Act Two: It Starts...

 Act Two: It Starts…

 by: Carlos Mendez

I believe in karma. I have a hunch that Andrew Clark and the rest of his cronies over at Bridgepoint Education have begun to feel it. When I left Ashford University 5 months ago I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I felt the burden of guilt and shame being lifted up from on top of me, like when Hulk Hogan lifted Andre “The Giant” (R.I.P) back at WrestleMania 3.

Fast forward to Tuesday July 10^th, when a coworker broke the news to me about the bombshell that had just dropped regarding Ashford University. I use the term bombshell loosely because unless you live in San Diego, California or Clinton, Iowa, the institution Ashford University most likely does not mean that much to you. Upon reading the articles about WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) denying Ashford University its initial attempt at accreditation, I felt a sense of redemption. Without an accreditation from the region your school does business in, your programs basically hold no clout. I felt like someone had finally opened their eyes as to what Ashford University, Bridgepoint Education, and many other for-profit colleges/entities have been doing for years now. While working for Ashford University I found myself wondering how in the world a “school” could keep taking advantage of people, mostly low-income individuals. The majority of the people I would talk to daily when I worked at Ashford could barely afford to pay their cell phone bill, let alone $1,170 per course every 5 weeks, plus books. The amount of money I kept hearing that Andrew Clark was raking in was ridiculous. Even sadder is the amount of money (or lack thereof) that is being put back into the university to improve the education. The coursework definitely needs an overhaul; especially for the amount of money people are spending on this “education.”

Back in late February/early March, I was working at Ashford University when representatives from WASC were touring our offices. It was all a façade. We were made to take down any sort of paper with a chart, graph, or number pertaining to the amount of students we were enrolling. After all, Ashford University was not about numbers, it was about the student. We were told to dress in a shirt and tie, no jeans were allowed during the time that the WASC reps would be there. We had been directed to answer their questions in a certain way and that if at any time we did not know what to say, to direct them to a manager. It was all about putting up a front that oozed professionalism, when all that was really oozing was the mask of corporate greed coming out from closed drawers and locked doors.

I have heard people bring up the point of what would happen if Bridgepoint Education and Ashford University went under. What would happen to all of the people who would be left without a job?  The fact is, Ashford employs many people in the San Diego area. How hard would it be for them to find a new job? I can sympathize with that argument and understand that many people could be out of a job if the Bridgepoint Education Empire were to crumble. What I would like people to think about, are the people who already have been, along with those who would be affected negatively if Bridgepoint Education continues to exist. What do I mean by that? Think about how many low income individuals are talked into believing a degree from Ashford University will “change their life.” Now, think about how many of these people are already in a bad situation and upon completing (if they are even able to) will be $50,000+ in debt for an online education, which more and more companies are now looking at as being inferior degrees. Will they be able to find a job that pays much more than minimum wage? How long will it take them to pay off their student loan debt? It has been widely published that students from for-profit schools have a higher default rate than their peers from standard universities or colleges. So not only are these students ruining their credit and financial situations, but this is also putting the United States government in a tough situation when the loans they gave out are not being paid back. Who has a better chance of finding a job, someone with a state college/university degree or someone with a for-profit online degree? It is heartbreaking for me to think about the people that pay the money to obtain these degrees, and are then subject to scrutiny by employers for attending a “diploma mill” of an institution.

To add more fuel to the fire, a couple of days ago a class action lawsuit was filed against Bridgepoint Education alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The lawsuit includes the following:

(a) the Company had failed to implement plans, procedures and practices to sufficiently assist students in staying with the programs they enrolled in and complete the courses; (b) the Company failed to align resources with educational requirements such that students were not benefitting from the resources available and were therefore not progressing to an acceptable level; (c) Ashford failed to maintain a sufficient core of faculty and programs to develop faculty, leading to poor teaching and poor completion rates by students; (d) Bridgepoint had inadequate review procedures such that shortfalls were not quickly identified and remedied; and (e) Ashford failed to maintain an empowered and independent governing board.

