After Cornell: Teach for America

Sometimes, as you trudge from class to class, go from assignment to assignment, it’’s hard to see the end goal. It’s hard not to ask yourself, “is this all worth it?” Because we can’t see the future, we can’t help but have a million questions about it. We’re starting a new series called “After Cornell”, where we hand the “mic” …or the cursor to PAM alumni to talk a little bit about the path between graduation and where they are now.

This first person, Alex Payne, just graduated last year. We interviewed him last year when he was still at Cornell. He talks about he’s up to these days.

1.      So, when did you leave the hills of Ithaca?

I graduated Cornell in May 2009, so I’m a newly minted college grad.

2.      What did you think you were going to do after graduation?

Go to graduate school.

3.      What actually ended up being your first job/endeavor?

My first job was being selected by Teach for America to work in a disadvantaged school. I currently work at Northampton County West High School in Gaston, North Carolina where I am a high school social studies teacher teaching students World History and Civics/Economics.

4.      How did you get into that line of work?

I applied to Teach for America during my senior year, was accepted, and thought 1- I love to teach 2- if I really want to work in policy when I grow up I should have a first hand experience of how the education system works, its successes and its failures.

5.      What are you taking away from it?

I am still taking away a lot, but I can now tell you how much more I appreciate teachers, especially the great ones I’ve had while I was in school, and how much I have come to disrespect the poorer teachers that I have had because it’s not due to a lack of training but rather a lack of effort in regards to those teachers.

6.   Do you have any plans for the not-so-far-away future?

After teach for America I will be going to Syracuse University to earn a Master’s in Public Administration

7.  If you could drop knowledge on college students today, what would you say?

GPA is valuable but overrated.

8.  How are you using what you learned in PAM in your non-student life?

Haha, only in having academic conversations with my roommates about the healthcare legislation being passed. In my job, I’ve used it 0 times.

9.  And finally…besides work, what other things are you involved in?

I live in rural North Carolina, my work is my life at this point. I do hang out with fellow Teach for America members as well as live with two and we play football or soccer.

Thank you, Alex!

If you have any questions for Alex about Teach for America, leave your comments below

Michelle Rhee at Cornell: Education Policy

http://farm4.static.flickr.com

So, Michelle Rhee ‘92, the chancellor of DC public schools was at Cornell this past week. I missed it because I had a problem set (i had yet to start at 8:00 pm) due the next morning at 8:40 am. Just my luck (or my procrastination!).

She’s one of the key figures talked about when it comes to Education Policy, which seeks to answer the questions: “why doesn’t the U.S, one of the top countries in the world,  have one of the top education level in the world?” Put another way, “why aren’t the math and science skills of our kids one the highest in the world?’  ”Why are public schools in urban areas failing?” ” Will using a business model improve the school system?” When it comes to Michelle Rhee, the questions that come to mind are : “Does the tenure system for teachers need to be done away with? Do teachers get too comfortable because there’s no risk of losing their job after a while? Do teachers need to make more? Does financial incentive improve teaching?”

So, even though she’s a controversial figure, judged by the protest that went on outside of Bailey during and after her speech (so I’ve read), here are a few reasons cited by my friends who went and fell in love with her:

1. She’s a Cornellian doing amazing things (Cornell students are ambitious and are impressed by people doing ambitious things)

2. She’s young, has a great heart, has a killer wardrobe, is raising a family (and still looks great)  and is taking on of the toughest challenges when it comes to reform (Her “impressive” points just went way up)

3. She’s an inspiring speaker that made students really (really) think about signing up for Teach for America.

Here’s a write-up from someone who was actually there. http://main.cornellcsa.com/2009/10/michelle-rhee-the-american-dream/

Making Policy fun to write (and read)

Raise of an eyebrow, murmured hmm…., whispered “wow”. Those are the different impressions I get when I tell people I’m a “policy analysis and management” major. For many people, it sounds so serious, so smart, so worldly. They imagine students debating Obama’s Health care system from morning to dawn, measuring the risk of an H1N1 epidemic in North America and in their spare time, discussing the pros and cons of U.S trade policies.

One of the things that interest me about PAM is that its relevancy. Every question we can ask about the world around us has something to do with policy: Why aren’t there seatbelts in buses? Why abstinence-only education? Why will the majority of the United States be made up of minorities by 2020, and what does that mean? These are all interesting questions to ask, but Policy isn’t exactly the most “fun” thing to write or read about…unless you happen to be a person who a Policy/Politics nerd.

