An Idea to Make Colleges Functional

Townhall.com ^ | December 9, 2018 | Bruce Bialosky

[Kaslin]

The United States spends an ungodly sum on colleges and universities. A lot of that money provides little to no benefit to the consumer (student) or to our society. Many students end their college careers steeped in debt. Yet we have a shortage of people in many critical areas. Here is an idea to solve that.

Colleges today offer degrees to people that provide them little opportunity for supporting themselves for the rest of their lives. The idea of a liberal arts education used to make a certain amount of sense. When the cost became enormous with the resulting disaster for the student’s finances, some decisions must be made as to whether there is rationale for this.

At the same time, we do not have enough students to meet our needs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

The proposal is that colleges and universities provide no-tuition degrees that are critical for our country. Reading this some may think this idea aligns with the Bernie Sanders set, but it is radically different. The idea limits no-tuition education to certain degrees like doctors, scientists and engineers which are critical to our future as we are not producing enough home-grown talent and the no tuition degrees would be limited to American citizens. Under this plan, getting a degree in English literature, journalism or law is on your dime.

I have written previously that it is bothersome that our tech companies are always arguing for more visas to bring in foreigners with engineering degrees. Yet few ask why America is not producing enough individuals to get those degrees when there are lucrative careers available.

The National Association of Manufacturing and Deloitte predict the U.S. will need to fill about 3.5 million jobs by 2025; two million of those jobs may go unfilled, due to difficulty finding people with the skills in demand. Though more students in K-12 are focusing on courses like calculus that are needed to qualify for entering these programs in college. Yet a 2017 report from the National Foundation for American Policy found 81 percent of full-time graduate students in electrical and petroleum engineering programs at U.S. universities are international students, and 79 percent in computer science are also foreigners.

Or what about one of the most important positions in our society – doctors. The Association of American Medical Colleges is projecting a shortfall of between 34,600 and 88,000 doctors by 2025. A large reason is the financial commitment it takes to become a doctor. If you are a top tier brain where would you go -- to a hedge fund where you can start at up to $300,000 per year or a doctor where you start your career with up to $300,000 in debt?

This is not a farfetched idea as New York University (NYU) has committed to covering the education costs for its medical students. This is with special funding, but almost all private schools have the endowments to cover the cost of the students at their medical schools. Public schools could just allocate the funds. Here is an idea: Raise the tuition at their law schools which seem to be in high demand, and there is an extremely low need for additional lawyers in our country.

We already fund the education of a certain class of people – our military leaders. We do this because we want to attract the best and the brightest to lead our military. Each branch has an academy that provides a rigorous education to students. We already know the success rates as we have a long history of knowing how many drop out. If we charged for the real cost of West Point or Annapolis, how many great leaders would we lose? Better yet, how many would we get?

Why America would waste our national resources on funding degrees like Asian Studies, Jewish Studies, Black Studies or Hispanic Studies is beyond me. Degrees like that are superfluous and provide you an opportunity to get a job in the department at the university that minted that pointless degree and not much else other than being a bartender. If you want another one of these degrees or in the so-called social sciences where, when you can’t get a job anywhere else you become an IRS auditor, you can pay the tariff. A lot of these degrees are just a plain waste of national resources.

Just think if you were a poor kid from a first generation Hispanic family and your elementary school and your middle school educated you on the opportunity that you can work hard, take the right courses, and by the time you get to high school you are totally prepared and focused on getting a medical degree and without any affirmative action, you become an MD. Would that change things!

There are some programs that are already aimed toward this. Chevron has funded $400 million toward orienting students at a young age toward STEM degrees. The STEM Coalition is a non-profit that emphasizes getting support for more students focusing on a STEM education.

Our higher education system developed on its own for centuries. It is the marvel of the world as countries send their best students to our country to get the quality education we provide at hundreds of schools. It just is not educating American students for our needs.

The world has changed. Our students have accumulated over a trillion dollars in debt and we are not even producing enough skilled people to take care of the needs of our country. The program needs a revamp and this is a prime idea to start doing that.

We need more doctors and not more students with degrees in sports management where the only job they will ever get in sports is working the counter at a Footlocker. We need to stop wasting these key resources on nonsense and produce viable college graduates. Let’s fund the ones that are necessary to us as a society.

[Night Hides Not]

I agree with you completely, IronJack. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but the core curriculum at my alma mater prepared me for my life outside of school as well as my accounting degree did.

One of the most important classes I ever took was a philosophy class my senior year. 12 of the 14 students in my class were theology or philosophy majors, most who entered the priesthood.

I had to spend 3-4 hours outside of class for every hour in class, just to keep up. I'm as proud of that B as any A I've ever gotten.

BTW, I had the same accounting professor for over 30 semester hours. Ever heard of an accounting professor who never used numbers? He taught strictly accounting theory.

[IronJack]

I took a lot of courses unrelated to my major (chemistry at the time). One of the highlights of my college career was a trio of classes in Western Civilization, from the Dark Ages to the French Revolution. The professor was passionate about history, a perfectionist, and one of the most inspiring men I've ever met.