With all that being said, I will be watching closely as to what comes out of this. I hope that this leads to a major overhaul when it comes to what for-profit colleges are allowed to get away with. The greedy people perched at the top need to be held accountable for their actions behind the scenes. As of right now, the people who are suffering are the individuals that were strung along and suckered into believing Ashford University would “change their life.” Well, I guess Ashford University never really did specify whether the change was for the best or for the worst. 

In the end, who will be paying the price for these greedy puppeteers at the top that turned higher education into a two-bit puppet show?

Syrian Conflict.

So weeks ago I came up with an idea. I don't even know how they pop into my head, but they just do. After watching news reports and reading about the conflict in Syria I thought about what I could do to voice my displeasure about what I heard.

I decided to make a painting. My biggest displeasure about what is going on in Syria, is the brutal use of force the government is using against its own people. The use of helicopters and the severity of the bombings puzzles me. In May, in one attack, 49 children were killed. There are reports of children being killed execution style. The fact that this is happening is despicable. I read yesterday that 1,300 children have so far been killed. We are talking about KIDS that are being massacred. No matter what a conflict is about, the killing of innocent children is unjustifiable. I don't care who you are or what you are fighting for or against.

This is what I came up with. It is the Syrian flag. Usually, it would have two green stars on the white stripe. I switched the stars for two small hands that are there to represent the lives of the children that have been taken.

I hope things change. 

Why I Left Ashford University.

The following letter I wrote right after I left Ashford University. I had worked there for about 6 months. I had decided I could not take the atmosphere and attitude of this "higher education" establishment. I shopped it around to a few different publications and two of them were interested. Unfortunately, it was never published and now I feel the time is about right to finally release it into the wild. Especially, after Ashford University lost its recent bid to be accredited by WASC. 

Enjoy.

March 23, 2011

Why I Left Ashford University

A week ago today I resigned from Ashford University as an Admissions Counselor, a position I held for a little over 6-months. I’m actually surprised that I stayed there for that long. The position was nothing like I had expected. All through our two-week training when I first started, and even after we hit the floor, we were told the position was “about the student.” That was what I wanted to hear. I came from working with at-risk youth in low income areas, so this was a position I was really looking forward to. I wanted to help people get their education and help them better themselves.

Once I hit the floor I knew I was in for something completely different. If you aren’t producing the number of applications per week that management wants, you start feeling the pressure. I get it, it is a for-profit college and we were there to enroll, or as they called it, “changing lives.” That phrase in itself makes my stomach turn every time I hear it. I finally realized that changing lives was right and I strongly feel that most of the time I was changing lives, but for the worse.

Once you start struggling or not “changing lives,” you realize it is about the students’ money and not the student themselves. Your job as an “AC” revolves around enrollments. The higher the enrollments of new students, the better it went for us. Keep in mind that the job, as they kept telling us, was not about numbers, but about focusing on the student. Yet, as a manager told us during a daily meeting, the first two hours and last two hours were about “pounding the phone” and if an enrolled student were to call us during that time we were not to answer their call because we had to be especially focused on getting new students during those hours. If you weren’t hitting certain numbers (250 calls per day, 2 schedules per day, 1 appointment per day, or the equivalent of at least1-2 applications per week to “meet expectations”), you were looking at getting written up for things like, “lack of communication.” The negativity was abundant when the team I was on was underperforming. Day in and day out we were having meetings in which we were being blasted for how bad we were doing. The manager would lay into us and constantly remind us as to how bad we were. This is the same manager I overheard tell a co-worker that 80% of our students are “dumb.” At one point we were told that it would be a good idea for us to start looking for new jobs. We weren’t “meeting expectations.”

I had a manager who told our team that if we hit 15 applications in a week as a team (completely submitted) she would buy us breakfast, if we were to hit 20 applications she would get us a catered lunch, and it even got to the point that, if we were to exceed that amount, she would have looked into getting us a paid day off. That doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well there was a catch. We were also told that if we did not reach our goals, we were to expect disciplinary action i.e. be written up. This was from a company that “was not” incentivizing the enrollment of students.

