from Executive Branch forgiveness of student debt wonder how they would add loan payments to their current personal budgets. Others though say it is unfair to force those loan costs onto people who paid up front for their education, didn’t take Federal loans, went to a Christian university which doesn’t get entangled with government funds — and anyone who never went to college.
A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court is expected any day.
A New York-based financial adviser predicts that the Court will rule that Mr. Biden had no legislative authority to simply write off some debts for some students. The wrangling has cost the government billions every month, and a ruling could through young people who haven’t begun paying off the loans they signed into financial crisis.
College loan expert Paul Celuch was a special guest on the June 23 Family Life Noon Report to discuss student loans, college costs, and options for every student and family who wrestles with debt. He talks about how higher education has relatively little reason to hold down costs, especially after a decade ago the student loan program was taken away from private lenders and solely rests with the government.
This podcast version of that interview also has some Bonus Content for students and their families, in addition to what was heard during this Noon Report.
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Issues in Education
Controversial new guidance on gender-identities from the NYS Education Department — plus how to mitigate Summer “Learning Loss”
Dr. Ralph Kerr, founder of the “Teaching and Learning Institute” has the latest education issues in the news, in this conversation with Family Life’s Bob Price.
This week’s edition of “Issues in Education” is our 2022-23 “season finale”, as this program takes a “summer break” – but don’t worry, Kerr will be back with the start of the upcoming school year, to help you analyze issues and actions in school districts where you live, and throughout New York and Pennsylvania.
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Here’s what’s happening this week on Capital Connection:
Christian watchdogs Jason McGuire and Michael Geer discuss the local impact of weighty issues in the news from Harrisburg, Albany, and beyond.
