The women’s rights movement has been great, right?

In many ways, yes. In many ways women are much closer to equal income and in some college programs there are more women that men. All in all, women have been making strides over the years. But this isn’t the case for all women. While rich and middle-class women have been climbing all sorts of ladders, less fortunate women have the same amount of equality as back in the 1970s.

Economic Professor Nancy Folbre wrote for the New York Times’ blog, Economix, that 18 percent of women with only a high school diploma are granted paid maternity leave. This is in contrast to the 66 percent of women with a college degree, and just up from the 1970s when 16 per cent of high school grads received paid mat leave.

You probably haven’t given it much thought yet, but having children is especially expensive for women. What I’m talking about is childcare. If you don’t have the luxury of paid maternity leave and need to go back to work to pay rent, there’s a high cost associated with someone else watching your kids.

Folbre points out that in most other developed countries, paid family leave (often for either parent) is a universal entitlement. Childcare and early childhood education is also more heavily subsidized elsewhere. While in my own country (Canada) things are more funded by the government, there is still progress that needs to be made when it comes to affordable childcare.

So when you’re watching the Republican primaries and heading to the ballot box in 2012 it’s something to think about. Yeah, you might be okay with your higher education, but what about all the other women who have been left behind?

Leah is on the final lap of her Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto. She spent the summer interning at a radio station in Ghana. Follow her @ElleandBee! 

If you’re thinking about entering the porn industry, you probably won’t be able to read children’s books to elementary school kids afterwards. Maybe it’s because you’ll stimulate too many of their senses with all your clothes on, or because you’ll somehow send subliminal messages and slip in sexual innuendos while reciting Dr. Seuss rhymes. Sorry, but after a career like that, you’re simply…unfit for this kind of thing.

Okay, so the above is not the exact word-for-word reaction of Emerson Elementary School parents, but I don’t think I’m too far off from what they thought when they found out that former porn star Sasha Grey was invited to visit the school’s 1^st and 3^rd grade students. Sasha read them Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey on behalf of Read Across America, a year-round program by the National Education Association that aims to motivate reading among children.

Sure, Sasha was a porn star. She even won some AVN awards during her handful of years in the business. But she hasn’t made an adult film in two years and is officially retired from the industry; she had a multiple-episode role in the show Entourage and has acted in a Steven Soderbergh film, among others. She also published a book of self-portraits and short essays on her sexual philosophy, and a portion of the book launch’s proceeds were donated to the charity Housing Works. In short, she’s moved on, but it seems like those California parents can’t see anything beyond her XXX filmography.

And even though TMZ took plenty of pictures and Sasha tweeted about it later that day, the elementary school is now denying the fact that her visit ever happened. A school district representative told TMZ, “We have several celebrities who read to our students each year. The actress you have indicated [Sasha] was not present.”

Maybe my moral compass points a little differently than that of a parent, but it’s absolutely ridiculous that Sasha is being bashed for her nonprofit activity by both the parents of the children she served and the school who was initially happy to have her. It’s not as if Sasha had a huge celebrity blunder and is now collecting community service as part of a PR stunt; she’s actually participating because she believes in Read Across America’s cause. How long should one wait after filming porn to actively support literacy? Is there a statute of limitations on scandalous jobs?! Are people scared she’s going to promote sexual activity over literacy or suddenly have sex with the kids?!?

Though denied by Emerson Elementary, Sasha reiterates how proud she is of her non-profit involvement. She tweeted a statement yesterday, a portion of which is included below:

“Read Across America” is a program that was designed to promote literacy and instill a lifelong love of reading in elementary school students. Promoting education is an effort that is close to my heart. Illiteracy contributes to poverty; encouraging children to pick up a book is fundamental. I believe education is a universal right. I committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent. I am an actor. I am an artist. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am a partner. I have a past that some people may not agree with, but it does not define who I am. I will not live in fear of it. To challenge non-profit education programs is an exercise in futility, counter-productive and anti-educational. I cannot thank my fans and “Read Across America” enough for supporting my decision. Your support and kind words continue to inspire me. I believe in the future of our children, and I will remain an active supporter and participant in education-focused initiatives.”

