English 102 - Fall 2008

Supiano explains the extreme need for financial literacy in college campuses, where students are adults, yet still have very little financial knowledge or independence. Supiano discusses that without the new initiatives for new finance classes at colleges, non-business students would graduate with very little financial literacy, but in many cases with a lot of debt. This article paints a very great picture of the situation of our college financial literacy. The article gives helpful knowledge into some examples of college literacy initiatives, and offers many possible solutions to the financial literacy problem among college students.

In this article, Pickard and Reichelt discuss the alternative to Financial Literacy classes in high school, online courses for students and adults on personal finance. This study offers that online courses are very useful tool in gaining financial literacy. The article discusses the state of our financial literacy in the context of family finances. Pickard and Reichelt also give valuable statistics on financial literacy in regard to important demographics such as race and income level. The authors connect the issues with personal finance with the macroeconomic issues, which is very helpful for the reader.

Kozup and Hogarth discuss the necessity of consumer warning labels on financial matters such as credit cards, mortgage, and mutual funds. They successfully make the analogy of indebtedness to obesity, and our financial state, like our health, can be helped by reading the labels on what they are consuming. The authors describe financial literacy partially as an ability to weigh the pros and cons of financial options available to them, as well as familiarity with the macroeconomic conditions of their environment. The authors also talk about third party financial intermediaries, and the role of policy in consumer saving. The authors offer a great variety of solutions to the problem of financial literacy, and the analogies make it very easy for the reader to understand and learn about the responsibility of financial literacy. Also, the rhetorical questioning involves the reader and implores them to form their own opinion.

Paula Bone discusses the relationship between several aspects of the mortgage process. She discusses that the more well informed the consumer is, the more likely he/she will have a better relationship with the mortgage company, and become more satisfied with their purchase. Also, she discusses the other side of the transaction. The more likely a mortgage company is to engage in immoral practices, the more dissatisfied the consumer will be with their loan. This is an interesting way to look at the mortgage crisis. It correlates to my point of the need for financial literacy in high schools. If people were more cognizant about their mortgages, they would be more likely to catch a mistake and be happier with their loans.

This article describes the results of the Federal Reserve Financial Literacy Test on high school seniors. It explains that the results of the most recent test are the worst in the history of the test. The article does a great job linking the poor results with the current mortgage crisis, and expresses the importance of financial literacy in consumers today. The article is very useful in providing concrete data on the state of our country's financial literacy.

This blog, published by Stephen Dubner, talks about financial literacy among high school students, and the problems in a dangerously low financial literacy level. He also helps diagnose financial literacy by offering a series of questions to test the reader's own financial literacy. It is a very useful article to use not only in studying the financial literacy of America, but also to diagnose yourself on your own financial literacy. The comments posted on the blog are also very informative of the reactions to the freakonomics blog.

This press release describes resident Bush's call for financial literacy, as he enstates an advisory board called the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. President Bush recognizes the connection between financial literacy and the current economic crisis. This is a very informative source on the current events of the government, and a great depiction of Great Bush's view of the importance of financial literacy.

This article talks about the state of financial literacy. What makes this article different than most of the others that I have come across, is that it talks about financial literacy in an international context. It quotes several well qualified scholars on the issue and not only discusses the need for financial literacy, but the article gives several different solutions for it, rather than just compulsory financa classes. It also discusses President Bush's new advisory on financial literacy and the consequences.

Annamaria Lusardi uses her blog to explain her day to day thoughts on the state of financial literacy in the nation. Her thoughts are generally in reaction to the current state of financial literacy or with criticism that she has heard for or against financial literacy. Her posts view financial literacy through the lenses of youth, as she is for financial literacy education in school. also, she discusses the state of retired peoples financial literacy. This source is very useful becasue it is usually very up-to-date, and the blogger has done a lot of research on the subject.

In this study, parents from the Texas Parent teacher association are surveyed on how much they would support an increase in their property taxes to pay for financial literacy classes in their children's schools. It is a very interesting way to look at people's view of financial literacy, and looking ar parent's view on the topic is very important because often the same values are enstilled in their children.