The mentality of the majority of the people there on the sales floor, and I call it that because that’s exactly what it was, was about money. Making the university money so that you can keep your job. It was either get people enrolled or get a new job. And believe me, they too used scare tactics on us. Telling us how bad the economy is, how everyone is out there looking for a job, and we would be struggling to find a job that pays as much or offers the same benefits as Ashford. In January they laid off about 150 people. They are planning another round of layoffs soon. They told us that the bottom 10% will be cut this summer. Also, I think it’s funny how we were being audited for accreditation purposes just a couple of weeks ago and we had to get rid of everything on our cubicle walls that “tracked” our numbers/students. Every single day there is about numbers, not education.

A co-worker told me one day that, “I cared too much.” All because I wanted the prospective student I was working with to know, as much as I could tell them, so that they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. I was told by the same co-worker to use “round about” figures when describing tuition and technology fees. To emphasize how much they could be eligible for in Pell grants. This is the same type of co-worker that our manager told us to sit with, learn from, and “pick their brain”. This is the type of person they wanted us to be like. Keep in mind that to go to Ashford University for 4-years and receive your Bachelor’s degree, you are looking at $52,000+. To go to an online university and pay that much is a travesty to me. We were supposed to highlight how much Financial Aid they could possibly get and how it was affordable to go to our school.” We were told to tell each student how much a degree would help them in finding a career and how much more marketable they would be. That might be “affordable” in a sea of for-profit college tuition, but last time I checked $52,000+ of student loan debt is not “affordable.”

As I did more and more research on for-profit colleges, I came to find out about the many investigations and lawsuits filed due to violations being committed across the country. These schools are getting billions of dollars a year in federal aid funds. 45% of student loans being defaulted on are from for-profit colleges and these schools account for 10.7% of college students enrolled. The drop out rates at for-profit schools is ridiculous. The government is providing this aid to students to obtain an education. If these students cannot get a job to repay the loans after the completion of the program because these programs are not academically adequate, the government then loses out on millions of dollars a year. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that online education can benefit people in certain situations, but I strongly feel that the majority of people attending an online college are being taken advantage of. According to a Bloomberg article, “Students at for-profit colleges are more likely to be unemployed and earn less in the six years after graduation than their peers at community colleges, according to a study by Harvard University researchers.” There needs to be stricter regulations on for-profit colleges.

Two months ago I knew that I needed to leave Ashford University. I was asked a question that made me want to walk out of the building as soon as I heard it. A co-worker of mine asked me, “Do you care more about ‘Shaniqua’ or do you care more about your paycheck?” I was shocked to be asked that question. I didn’t answer back. Keep in mind that this was one of the people that management wanted us to be like. All I could say in reply was, “did you really just ask me that?” She replied with, “what?”  She looked at me puzzled as if I was the crazy person, as if I was the one who had just said something extremely insensitive. I sat down quietly and just stared at my computer screen.

I chose and will always choose; “Shaniqua”, “Juan”, “Frank”, or anyone else for that matter that I honestly believe is being taken advantage of, over a paycheck any day of the week.

I decided to write this because I felt inspired by Greg Smith’s Op-Ed about his resignation from Goldman Sachs. He inadvertently used a term I had been mulling over in my head and had been thinking of using when departing Ashford University. His use of “morally bankrupt people” really struck a chord in me. Money is not everything. Ashford believes more in monetary gain than an actual education, as do many for-profit colleges. Being financially successful means nothing when you are “morally bankrupt.”  

Regards,

Carlos Mendez


p.s. Part II

Lucha Libre.

I started working on a photography series based on luchadores. I came up with the idea randomly; I wanted to think of things luchadores do on their time away from the ring. I enlisted some friends and we began shooting last week. There are many more photographs still to be taken, with the luchadores hopefully getting into all sort of shenanigans. There will also be more luchadores added so be on the lookout. The photographs can be seen on my Facebook Artist page. Go ahead and 'like' it and become a fan.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carlos-Mendez/248275752151

"No Nonsense Nunchuck Nogales de Sonora"

"El Jefe and The Strong Arm"

Syria.

Out here in the West we keep hearing about people being massacred in Syria for protesting the government. It is very sad and disheartening to see that not even children are being spared. Hearing about situations like this make me feel grateful for having the freedom to voice my opinion when I think something is wrong. I pray and hope that the people of Syria can unite, overcome, and stop the government from killing its own people.

