Kansas Senate Candidate Does Youth tour

Jim Slattery, candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kansas, unveiled a new $5,000 college tuition tax cut last week.

"Few investments are more important than ensuring every young person who aspires to attend college has the opportunity," Slattery said.

Slattery said the cost of attending college has skyrocketed.

"Tuition at Pittsburg State has increased 75 percent in the last five years," Slattery said.

In order to pay the increased tuition rates, more students are taking out student loans that are difficult to pay back in the current economy.

"Students are becoming increasingly burdened by student loan debt," Slattery said. "On average, a student owes nearly $20,000 when they graduate."

I was honored to receive unvetted access to follow Slattery along on his tour talking with him as well as other students interested in his plan as well as other important issues this election. Slattery spent time answering questions in townhall style meetings as well as a special candidate forum hosted by the popular site 18 in 08.

Get Money: Should kids get money to get an education?

Kids are not getting paid 'A Milli' like Weezy, but when it comes to passing standardized tests fourth graders are getting paid—ballin’!

Okay their not literally ballin’ like Jim Jones, but Roland Fryer, a Harvard economist, sure has big things poppin’ for these Brooklyn youngsters.

In this “get money” experiment done by Fryer, he is using money to reward students for testing well on a series of standardized tests. Students can earn up to $25 per test, and $250 for perfect scores on all 10 tests. This experiment is part of Fryers’ efforts to see how well inner-city kids can do if they’re fundamentally motivated.

Many critics disagree with Fryers pay-to-educate plan. They believe kids should want to be educated no matter what. But obviously those critics are not practicing what they preach because money is on the mind of all people—even these kids.

When these kids were asked how they felt about people hatin’ on their privately funded program, one kid said that “It’s not hurtin it [their education]. It’s helping.” Another kid stated that “teachers get money, now it’s time for kids to get money for studying hard.”

When minorities in America are testing lower than developing countries, Fryer couldn’t agree more with these kids because they deserve something better.

I agree with the program. I think this is the best innovative idea I’ve heard in a long time to close the education gap. In wealthy neighborhoods kids are often rewarded byt their parents with high priced luxury items like cars, so why can’t city kids be rewarded?

But that’s just my opinion. What do you think? Should kids be paid to get an education?

CNN: Black in America

If you didn’t watch the Black in America series on CNN then you missed out.

The two-day special highlighted more than Black America. It focused on American issues and solutions to work towards a more unified nation.

CNN discovered the exact problems facing Black America and tried to break down stereotypical barriers that divide races.

This yearlong investigation gave hope to the hopeless. Many tears were shed, many dreams were answered, many relationships were destroyed, some friendships were born and many Americans were at set at ease in this series. CNN examined the lives of many Americans and used their real-life situations to teach Americans about one another.

One touching story I recall from the first day of the series was an organization encouraging a young man to register for high school. This young man dropped out of high school before he completed his senior year. The memorable part was that this organization went to the gentleman’s house and wouldn’t leave until he left with them to register for school. The organization was successful in getting the young man to register but, according to CNN, he did not return.

I admire the work ethic of this organization. Their tenacity and effort to save the future of America's youth is a key method that many organizations, parents, and school faculty should consider. "No” was not an option that this organization was willing to consider- it shouldn’t be yours either.

The show left no questions unanswered. If you did find yourself with a question after a segment, the panel, which was comprised of celebrity experts, touched on it during the recap after the show.

The two-day special was awesome. If you missed it then you're not completely lucked out. You can catch the re-run this Saturday. You can even purchase the special on itunes. Either way, make sure you see it. There's a lot to learn.

DeNishia's Beat: Foster Care

I spent most of today and yesterday thinking about ways I could start blogging about my K-12 education and foster care system beat. Both topics are very important to me, and I wanted to make sure I presented them in a way that would make you understand why. I concluded that I wanted to make this blog different than any other blog I will write and you will read. I want to start with a short story of my personal experiences that I have never shared with anyone online. You are getting the exclusive, deep down 411 on me and why I value these topics. Prepare yourself because some information may shock you. You ready?