For the record, Read Across America states that “There is something powerful about a policeman, firefighter, mayor, radio personality, pastor, high school quarterback, or grandmother sharing their love for reading.” The program doesn’t discount that love if it comes from a porn star, former or otherwise. Emerson Elementary School parents: neither should you.

What do you think: Do the parents have a right to be upset about Sasha reading to their kids? Or is Sasha being unfairly shamed after leaving porn for good?

So what’s the real deal with these for-profit colleges?

Well, here’s how the system works. Recruiters are paid upwards of about $750 to practically harass students to enroll in these institutions, which typically offer online courses. Tuition costs an average of $31,000, which is about double that of non-profit public universities who are also federally funded. Ironically, the for-profits spend on their students only 1/3 of the amount that public universities spend on their students. The reasoning for this may be that the for-profits offer most of their classes online. Bridgepoint Education for example, has a 99% of its enrollment online. Campus Progress provided a statistical breakdown of the scams non-profit professionals are running, and the injustices their students face during enrollment and post graduation from these schools. Here’s a rundown of the stats:

- Non-profits are the fastest growing sector of higher learning. Enrollment has increased drastically by 225% in 10 years, yet students of these colleges still make up only 10% of college students nationally.

- For profits get 25% of federally subsidized student aid, 42% of Pell grant funds, and 36% of GI Bill funds.

- These colleges can earn up to 90% of its profits from federal loans and Pell grants.

- An education at a for-profit costs, on average, $500/ credit hour, compared with $75/hour at a public college, whose schools usually face the harshest budget cuts yearly.

-Students enrolled at these for-profits, a majority of which are poor and/or students of color, face a 71% chance of dropping out, and are 8 times more likely to go into debt upon graduation

-Here’s the biggest scam: the CEOs of these institutions are bringing in yearly salaries of up to $20 million!

- 1 in 5 students graduate from for-profits. At non-profits, over half graduate, on average.

So how is this even legal? The government has finally responded to complaints from opponents and students of these institutions by issuing a set of regulations that aim to protect students from the empty promises & blatant lack of commitment to the students’ success. After the Department of Education published their “Condition of Education” report, which this year focused on the different sectors of higher education, the Obama administration responded with a list of rules that crackdown on the scams that are for-profits. The goal is to weed out these institutions that are consistently leaving their students in unmanageable amounts of debt while its CEOs pocket the federal aid these students are receiving to afford the pricey tuition costs.

Although these rules seem to be rather stringent, they are far less strict than the original set of rules, for which infractions would’ve resulted in immediate reprimand. With the rules implemented, schools have to fail to comply 3 out of 4 years before they become completely ineligible to receive federal student aid. And even without aid, the schools will be able to remain open (if they so choose). As of right now, schools won’t begin to lose aid until 2015. This is still a step forward in the right direction.

Until then, CEOs of for-profits will continue to spend millions lobbying in Washington to maintain their influence and to keep the government off their backs. This is the point at which lawmakers need to decide which is more important, political backing from those are are practically corrupt, or justice within the educational system.  The educations for non profit college students are negatively affected each year with more budget cuts and less financial aid for its students needed to balance out the steep direct deposit of federal funds into for profit CEO pockets.

For-profits are clearly affecting the quality of education students are receiving nationwide, and these recent changes are recognition of these injustices. Change, however slow, is coming.

Have you had an experience with a for-profit college? Do you think for-profit schools are a scam? Sound off below!

You meet a million people in college. Or so it seems as you go from dorm to class to frat party, seeing thousands of new faces along the way. How’s a busy college student to determine who she’ll like or who she’ll want to avoid?

Well there’s no better instant-indicator than judging someone based on their major. Sure it’s a stereotype and sure it’s not always right, but as most college students can attest it’s usually pretty accurate.  So step into our judgmental world and check out our ultimate major translator. You’ll have your entire campus figured out in no time!

