Looks like I stirred up some controversy on a facebook event page for the JPMorgan Chase Tech Talk which is going to be held at my school, Georgia Tech. My original post was: “Going into the banking industry has to be one of the worst uses of a computer science degree. Don’t use your knowledge to let the rich get richer.” Minutes after I posted that, I received a message from the creator of the event saying that he was being pressured to take the post down by someone who worked at JPMorgan Chase. He said that he did not feel comfortable censoring, so he left it up to me to take it down or not. I apologized for putting him in a weird situation, and told him that anyone is free to post a rebuttal, and I thought that would be a better solution than removing the comment all together. The post has generated lots of comments. It’s a pretty neat discussion. Check it out: screen shot of facebook thread
Hi, I'm Bethany. I currently live in New York City and am stoked to be working as an engineer at Kickstarter. I grew up in Atlanta and studied computer science at a Georgia Tech. I am a big fan of biking, pizza, and folk punk. I also try to pay attention to issues that deal with civil liberties, human rights, and democracy, especially in cases where technology is involved. You can contact me at bethany@bethanysumner.com.
HOPE Scholarship Cuts and its Effects in the Classroom
Below is an article that I wrote for the Learner’s Voice, a blog from the Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) at Georgia Tech. It was also later published on hope-scholarship.net. HOPE Scholarship Cuts and its Effects in the Classroom In the wake of the Great Recession, governments everywhere have tried to slash spending. Unfortunately, education has not been spared from these cuts. In the past four years alone, the state contribution to Georgia Tech has been reduced by 90 million dollars or approximately 31%.[1] Colleges across Georgia have had to cope with shrinking funds, which have led to pay freezes, reduction in faculty, decrease in admissions, fewer degree programs and course offerings, and even a controversial maneuver to merge eight colleges in the University System of Georgia into four. In addition to these measures, universities turn to their students to help make up for lost funds by raising the cost of tuition and adding new mandatory fees. The inflation of tuition and extra fees has placed increased pressure on the HOPE scholarship, Georgia’s state scholarship program, which until recently has covered full tuition and fees for students who maintain a 3.0 GPA. About 30% of students in read more »