They're Talking On Campus.

. . . About the fifth annual Reality Check, a study by Public Agenda and Education Week that finds a majority of employers and college professors nationwide say public high schools are graduating students with fair or poor skills in writing, grammar, and basic math—but doing quite well in computer skills.

"Equally troubling," says Deborah Wadsworth, Public Agenda's president, "are the results of our recent national survey of high school teachers. Only 20 percent said the students in their schools learn to speak and write well."

. . . About Washington State's house and Senate passing a bill that gives faculty members at the state's public four-year colleges and universities the right to collectively bargain.

Opponents of collective bargaining managed to add a provision requiring professors to give up all other governance mechanisms including faculty senates if they choose collective bargaining. But the bill's backers, including the Washington Education Association, expect the governor to take out the faculty senate provision before he signs the bill.

. . . About New York University and the union that represents its teaching assistants reaching agreement on the first ever contract for TAs at a private university. Under the four-year deal, the university will raise stipends to a minimum of $15,000 and cover all health insurance costs for graduate students. The NYU agreement paves the way for several other private universities facing unionization efforts.