So, when I set out to write more on this blog about how policies are relevant to everyday life, I found myself stuck. Because I wanted it to be and enjoyable read to the average person (student) while still being accurate and relevant. However, I found out that to do so, you have to write about the historical background of things, the laws, the opinions of people on both sides and still find out why it’s relevant for the everyday person to know…all the while making it fun and enjoyable. Not many people can manage to do this. Most Policy blogs are “serious”, filled with jargon and directed towards people in the field. It’s even hard to find “fun”, “quirky” writings on Economics: one of the main building blocks of Public Policy” (I know, I know… You’d probably recommend Freakonomics and Naked Economics…for “fun”, “relevant” Economics read). I wish there were more writing like that.

So, I made the decision to write what I know, what I find relevant for this blog and what I think people would be interested in. For the policy-made-relevant-to-students post, I’ll do my best to share what I find online. So, there’ll be more of this on this blog:

1. PAMO activities and announcements

2. Visitors that come to campus that talk about policy-related things (like Michelle Rhee and Education) and why it matters to students at Cornell and in general, as well as people in general

3. Cornell students and alums that are worth knowing because of the policy-related things they’re doing outside of the classroom.

Let me know if there are other things you’d like to see covered.

Making a size-able impact

As Cornell continues its “re-imagining” process, thinking about where to cut corners, or “trim fat”, all in the name of “Efficiency”,  we’ve all been thinking about what’s efficient, what’s wasteful and what needs to be done away with. Like any student organization, we worry a lot about the difference we’re making on campus. Because the PAM major is small (~180 students), we’ve been discussing a lot whether or not we should cater to only PAM students, or expand our focus to reach out any student interested in Policy in general. There are drawbacks and benefits to both.

If we focus on PAM students, we can created well-targeted programs and have the ability to closely know our audience and get feedback from them. The downside is that because the number of students is already small and not all of them will want to join PAMO, turnout will always be low. If we expand our focus, the benefit will be increasing our audience, as cater to an audience that is interested in the same issues from various angles. The drawback is that we will have to broaden our focus, and set high goals that we may or may not be able to reach. So far, we’re sticking with the first option.

from www.echoinggreen.org/taxonomy/term/297

So, I was reading this book the other day for class: Forces For Good. It studies organizations that have made (and are making) great impacts on the communities they serve. Some of those organizations are Teach for America, CityYear and Habitat for Humanity. Here are the 6 qualities they cite as what make these organizations great:

1. Advocate and Serve: They both cater to communities and lobby on their behalf to turn their impacts into laws

2. Make markets work: They work with businesses, refusing to consider them “evil greedy corporate drones” ( I may be ad-libbing)

3. Inspire evangelists: Volunteers are more than volunteers. They feel invested in the vision and mission of the organization

4. Nurture nonprofit networks: They not only play nice with the other non-profits. They share knowledge, talent and resources with the ultimate goal of increasing their impact

5. Master the art of adaptation: They’re able to change their approach based on their internal and external environments, refusing to turn into stiff institutions

6. Share leadership: They empower their members to lead, the CEOs are energetic and strategic and the board members are engaged in making sure they’re making a sizeable impact.

I’ve been thinking about how adaptable these lessons can be to student organizations

1. This semester has taught me that for an organization to make a real impact, it needs to have the support of the administration, especially at departmental level. Whether we like to admit it or not, we only have 4 years as a student on campus. The people in administration know the ground really well; they’ve seen students come and go and they know where all the resources are. They are friends, not foes. If they’re not friends, a young organization must strive to make them so.

2. Networking is essential. Some students organizations are new, some are not. Some have a brilliant idea for a program, which can be even more brilliant if they link up with some other organizations. The more collaborations between organizations, the less event duplication occurs, the larger the turnout at events and the more resources are tapped into.

3. Share leadership. I think PAMO is struggling with this right now. We revived the organization when we were juniors, full of passion and drive and the desire to see a place where PAM students would interact, as well as a way to introduce other people who would like to know more about the major to what we study and what we can do with what we study. Now, we’re seniors and realize that we won’t be here forever. So, how do we begin the process of ’sharing leadership’. Do we organize an election? Most of the people we want running for positions (freshmen and sophomores) haven’t been involved. Do we have an apprenticeship program, where freshmen and sophomores shadow us and then are handed the reigns? Does that lead to favoritism? Does having an election turn into a popularity contest?

Only Time will tell what sort of sizeable impact we’re able to make as a student organization.