Due to the exceptionally high unemployment rate and our falling world ranking concerning the percentage of college-educated adults, the Obama administration feels we need to focus on community colleges to provide a more affordable education for America’s youth. Obama is looking to improve the number of college degrees by 5 million before 2020.

Undeniably, a two-year, community college education would make many students’ resumes more appealing to any future employer than having no higher education at all. However, after already shoveling over $3 billion to help low-income students at colleges with an average graduation rate of 20% (versus the 58% rate career colleges boast), Obama’s plan is far from cheap.

The move toward this plan would attempt to partner community colleges with various businesses and focus curriculum on skills necessary for students’ desired career choices, making them more appealing to said partners. The plan has received some backlash, especially from for-profit career colleges. However, all-in-all, it hasn’t received much attention.

Education reform has been a minor, but much-buzzed about issue, for years in America. However, most legislation has been based on numbers – on measurable success, on the results of standardized tests. Now, since we’re not required to take some annoying, #2 pencil (and totally pointless) test at the higher level, the success of colleges is being evaluated based on their number of graduates… and, more importantly, their number of employed graduates.

Although it’s great that Obama is trying to make a college education a realistic option for many young Americans, I’m not sure this specific plan will be truly successful. Why? Well the fundamental issue Americans are facing is not a lack of education, but a lack of jobs.

Yes, it would be awesome to regain our spot as the leading country in the competition for “Who has the most college graduates?” However, what good is dishing out several thousands of dollars (or relying on Uncle Sam to foot the bill) when there aren’t any positions for you to enter into afterward.

Obama’s plan focuses on community colleges, “the unsung heroes” of America, and making students much more “hireable.” However, there are many students that went to prestigious, 4-year colleges that remain unemployed. I could provide various links to news articles attempting to support my point. But, as I’m sure many of you readers know, all you have to do is talk to your recently graduated friends or look in a mirror. Having a college education will not guarantee you a job.

Obama and Jill Biden’s proposal for Community Colleges is theoretically excellent. It provides education opportunities for under-privileged students that would otherwise not exist. But, it could potentially cause even greater problems, rather than solve them. It has already added to the deficit, it focuses on quantity over quality, and it would increase skilled American workers, but not the amount of jobs in the market. So, at the end of the day, would it really help American students?

What do you think? Should we focus on creating skilled workers, or on creating jobs?

I think many (myself included) kind of just wind up at college somehow with little thought in advance as to why we’re there in the first place. There’s elementary school, middle school, high school… college is just kind of the next step in the education process. An expectation for some; a requirement for others. The reason why college is so paramount to parents is because they equate four-year degrees with success and large figure salaries to come in the future. But now, a number of economists, academics, and policy analysts are challenging all this. And experts have some pretty convincing evidence as to why two-year or technical training schools could be a better option for some Americans.

The main argument is that there are just too many people going to college in the first place–many who are unqualified. There is also a large amount of overqualified degree-holders in today’s struggling job market. But there are other major issues dealing with the current state of the economy. Before deciding to imprison yourself in one of these four-year institution, there are factors to take into consideration like rising student debt, stagnant graduation rates and, of course, the high unemployment rate among college graduates.

However some (like concerned parents) argue undergraduate schools provide a wider variety of opportunities and eye-opening experiences that help you become a more worldly, well-rounded person than trade schools. I mean, I think we can all agree that a large part of what we learn in college does not happen in the classroom; it is our environment and our experiences – both that are unique to four-year universities – that teach us many of our life lessons. Others also bring the money factor into the equation, such that college graduates may have the chance at obtaining higher salaries.

But do they? With the economy in the dumps and unemployment rates the highest they’ve been in recent history, does a 4-year degree really mean a more successful future? Maybe not.

What do you think? Do you agree that trade schools might be a better option? Do you think you are getting more out of your traditional, four-year college program?

