That School Down South

A lesson for those thinking of starting law school this coming fall...

Wow. Guy goes to law school, guy racks up a huge amount of debt, guy has no idea how he’ll pay off his debts. Sound familiar? Okay, here’s the twist: the guy failed the “character and fitness” component of the Ohio bar because he has no plan to pay off his loans.

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/01/character-fitness-fail-for-graduate-with-no-plan-to-pay-off-his-debts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+abovethelaw+%28Above+the+Law%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Glad to hear that we are going to be doing a home and home with another BCS team according to RR. I also caught part of the Tressel's presser and noticed that their Toledo game is technically an away game this year... Since they are playing at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Seemed interesting and this article breaks down the setup well.

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2009/03/donation_rule_will_mean_o...

It seems like neutral site games are becoming more popular with teams like Illinois and maybe now OSU. Is there any opponent or venue that really makes sense for UofM? Ford Field is smaller and the atmosphere would suck...Any thoughts on one that might make sense?

I know there have been posts about JT getting in. Hope he does... These tests seem to be important to test reading skills, but its not like most of us solve for x in the real world. When I graduated HS in Michigan there was a merit test that you had to take and I believe that you got a small scholarship, but passing the test was not mandatory. All I actually remember is being bored and that one of the questions involved a picture of the state of Utah and asked you to identify it.

According to achieve.org and USA Today, 26 states in the US have graduation exams. Their data shows that in some states as many as 40% of HS graduates end up taking remedial english classes when they get to college. Likewise, there are three types of graduation exams that exist:

1. Pass the test or else.
2. Pass the test or do a project/complete other criteria.
3. A two tier system where you still get your "local" diploma, but you do not get certified as a HS graduate based on state standards.

Overall, the system in my opinion is mostly a school by school progress report and a "guarantee" by educators that they are not just flipping diplomas to get kids out the door.

Some states that have graduation tests are: Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas. So this will likely come up again in the future with recruits. It seems that these tests mainly cover the three core subjects -English, Math and Science

Sample questions are on the Ohio website and I posted a few below for fun.The Reading sections are too long to post in here and many of the Science Questions have graphs and other tables that are hard to copy. If you have some free time and want to check it out, the link is provided. Below are a few sample questions.

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&...

Don't let your alma mater down...

Answers are provided on the website, but I figured you would want to challenge yourself.

-Go Blue

Sample Questions Mathematics

1. The table below contains the results of a
biology experiment.
Record of Blooms
Week 1 2 3 4 5

Number of Blooms 3 9 27 81 b

Assuming the pattern shown in the table
continues, what is the value of b?

A. 108
B. 130
C. 162
D. 243

6. A set of data contains 10 negative numbers
and 4 positive numbers. Which one of these
statements must be true?
A. The mean is a negative number.
B. The median is a negative number.
C. The mode is a negative number.
D. The range is a negative number.
3. Which equation is equivalent to
3(2x – 5) = 4(x + 3)?
A. 2x = –27
B. 2x = 27
C. 10x = –27
D. 10x = –3

Sample Questions Science

2. Architects are working with
engineers to build a lecture hall.
How can they design it so that
echoes are reduced and speech is
not heard as garbled sounds?

A. build smooth marble walls,
ceilings and polished floors
B. construct many flat walls,
angled ceilings and smooth
floors
C. use an ultramodern design of
metal walls, pillars and seats
D. build walls out of porous
materials, upholster the seats

17. Two processes that allow cells to
release energy from food are:

A. mitosis and meiosis.
B. excretion and diffusion.
C. fermentation and cellular
respiration.
D. osmosis and spontaneous
generation.