Friday, May 8, 1998
Community Briefs
1998 good year
for college graduates
An annual survey done by Michigan State University found that
employers predict a 27.5 percent increase in jobs for students
graduating from college this spring.
The increase makes 1998 the best time to be looking for a job in
almost three decades, according to employment experts.
The expected lower number of graduates this year and the next,
as well as a drop in U.S. births years ago, has resulted in the
increased demand for college graduates.
Competition within the job market for college graduates have
resulted in companies pressing for quick acceptance to job offers,
as well as offering incentives such as stock options and tuition
reimbursement.
John Challenger, general manager of job outplacement firm
Challenger, Gray and Christmas, said that graduates knowledge of
technology is a major draw.
"Technology is a part of the way companies operate today,
everywhere and in every field," he said. "Older people have a hard
time adapting to it, but these kids have been doing it since they
were ten. That’s a very powerful force."
Governor signs bill for more charter schools
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Gov. Pete Wilson has signed legislation
that expands California’s charter school program and heads off a
planned November ballot initiative that would have gone
farther.
The bill increases the number of charter schools – which operate
semi-independently within a district – that can be started each
year.
The bill raises the limit on charter schools from 112 to 250 in
the first year, then allows 100 more each year after. It also
allows new or existing schools to become charter institutions if
enough parents or teachers sign a petition.
It also requires parents to donate time to schools, toughens
credentialing requirements for teachers and imposes greater
scrutiny on school finances.
Charter schools, set up by school boards, have more latitude
than regular public schools in curriculum, but must meet state
standards for admissions, student achievement and staff
qualifications. About 50,000 of California’s 5 million public
school students attend charter schools.
Study reports risk
of sleeping pills
Daniel Kripke, a professor of psychiatry at the UCSD School of
Medicine, and his associates recently published a paper in the
journal Biological Psychiatry, reporting a connection between the
use of prescription sleeping pills and an increased risk of
death.
The data for Kripke’s study was obtained from the American
Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II, which surveyed roughly
1.1 million people between 1982 and 1988. It was designed primarily
to examine cancer risks such as cigarette smoking. The survey
included data on the usage of prescription sleeping pills.
"What we found is that people who said they were taking sleeping
pills were more likely to have died during the follow-up period,"
Kripke said.
The study considered 31 factors, including age, race, exercise,
smoking, and history of heart disease and cancer. Researchers found
that men and women who reported using sleeping pills at least 30
times per month had about a 29 percent increased death risk.
When considering only age and gender, they concluded that the
sleeping pill users death risk was about three times greater within
a six-year follow-up period than for non-users.
However, Kripke and his associates noted limits on the
connection between an increased risk of death and the use of
prescription sleeping pills. Many factors were not controlled for
the study, such as psychiatric and sleeping disorders, and some
risk factors may not have been measured adequately, Kripke
said.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.