Yonge & Dundas Intersection in Toronto after Team Canada Win

This week’s Weekly Ten, Why Canada Deserves Silver, stirred up quite the controversy yesterday. Seriously, I didn’t see this much hate on CollegeCandy since one writer expressed her disdain for Taylor Swift. And rightfully so. Yes it was meant to be a joke, but we in Canada aren’t entirely laughing with you.  While we know for a fact CollegeCandy loves their Canadian readers, and even has a few Canadian writers (myself included), this post pissed a lot of people off.

But instead of get angry and insult the intelligence of the writer, editor or Americans in general, I decided to take the high road and just show why Canada deserves more than just a gold medal in Olympic hockey. So here is my condensed version (there are way too many reasons for one post!) of all the reasons Canada rocks that they forgot to teach you in high school.

Education – Education (university included) receives higher subsidies from the government in Canada, meaning it’s cheaper for us to attend post-secondary school.  Also, did you know that Toronto, Canada’s largely city (where I happen to attend school), has more people with university degrees than ANY other large city in the world? Yeah, take that and deep fry it!

Health Care – Okay, so maybe you’ve heard about this recently with Obama pushing for health care reform and all, but it’s true – we have universal health care in Canada, thanks to this pretty awesome guy named Tommy Douglas.  We also have a higher life expectancy rate and lower infant mortality rate than the United States.

Good Music – I agree with you, America: Avril Lavigne isn’t the greatest, but Canada has some other pretty fantastic musicians.  Arcade Fire, Metric, Stars, Feist, and The Weakerthans are just a few of my personal faves.

Tim Hortons – As I write this, I’m rolling up the rim to win on my Tim Horton’s coffee cup.

Inventions - I’m sure you’re enjoying some Canadian inventions as you read these post.  Have a light on? Used the telephone? Wearing jeans (with a zipper… not Pajama Jeans)? Played or watched hockey or basketball? Used your CrackBerry? Taken out the garbage? Eaten peanut butter? Yeah all these things were made possible by Canadians or on Canadian soil.

Multiculturalism – Canada is a mosaic of multiculturalism.  When people come to Canada we don’t expect them to give up their own identity – instead we embrace our differences.  We have two official languages in Canada – French and English – as well as  two national anthems. “Thy history is an epic of the most brilliant exploits” is a snippet of the English translation of the French version. Yeah, we’re pretty epic.

Nationalism – We have a pretty inoffensive nationalism in Canada, except when it comes to hockey.  The street parties that ensued following Sid the Kid’s gold medal winning goal were truly Canadian – according to CTV 16.6 million people saw this goal, making it the most watched broadcast in Canadian history.

Space/Landscape - As Molson Canadian (makers of the fine Canadian beer) puts it, “we have more square feet of awesomness per person than any other nation on Earth.” We have the fourth lowest population density in the world and our country is full of diverse landscapes.  This was captured by the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian painters from the 1920s that developed a new school of truly Canadian art.

Definition of Marriage – Canada was the fourth country in the world, and first in the Americas, to legalize same-sex marriage.  Much like our belief in the mosaic of multiculturalism, this shows our commitment to equality.

[photo courtesy of Max Mertens]

The thought of transferring crosses your mind. And then the thoughts of all you’d have to do -  paperwork, credit juggling, and the process of making new friends all over again – flood your brain. My expert advice (I’m a self-proclaimed expert, of course)  is to give your school a fighting chance before you go through the grueling process of transferring. But if you’re really unhappy, a change can be well worth it.

There are many different options when it comes to your education, some of which you might never knew existed. Here are a few different routes you can take on your path to academic success and happiness:

• Four-Year College
It might be a public university or it might be a private school, but places are handing out bachelor’s degrees like candy these days (well, if you do the work, anyway). This is probably the type of school most of you are in and the type to which most of you would consider transferring. There are zillions of them, so do your research and really know what you want—don’t just transfer because your boyfriend goes there.

• Career College
If you know exactly what you want to do and you’re on the fast track to doing it, consider a career college. Some of them can be just as pricey as liberal-arts colleges, but they may not keep you there for the full four years, and when you’re done, you’re basically set to get a job or apprenticeship in your field. A quick way to check out your options is to visit a site like CollegeSurfing.com, which lets you search for schools by career interest.