Today I googled my name and a new listing was available that wasn’t there the night before. I immediately clicked on “Starting Early for a Lifetime of Success”, a PDF written by the Director of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Bryan Samuels. I scanned the document for my name and found it in the third column entitled “Importance of Early Childhood Centers.” I had a flashback after reading a section that quoted, “I can still remember in first grade, kids calling me stupid and saying things like, ‘We learned that in preschool!" That was my quote that recalled what my peers said to me. I felt dumb going to school for the first time at eight-years-old, in the first grade. I questioned my intelligence because I didn’t know how to spell my name or count up to or past 10.

I was already being stereotyped as a ghetto black girl from the south side of Chicago. I was told I didn’t have the “it” factor to make it in a north Chicago suburb. I had a lot of negative emotion built up. It was just enough to encourage me to take action against words that tried to tear me down.

I refused to let “stupid” remain a word people used to jokingly describe me, so I stayed in during recess and got intensive academic attention. I am proud to say I rose from no education, to completing honors courses in high school and now I'm entering my fourth year of college.

Most people would call my rise to educational success luck, but I call it grace. I write, advocate and live my life as a living testament that all things are possible when you put your mind to it.

Director Bryan Samuels said it best when he said, "Most students who start behind stay behind, and most children in the foster care system start behind."

I don’t know why that is, and during my time with Rock the Trail I will do my best to find the answer. I do know that no one should lose hope. Starting ahead can increase your cognitive, social, behavioral and physical development, but it’s OK to start behind as long as you start. Remember the Tortoise and the Hare? The Tortoise may have started slow and steady, but he won the race!

Hello World: I'll make the youth voice heard

I have been assigned my beats for July. Yay! My job is to blog and report on key issues that would capture your attention. This will hopefully spark an interest and motivate you all to do something about them. I will provide my sincerest perspective on issues that hit close to home. These issues will include the affordability of higher education, the hardships foster children encounter, and the view of the war from a young veteran’s perspective.

I plan to bring you all angles of every story-your view, my view, and anybody else's view.

Cost of Education:

We all know the cost of education is outrageous! Student loan debt has skyrocketed, our freedom of speech has been challenged, and copyright laws have gotten tougher.

Foster Care/K-12 Education:

Many issues come to mind when thinking about these two topics. There are success stories that must be covered. There are still more stories that have not been sufficiently covered and they must be examined, too. Barriers must be broken down between the "good" schools and the "bad" schools. "Good" and "bad" are everywhere and I want to go behind the scenes to expose both sides. Other topics will include current realities and obstacles, after-school programs, and youth-led events.

War:

War is one word that we will hear again and again until all troops come home, and until then I'll have the opportunity to interview proud veterans and the not so proud veterans. My goal is to bring unedited and uncensored footage of my one-on-one interviews with young war veterans.

You can also catch me covering youth groups in my community and the work they put into their organizations and their communities.

I am excited to cover beats on young Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Young Arabs- the cultures many people often neglect. I know they have a lot to say and what better place to have their voices heard than on the Rock the Trail blog. So be sure to check in weekly. You never know when and what they may say.

Lastly, I am excited to cover music and activism. Afterall, our world revolves around music. If you don't believe me simply try to go a month without listening to the radio in your car or at work. Music seems to be the driving force of getting us through the day. I am glad to bring stories to you from influential musical icons who have very influential messages regarding issues that matter the most to our generation. You will get exclusive interviews, Q&A's and videos from entertainers, Disc Jockeys, teachers, music lovers, record companies, and any other source you can think of.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, my ultimate goal is to make the enitre youth generation pay attention to me. Ultimately I want to have the most exposure I can get so that the answer to the question of “why should young people vote?” will be heard and spread worldwide.

Sometimes we don’t realize the extent to which politics affect our lives until we have reached a time in our professional career where things become forced upon us. But the truth of the matter is that we need to grasp and understand that there are issues that are affecting us now!

I am here to represent the voice for all youth and I will try my best to make sure the youth are heard. Young people have more to lose than many would think—like our future—and that is one sacrifice I will not make.

I encourage you to view the blog weekly for my different beats. Make Comments. Suggest topics. Whatever you do, be sure to stay engaged in what affects our generation- and that means everything!