I know a while ago I made a painting and wrote a blog post about the protests going on in the Middle East (http://written-in-crayon.blogspot.com/2010/04/revolution-will-not-be-televised.html). From the stats I can see on that post, it has been the most popular of my blogs with over 1,600 views with people from countries all over the world finding it online. I hope that it was a way for people to get a little inspiration or even read about the things that were going on and still are going on.

I hope to make another painting soon dedicated to the children whose lives are being taken by the military and other thugs in Syria. I read this in an article and this is why I would like to create a painting in honor of these kids that were trying to express their feelings through graffiti.

(http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/03/25/syria-protests-what-is-happening-answers-to-6-key-questions.html)

"After a slow start, the unrest sweeping the Middle East has reached the Levant. Protesters have been in the streets of Daraa, an agricultural town in Syria's extreme southwest near the border with Jordan, since March 15. They started after a group of children between 10 and 14 were arrested for painting anti-regime graffiti on a wall in town and hauled off to Damascus without their parents being informed."

 Stay tuned for a painting that I will attach to this blog post and probably make a unique post for it. 

 

Chicano Park Day 2012

It has a looooong time since I last posted. I was recently at Chicano Park Day here in San Diego, Ca. Here is some footage I shot and put together. 

10 of my favorites.

Nickelodeon 2



Mr. Oleg Gladkoff



Play.



fresh.2.def.



no worries.




U.S./Mexico Border.



Guadalupe.



candelas.



Internationally Known.



The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. (24"x24" painting on wood panel. Spray paint and vinyl lettering)

Ooh La La

Hello world. I recently had the chance to photograph the Ooh La La Dance Co. as they practiced for their next show. A friend of mine is one of the dancers and she let me stop by and check it out. Easily one of the best nights of my life hahaha, very beautiful girls, just sayin'. So here are some of the shots from that night. Make sure to check them out at salsasusie.com/ and be on the look out for their performances, definitely worth checking out.



duo.



pose.



shake them dreads.






oh snap.






floor view.



in sync.



watch.



For more photos check out my Facebook Fan Page: Carlos Mendez

"The Lost Film"

I feel like Nasir Jones a.k.a. Nas, he has "The Lost Tapes" and I have "The Lost Film."
After three months I came to realize that I had two rolls of film that I had not seen from my trip to Seattle. They were 35mm film, but they had to be developed at another place than where I usually take them because of the type of film. I had dropped them off a few days after I came back from Seattle and for some reason, forgot about them.

So I recently picked up the film and I came across some shots that I liked.



I hope that in 2011 I have the opportunity to visit more places I have never been to before.




Loback.Meat.Co.



Market.



Welcome.



time.



fresh.2.def.

Big El

<--- Etsy

I made this painting last year. It started off as a drawing and then turned into a 1 time comic strip and then I turned it into a painting. It's on a 12"x12" canvas, painted with aerosol and paint pens. I made it and received good feedback on it. I really like it because it is a simple cartoon character. Solid lines, flat, minimal in colors, and simple child like characteristics to it. When I first drew it, it took me just a couple of minutes to create. I threw on the eye patch as a way to make it unique. An animal we all know, but with a distinct difference that makes him look a little tough. His name is "Big El", unfortunately when he was younger he was horsing around when a fellow elephants' tusk caught him right in the eye. Some might see him with only one eye and perceive it to be a disability, but he takes no pity. Believing that it makes no difference whether he has one eye or two, it is what's inside his heart that makes him who he is.


I'm flirting with some ideas for writing a children's book that would help teach children to accept everyone no matter what they look like, from skin color to any other physical feature that may be different from theirs. Since I created this character, I have come up with about 10 total characters for which I would like to incorporate into different storylines.

For this first character I have created 10 individual paintings. I might make more if the demand is there. This is the first time doing something like this so I wasn't sure how many I should make. I know some people might ask why not just make 1 master and then get prints made in bulk. That is something I would think about doing if there were a high demand for it, but as of now I take a lot of pride in making each one with a personal and individual touch.

Also, if you are a friend of mine and/or are local to the San Diego area I will give you discounted price.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62710143/big-el