The purpose of this paper is to describe content and methods of an academic course offered twice annually at an NCAA Division I University. With empirical support to the effectiveness of this academic approach to psychological skills training presented elsewhere (Curry & Maniar, 2003), the focus of this paper is on the type and extent of each intervention treatment during the 15-week semester course (Vealey, 1994). Course content includes applied strategies for best performance targeting, arousal/affect control, identifying purpose, goal setting, imagery, sport confidence, trust, flow, sport nutrition, on-/off-field problem solving, self-esteem, and life skills education on eating disorders and drug/alcohol abuse. Teaching methods include narrative story telling, small group activities, journal writing, cognitive-behavioral homework, brainteasers, and active learning demonstrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These article provides information on academic support programs for student athletes. Various athletic-academic scandals have forced universities to provide needed academic support to student athletes. Campus consensus on academic support program must be developed by involving central administration, faculty, and athletic department personnel. Before selling up an athletic support program, a careful self-assessment can also serve as an example of institutional reform. A decision must be made whether the program should operate internally in the athletic department or externally in the campus administration. The first step in beginning an academic support program is assessing athletes through testing and records. The program should emphasize skill development and counseling, preferably in programs already existing for the general student body on campus. Budgets for large programs range between $250,000 to $500,000 a year. The program should be annually evaluated by looking at retention and graduation rates of student athletes. The program's success depends on the commitment of the university and the participation of the community.

During the 2004 election, rap mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs made an impact on the voting scene when he created the non-profit group Citizen Change. The 'Vote or Die' campaign rallied hip hop artists and famous young actors together by visiting youth around the nation talking about the issues. The high profile celebrity activism helped bring young voters to the polls. Russell Simmons, another celebrity organized the HSAN, Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in 2001 to help sponsor forums on electoral issues and help promote the youth voter registration. This article explains how the celebrity community is getting involved and using their celebrity status to influence the youth to vote.

Published in the British Journal of Educational Studies, this article reviews an Australian national project on youth participation in democracy. The article explores the abstinence of political behaviors such as voting and participating in political engagement. This article can be used to compare the youth in Australia's democracy and the youth involvement in America's democracy.

This article calls for young Americans to get involved in politics and make their voices heard. Presidential candidates are promising everything to everyone but will likely fall short of that and some group will not get what they want. To ensure that young Americans get what they need, they should demand that the new president follows through with the promises he made. With Barack Obama promising Social Security reform and lowering the cost and making college more available to the youth of America. "Ask not what you can do for Barack Obama, ask what Barack Obama can do for you" challenges young Americans to demand that there needs be met by their president.

Founded in 1996, "Rock the Vote" was launched to boost political participation by using pop musicians, comedians, and other means of popular culture using a three stage strategy, Rock the Vote aimed to raise profile and funds, push voter registration and finally urge those who were registered to vote to use their vote. The article can be helpful to readers by presenting specific details of how "Rock the Vote" gets youth voters involved.

Washington Commentary states that the lowest percentage of young adults (18-29 years of age) participated in the national elections for 2000. Several reasons influence the decisions of these young adults: parental focus and attitude, below proficient levels of understanding, and comprehension in history, social studies, and civics classes, and lack of practice or experience in political engagement. Although the article is informational, the content does not lead itself to the particular point of interest.

The youth participation during the 2008 Election will be astounding. The Y Generation is making their presence felt. Voters under the age of 30 are 45 million strong, and have the possibility of determining who is elected. This article reports statistics that will be helpful to the reader, based on election registration and turnout.

The "New Media" such as Youtube, Facebook, and Myspace today are changing the political scene for young Americans. The technology today allows people to be more involved with politics, as seen during the 2008 election. Now people can watch debates on YouTube or ask questions at town hall meetings with icams connected to your computer, or even "friend" a presidential candidate on Facebook or Myspace. Technology today is promoting political awareness especially with the youth of America, and will make for interesting turnout in the 2008 election. This article explains how technology is being used to promote political awareness in a new way that has never been used before during a presidential election.

An eye-opening article written by Loeb depicts the political uproar over the youth vote. Stunning statistics show a 60% to 38% difference in Democratic over Republican candidates. The main obstacle that the Democrats are speaking about is the financial barriers affecting the affordability of higher education. Loeb also depicts a general sense that the Republican administration has cut Federal Financial Aid from the budget. This article can be helpful to bring awareness to the position of our youth facing political opposition over the financial barriers of higher education and how the Democrats are capturing the youth vote by making student financial aid a priority.