PAMOpportunities

So, we finally had our first event last week. PAMOpportunies. Designed to put new students in contact with professors to talk about PAM as a major, to basically answer the questions that we wished someone had answered for us when we were freshmen. As a student organization, we learned one thing. Check the schedule of your target audience before planning an event. The event coincided with the eve of the deadline of a very important policy paper assignment that virtually every new PAM student had to turn in. It was also exam season for many of the students. So, we had the professors, we had the food, we had the information, but very little turnout. However, some people did turn up and we did learn a lot about our major, as well as a few things about the professors. Top 5 facts I can now rattle off about the major. Did you know that….?

1. 70% of PAM graduates go on to Law School

2. Those who don’t go to Law school directly end up getting an MBA (40% of graduates)

3. The majority of PAM students who study abroad go to England (I’m guessing to the London School of Economics)

4. the “Management” part of PAM isn’t actually relevant unless you’re doing the PAM  graduate program (Many students come to PAM thinking that they’re doing a business program)

5. Most common entry level titles for PAM graduates: research analyst, market analyst, research assistant.

Here are a few pics from the event.

Back in Action.

The school year is back in full swing, and so is the Policy Analysis & Management Organization (Whew, a mouthful), PAMO for short.

We meet every Tuesday, 5:00pm-6:00 pm in Olin Cafe.

Our mission this year is to connect students to each other, to faculty and to the campus.

Repost: What Students need to know about Obama’s Health Care Reform

Here’s an interesting post by Ibrahim Husain over at Zen College Life. He captures the points so well that I had to repost. We’re discussing some of these issues in my Economics of Health Policy class right now.

We’ve all heard about President Barack Obama’s proposal to reform health care in the United States.  If you live in a Republican city with a Republican family, you probably heard a lot of crap bashing the plan, and if you are from a Democrat area and family, you probably heard that the Messiah Obama is bringing heaven to earth.  Well, neither are true.  I’m about to set the record straight. (Reps and Dems, get your comments ready!)

First off, let’s state some facts.  These are neither in support of, nor against Obama’s plan.  They are what they are, just numbers.  About 46 million (out of about 305 million) Americans have no insurance.  Another 25 million or so are under-insured, by Medicaid and Medicare standards (which I’m guessing can’t be that high).  Due to the high cost of health care in America, many companies have been forced to “tighten their belts” as far as giving out health insurance benefits.

So What’s This Plan All About?

It’s fairly simple (if you neglect the details…).  President Obama’s plan revolves around a central point to create a government sponsered health insurance program.  This would be an option for all American citizens (similar to how medicare is an available option for Americans over the age of 65).

Also the bill (H.R. 3200) pushes for prohibitions against insurers discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, and offers incentives for people using preventative services and wellness plans.  In other words, if you exercise regularly at the gym and take your vitamins, you get some sort of reward (details not yet mentioned, as they are still hammering this thing out).

All Americans would be required to be covered by some sort of health insurance, either from the government option or another option that meets the minimum standards that would be drawn out.  Citizens who choose not to purchase health insurance would be fined 2.5 percent of their adjusted gross income, most probably out of their tax return.

Who would Pay For This Government Option?

Obviously the people who choose this option would have to pay. Obama also says that he’s found “hundreds of billions” worth of savings in the federal budget, coming from rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in medicare and medicaid (apparently he’s going to keep things secret until his plan get’s passed?!?).  But the question about pay comes from how the rest of this program will be funded to begin with.

The answer, to be put quite simply, is you, the American citizens.  There have been many numbers thrown around as to which Americans would be paying; these numbers range from Americans earning 250,000+ annually to those earning over 1 million.  No real details have been determined, as far as I’ve read so far.  But rest assured, if you are rich, you will most likely pay, whether it be additional tax, decreased tax benefits, or a surcharge of some sort. And if you are a student, you are most likely not rich, so at least you wont pay right now.

How Much Will It Cost?

President Obama proposes that this reform will cost nearly $1 trillion over the next 10 years.  He also insists that it will be revenue neutral, meaning that it would not be an added expense on the budget (I haven’t seen or heard of how or whether this is possible or not).

Who Will Benefit From Health Care Reform?

Those without insurance will be the largest population to benefit from this reform.  Also those who have paid for expensive individual policies on their own will benefit (and trust me, I’ve done the research… Without an employer cutting the cost, insurance is expensive for the individual).  Employees of small businesses who do not provide competitive prices on health insurance also stand to benefit.  And finally low income medicare participants who are left paying for what isn’t covered by medicare stand to benefit from using the new public option proposed.

Of course, whether intended or not, the proposal could also mean more profits for insurance companies.  If all Americans have health insurance, that means that insurance companies and health care providers wouldn’t have to eat the cost of citizens going to the emergency room for “non emergencies,” with no health coverage at all.  That lack of expense either means lower costs, higher profits, or both.