• Technical School
A little bit like a career college, a technical school preps you for employment in a specific line of work. Most of the programs are only two years long, so you’ll be able to graduate before all your friends and start raking in the dough while they’re still paying off loans. Common technical-school programs include management, beauty, culinary arts, and trades like welding. The U.S. Department of Education gives you a few tips to keep in mind when trying to choose a technical school, such as making sure the institution is accredited.

• Vocational School/Trade School
Vocational school is closely connected with apprenticeship programs and is likely to give you a lot of on-the-job training. It also prepares you for a specific line of work, but the difference is that most vocational-school programs are non-academic and primarily require you to work with your hands. You can go to vocational school to learn how to be a mechanic or a blacksmith, for example, although the term has branched out considerably to now encompass careers in cosmetics and other fields as well. Explore what’s available from the vocational-school world at this directory.

Obviously, there are other options – dropping out and open a cupcake bakery, for example – but if you want to earn that degree or certificate, you’ll likely be hitting up one of the above. Before you go, though, get to the root of why you’re transferring, and make sure it’s the right decision for you. You want to make sure to make an informed decision this time so you don’t have to do the Transfer Shuffle again!

Just remember that transferring should be primarily motivated by an academic choice. If you’re going through a tough time with friends or boys or making your mark on a campus, trying on a new school for size isn’t likely to solve all your problems (that’s what chocolate is for).

We at CC want you to be happy, and part of that includes finding the school that fits your needs best, so if you’re not there, go forth and explore!

W.T.Eff?

Banning books? Seriously? First Obama gets attacked from those crazy moms who think he’s out to brainwash children by giving them talks on the importance of education and now reading is bad for children, too?

The whole thing is just absurd. Have people even read the books they’re trying to ban? How can a story about a pooh named Winnie who likes to eat honey and play in the woods with his other anthropomorphic friends possibly be bad? It seems like a book that is deemed “good” and “appropriate” these days is a book that will not inform your child of the existence of sex, racism, violence, homosexuality, the devil, bad language, and any other concept that will cause children to ask you awkward questions. The whole banned books thing will probably cause my AP Literature class to be renamed AP Literature That Will Morally Damage Your Soul.

Does this mean we should ban Pokemon as well, since the little animals “evolve,” which therefore enforces the idea of evolution and is therefore anti-Christian and therefore is Satanic? Winnie the Pooh may be the poster child for the obesity epidemic, his friend Eeyore for depression, and Kanga for single moms everywhere, but that doesn’t mean our younger siblings can’t read about them. I happen to like Tigger, even if he does have ADHD. And although Harry Potter may have “witchcraft and wizardry” and whatnot, it’s still one of the most significant contributions to literature in our lives, and as such, should be available to anyone who wants to read it.

So let’s take the attention and money away from banning books and focus on some more important things that should be eradicated from this planet. Because in 2009 there are so many things worse than kids in capes flying around on broomsticks or finding a lion in your closet.

1) Twilight movies

We can send a man into space but Hollywood can’t make a decent vampire movie. The actors all have a deer-in-the-headlights look on screen and attempt to fly around like people in improperly rigged harnesses. There’s something oddly wrong with that. The only thing that could have made it worse was if they cast Megan Fox, and that’s only because she makes every movie ten times worse than it could’ve been, due to her acting skills, or lack thereof.

2) Crocs

Plastic rubber clogs with holes in them, with the loudest, most obnoxious colors imaginable. Need we say more?

3) Bad Alliteration

Amusing to a certain extent, but gets repetitive after every English major tries to sound like James Ellroy and just ends up sounding like an awful author addicted to annoying alliterations. Again.

4) Livestrong bracelet knockoffs

One yellow cancer bracelet is enough. Do we really need people sprouting an armful of colored rubber with every imagined cause stamped across them? Be a little more original, please. Oh, and true story from a friend:

“Weight Watchers sent me a bracelet after I signed up for a meeting. It was white, with some rainbow stripes on the side. But why would I wear a Weight Watchers bracelet? Is it not obvious enough that I need to lose weight? Do I also need to tag myself with a FAT GUY BRACELET?”

