Quick Hits (1.9.12)

A poor attempt at cross-curricular work. Setting: Third-grade math homework assignment. Question: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?” Stumped? Try this one: “If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?” (h/t Education Week) (ABC News)

If you are a parent, we recommend you skip this message. College grads in the Class of 2034, or this year’s newborns, could see tuition bills for a four-year, Ivy League degree as high as $422,000, according to this analysis. We consider it more fuel for this fire. (The Daily)

Med Tech. High-schoolers can get certified to draw blood at this Texas school, the only one in the nation to offer it. The public magnet school offers college-level courses, and students go to school in scrubs. (Houston Chronicle)

Fine print. Louisiana State University Football Coach Les Miles stands to gain a $5.9 million salary boost, if his Tigers beat the Crimson Tide in tonight’s BCS National Championship game (thanks to a clause in his contract). Instead, how about directing some of that $45 million in football surpluses to need-based financial aid for students, who are likely struggling with tuition increases that are three times the rate of inflation? It would have helped the Tigers in the Education Sector College Cost BCS.