What If I Have Insurance Already?

If you have insurance, you can keep it, and chances are your life and medical expenses won’t change much.  Of course, with a new competitor in town, your insurance company may need to change the coverage of it’s plan, in order to compete.

What do the Republicans Think?

My research on the thoughts of the Republicans is not thorough, but what I understand of it is this:  Since Republicans are against large government, it makes sense that they don’t like the idea of a government sponsored health insurance program for all Americans.  They fear that employers might opt for the government option over private, due to lowered costs.  This, they believe would inevitably lead to lower quality health care for many Americans who currently receive great care.  Republicans also think that a government option is one step closer to socialized health care, which is obviously against the fundamental beliefs of Republicans.

What Medical Students Should Know

As a student that will be joining the health care field, practicing medicine, and dealing with the insurance companies for the rest of your life, there are a few things that you should be aware of.  First off, you should know what the American Medical Association thinks.  “The AMA does not believe that creating a public health insurance option … is the best way to expand health insurance coverage.”  Doctors fear that new option would reimburse them at Medicare rates, which have not kept pace with the cost of practice.  AMA President Dr. Nancy Nielsen says “Medicare rates are back at 2001 rates, and the reality is, that’s not where our rent is, that’s not where the electricity is.  The system for paying doctors is a broken system, and everybody acknowledges it.”

On the other hand, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Physicians Alliance and other groups put out a statement of support this week for Obama’s plan. “Having the choice of a public health insurance plan will help make health care more affordable for patients, foster greater competition in the insurance market and guarantee that quality, affordable coverage will be there for our patients no matter what happens,” they wrote in a joint statement..

Debunking The Crap

Here is my last bit on Health Care Reform.  You’ve probably heard most of what’s below in the news.  I’ll tell you what’s true and what’s crap…

• Death Panels – This garbage was misconstrued by someone who apparently didn’t do well in English 101.  It has since been removed from the newest bill, HR 3200.  Nobody is going to kill your grandma, I promise.
• Euthanasia is never mentioned in the entire bill, all 1018 pages.
• Abortion legislation will not change with this bill.  That is, that this bill is abortion neutral.
• Illegal Aliens are excluded from all options in this bill, including eligibility and vouchers.
• Bank Accounts – This bill will not give the government access to any of your financial accounts.
• Forced Participation – You will not be forced to accept the public option.  You will however be fined for not having the minimum amount of health insurance coverage.
• Doctors -You will be able to keep all of your current doctors with the public plan, assuming that they choose to participate in the public option.
• Health Decisions – The government will not make decisions on your health care.  These decisions will still be made by you and your doctor.
• Socialist – This plan is not socialist.  The government is not proposing to seize ownership of private hospitals and insurance companies.  It only offers a public option to compete with private insurers.
• Monopoly – The government option will not run other companies out of business, it will force them to treat their customers fairly, or lose them to another option.

Alright, you’ve made it this far.  I know you have a lot to say, so leave your comments below!  If I’ve misspoken about anything, feel free to clarify (with proof of course).

Download The Bill (H.R. 3200) Download A Summary of The Bill

Check Out The Government Health Care Reform Website

Back….

After a very, very long break, we’re back, ready to blog, share and discuss…things. So much for writing a formal post.

Here we go.

Policy and Environment

The way things are now in the world, it is fitting to talk about the Environment first. One of my professors used to say that every generation has issues that they have to deal with, and that one of ours was the condition of our Environment. I went to a Cornell Alumni Event a few months ago and the presentation and discussions were on “how to break into the Green Industry”. The word “Green” has been thrown around so much that sometimes I feel like anyone can attribute to it any meaning they wish.

However, environmental issues can mean “climate change”, “carbon footprint” or “energy issues”, depending on who you’re talking to. One of the most prominent policy (more like a protocol) having to deal with environmental issues on a global scale is the Kyoto Protocol. What is it about? Who stands to gain from it? Who stands to lose? What it was meant to do? What does it actually do? What are the recent actions that have been taken concerning this, internationally, domestically? What organizations in the U.S work on environmental issues? How can you help out? How can you learn more?

The Policy Files features The Environment.

All around you: The Policy Files

I’ve been talking for a while with a couple of friends about how to write about policies, or issues dealing with policies, but to make it relevant. We wanted to show that they are policies all around us, or having to deal with everyday things we don’t even stop to think twice about. So, I’m kicking off the “Policy Files” or more specifically, “Policy and __________”. I’m currently thinking about what I wanna start off with.