Education’s big short: learning peonage in American universities

Some of the biggest debtors in the twenty-first century are not small business owners or first-time homeowners, but rather university students who take out massive debt in the belief that it is an investment in their future. Like housing loans before the Global Financial Crisis, student loan debt is today being packaged and re-packaged into exotic financial products called Student Loan Asset Backed Securities (SLABS). This article details the financialisation of higher education and the emergence of SLABS, primarily through a case study of Pine Capital, a wealth management company, that has successfully shorted the market. Using investment reports and Federal Reserve data from the USA, the article outlines the misaligned incentives and miscalculation of risk that allowed Pine Capital to profit. The article then argues that those who are shorting the education market reveal not only an investment opportunity but also a fundamental challenge to the commonplace thinking about education today: higher education is teaching future generations the practices of debt peonage, a key feature of financial capitalism.     

Teaching Stress Management in Physical Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study with Vocational Students

The aim was to develop, implement, and evaluate a physical education-based coping training program for vocational students. Two vocational schools participated in the quasi-experimental pilot study (EPHECT I). One school received the intervention (intervention group: n?=?434), while the other school maintained regular physical education classes (control group: n?=?430). Repeated measures ANCOVAs were used to examine the effects on coping and perceived stress. Additionally, effects were compared among students who reported low versus elevated life satisfaction. Finally, the implementation rate was considered as a moderating factor. Overall, no significant time by group effects were found between the intervention group and the control group. However, a reduction in maladaptive coping occurred among students of the intervention group who reported low life satisfaction. The implementation rate did not moderate the findings. Despite a relatively low implementation rate, the intervention program reduced maladaptive coping strategies in adolescents with low life satisfaction. Program monitoring needs to be increased in future research.     

International Communications

Lawrence W. Lichty's (ed.) World and International droadcasting: A Bibliography (Association for Professional Broadcasting Education, 1771 N St. Washington, D. C.) $15.00 ($10.00 to APBE individual members) paperbound)

William A. Hachten's Muffled Drums: The News Media in Africa (Iowa State University Press, $9.50)

Lynne Svenning's Modernization Among Peasants: Impact of Communications (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, $8.00)

Will A. Boelke's The Secret Conferences of Dr. Goebbels: The Nazi Propaganda War 1939-43.

James W. Markham's (ed.) International Commnication as a Field of Study (University of Iowa Department of Publications, $3.00)     

To Play the Fool: Can Environmental Conservation and Democracy Survive Social Capital?

Two community-based conservation processes in the United States provide comparative case studies to examine how social capital relates to democracy. Following a summary of social capital research, we describe the cases: one designed to preserve an endangered species and the other to restore water quality. We discuss how social capital dampened democratic practice in one case, while invigorating it in the other. We conclude that, by relying indiscriminately on social capital in the absence of complementary state structures, conservationists risk losing the very nature they seek to defend, and all citizens risk losing the energy and space essential to democracy.     

A Review of: “HMO/PPO Directory. Mackenzie,Leslie”

This column describes a collaboration between faculty members in an Allied Health program and academic librarians to provide information literacy instruction to students enrolled in an evidence-based practice course. The process of collaboration is described beginning with the inception of the idea to collaborate, which grew out of an informal conversation between librarians and Allied Health faculty. Implementation of the project is described as well as future plans for the collaboration. The column also discusses initial impressions of student outcomes as well as plans for a more rigorous study of those outcomes.     

Sensitivity of SEM Fit Indexes With Respect to Violations of Uncorrelated Errors

This simulation study investigated the sensitivity of commonly used cutoff values for global-model-fit indexes, with regard to different degrees of violations of the assumption of uncorrelated errors in confirmatory factor analysis. It is shown that the global-model-fit indexes fell short in identifying weak to strong model misspecifications under both different degrees of correlated error terms, and various simulation conditions. On the basis of an example misspecification search, it is argued that global model testing must be supplemented by this procedure. Implications for the use of structural equation modeling are discussed.     

Sind Sportreporter die objektiveren Beobachter?

There is ample evidence in the social psychological literature that the physical attractiveness of people influences their success in various areas of life. However, it cannot always be assumed that attractive people are really more productive. Rather the interaction partners and decision makers in the context of the respective social actions simply treat attractive people better. Giving such unsubstantiated privileges to attractive people is especially likely when no objective performance standards exist and the criteria for the performance assessment are not transparent. Because performance is well documented in professional sports and can be measured relatively objectively, 483 professional football (soccer) players of 18 teams in the German professional football league during the 2007/2008 season were included to determine how their attractiveness affects the assessment of their performance by sports reporters and trainers. The results show that in the judgment of objective performance sports reporters are not substantially influenced by the attraction of the players, while there is certainly an influence of the trainers’ judgment. This is attributed to the greater transparency and the greater adherence to the rules of journalistic judgment.     

Infants Use Compression Information to Infer Objects’ Weights: Examining Cognition,Exploration, and Prospective Action in a Preferential‐Reaching Task

The present research used a preferential‐reaching task to examine whether 9‐ and 11‐month‐olds (n = 144) could infer the relative weights of two objects resting on a soft, compressible platform. Experiment 1 established that infants reached preferentially for the lighter of 2 boxes. In Experiments 2–4, infants saw 2 boxes identical except in weight resting on a cotton wool platform. Infants reached prospectively for the lighter box, but only when their initial exploratory activities provided critical information. At 11 months, infants succeeded as long as they first determined that the platform was compressible; at 9 months, infants succeeded only if they also explored the boxes and thus had advance knowledge that they differed in weight.     

Assessing the Development of Educational Research Literacy: The Effect of Courses on Research Methods in Studies of Educational Science

The ability to purposefully access, reflect, and use evidence from educational research (Educational Research Literacy) is expected of future professionals in educational practice. Based on the presented conceptual framework, a test instrument was developed to assess the different competency aspects: Information Literacy, Statistical Literacy, and Evidence-based Reasoning. This paper addresses the question of whether this test allows monitoring students’ development during courses on research methods in educational science. In winter semester 2013/14, two courses in Early Education and Teacher Training degree programs were accompanied. Both cross-sectional (multidimensional latent regression models) and longitudinal (paired t tests of plausible values) comparisons are reported. The results indicate no significant differences in competencies between the degree programs at start of the semester. For the end of semester, only data of the Early Education course was available. These course participants showed higher proficiency in all aspects of educational research literacy. In conclusion, the results are discussed with regard to the goals of the assessment of competencies in higher education, particularly the use of test feedback for course development, and desiderata for future research (e.g., ability to transfer research into practice) are stated.