5) Gaming language

Otherwise known as nerdspeak. Common terms include noob, newb, noobsicle, ftw, gg, gg no re, 1337, QQ, lawlz, nub, pwned, pwnage, or even harpwnage (the act of being pwned really hard) should not, under any circumstance, be said in ordinary life.

6) Creepy Facebook ads

Someone please tell me how Facebook has managed to eerily know everything about us and assume what we want. “Discount airfare to China!” What? Just because I’m Asian?

7) A few select man trends

Including: rattails, ponytails, monster trucks, hairy backs, man-purses, chains, a gazillion tattoos, mandals, mandiators, and transparent shirts.

8) Starving Hollywood celebrities

Rachel Zoe, Renee Zellweger, Tori Spelling, Victoria Beckham, Amy Winehouse, and Ashlee Simpson all need to eat a few burgers before they’re fit for the public. Young people these days have enough to worry about besides trying to look like a skeleton. Save that look for Halloween, please.

9) Fat people falling Youtube videos

Guilty pleasure number one, but really should be banned to relieve my soul from residing too much in an immoral state of being. I really shouldn’t watch Scarlet taking a tumble a million times and laugh hysterically every time I see it; it’s bad for me as a conscientious human being, I’m pretty certain.

10) Special athletes that promote the stereotype

As a current student at Duke and avid sports player and fan, I know for fact that you can be incredibly smart and be amazing at your sport. So it worries me when people like this one fail at representing athletes in a more flattering light. Like, um, really.

Anything else you think we should ban?

Class all year? FML.

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like what is cheating!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

There’s been some debate recently about increasing the number of days public school kids have to spend in class, and while you may be thinking “man, I’m glad I’m not in high school anymore,” think again. Colleges, especially public ones, generally follow the patterns set up by lower levels of schooling, which means that if they cut back on summer, you could kiss it goodbye too.

I’ll give you a moment to go find a paper bag to breathe into.

Proponents of adding school days to the calendar – including President Obama and the Education Secretary – note that American kids go to school fewer days than other countries, the same countries that tend to do better in math and science than we do. And, they claim, adding days has proven effective in some places in the U.S.  Loathe though I am to say it, they do have a point. Test scores do rise in schools that have longer school days and years.

They also point out that summer can really hold kids back academically, with many of them forgetting things or taking extra time at the start of the year to get back to the level they were at before the vacation (exhibit A: my Calculus grade last fall). Kids from poorer families get hit especially hard because their parents don’t have the opportunities to keep them enriched through things like museum trips or new books, so they fall behind even further than the rest. And it is true that our system is based on a time when most families were farmers and needed the kids around to help with the planting in summer – a system that most of us just don’t live under now – so summer isn’t really needed, it’s just something we’re used to.

Still, there are some good reasons to avoid adding on to school time. For one thing, even though Americans go to school fewer days than some other countries, we tend to be in school more hours, even than the countries that outscore us! (Could that mean there is another reason for our falling scores? I think so.) Also, in a time when we constantly hear about how kids are growing up too fast, that they need to play outside more and are under too much pressure, giving them what is essentially a 9 to 5 job probably isn’t going to lighten the load any.

And, as we’re still in the middle of some serious economic times, it’s definitely worth noting that keeping schools open longer not only adds to the school’s costs, but it also takes money away from vacation based industries that rely on the summer trade, like camps and resorts. Let’s face it, that camping trip doesn’t sounds as good when you have to struggle through Chem lab with a hangover and sunburn on Monday.

And let’s not forget: summer is awesome. Isn’t that enough to keep it around?

So whether it’s just  for solidarity with the little kid you used to be or the ramifications it might have on your class schedule, what would you pick? Would you be willing to give up a few days of free time to finally understand what ax+bx-y=r means (Nothing! They’re LETTERS!)? Or would you rather keep your break and forget about being top on the international education pile?

Would this schedule change even make a difference? Duke it out, CollegeCandies, duke it out.