I also had a couple of literature and writing courses that exposed me to some of the world's greatest authors and gave me a poor chance to emulate them. I came to appreciate the beauty and power of words.

There are excellent trade and tech schools. If all you want to learn is accounting or welding or plumbing, go to one of them. But if you want a UNIVERSAL education, then you have to be prepared to be pushed outside your focus.

[Vermont Lt]

You want to make college functional and affordable?

Stop government backed student loans. That will cut down on the crap really quick.

[Tired of Taxes]

I can think of several federal programs that do this too! Even 1 or 2 that are for medical careers.

Do you have a link to more info on those federal programs? Especially for STEM degrees that aren't in the medical field? (I'd appreciate it.)

As for standards, the job positions would be given to students who earn the degree.

[Tired of Taxes]

A lot of businesses now are testing college grads before hiring them. And also testing anyone who applies, even those with work experience. Is that what you do? That’s a good idea (imho).

I’d hope that an employer would consider hiring someone without a degree who passes that test, too.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I thought I was clear that while there were some proper “cross training” subjects and electives, many universities are puffing their majors with required or required elective “crap” courses, often to cynically increase tuition, and/or to get kickbacks from those who make student loans.

Culture and Identity
Queer Musicology
Ufology
The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender, and Media
How to Win a Beauty Pageant
What If Harry Potter Is Real?
Zombies in Popular Media
Medieval Mystics of Europe
The Joys of Garbage
Vampire Studies
Vampires: The Evolution of a Sexy Monster
History of Beyonce
Power Walking
Critical Theory & Social Justice
Demystifying the Hipster
Transgender and Race
Looking At Animals
Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music
Invented Languages: Klingon and Beyond
Rainbow Cowboys (and Girls): Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality in Westerns
Maple Syrup Tasting
Queering God: Feminist and Queer Theology
Queering the Bible
How to Watch TV
Homophobia in the U.S. Society in the New Millennium
Gendered Politics of Food
Feminist Research Methods
Are We Still Fabulous?: Queer Identity in Contemporary Drama
Radical Sexuality: Of Color, Wildness and Fabulosity
Globalizing Gender and Sexuality

Truly, if someone thinks these classes are useful, fine. Just don’t use taxpayer money or student loans to pay for them.

[Reily]

I think this is the biggest one!

https://dodstem.us/stem-programs/scholarships

There are few others more obscure, I will look for them.

[BlackAdderess]

There are some constants though, such as math beyond Calculus I. There is no reason why some of these building block courses can’t be standardized and put within reach of a much wider portion of the public. Doing that would also make it possible to more quickly advance talented students instead of dragging them back to the pace of the slowest in their class. This would introduce a lot more competition.

Part of what colleges are doing is to make their courses unique to their program to make it impossible for their credits to transfer smoothly to other colleges and vice-versa. The only reason for this is to trap students once they get them. If you take a bunch of courses only to find the upper-level ones are not going to adequately prepare you for the job market, you really have no recourse. Now while a good writer or artist might be able to recover from something like that, this practice could be devastating for a STEM student, because as you say, things move quickly.

[Reily]

More

https://www.cia.gov/careers/student-opportunities/undergraduate-scholarship-program.html

https://www.intelligencecareers.gov/icstudents.html

[BlackAdderess]

There are a ton of STEM students at my school, and programs in Communications and other necessary fields are having a problem finding students because everyone wants to major in a STEM field. There is definitely a glut of STEM students, yet the industry is still complaining that they can’t find qualified people. We need more competition to address this problem, and the way to do that is to make it easier for STEM students to be able to transfer into programs that offer what the industry wants. That is going to require greater adaptability by STEM programs than currently exists.

[goo goo g'joob]

Make the universities have some “skin in the game” for student loans. They will be more incentivized to prepare students to pay them back.

[RFEngineer]

“Outlaw student loans and government funding.”

I’m along a similar line of thinking, except taking a different path.

Trump and the Republicans should make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy court.

This will perform several miracles, nearly overnight:

#1 It will immediately make higher education accountable for providing value to the student in their education. If they can demonstrate $50k in “value” or more per year of education, private loan sources will be happy to loan a large fraction of the education money required to extract that “value”

(we all know #1 won’t happen)

#2 Since they can’t demonstrate the value above the cost of the education they presently provide to a large fraction of students, then those students will simply have to pay for that education themselves.

(we all know #2 won’t happen, for most students)

#3 Since students won’t be able to pay the present asking price for most study areas of a university education and since value in most study areas cannot be demonstrated so that private loans could be easily obtained, the price of a university degree will necessarily plummet

(we have countless examples of this happening in a free market - it’s called “market discovery”)

#4 Since students cannot pay, universities will then have to rid themselves of cost, like any prudent business must do when revenues decline below expenditures. This means that the legions of leftist administrators and professors will be laid off, nearly immediately.

(again the free market has countless examples of businesses that must adapt, cut costs to survive)

Sadly, #4 will result in many liberal academics becoming homeless, but I am willing to make this sacrifice for the “greater good”.

#5 Leftist think-tanks will no longer have an endless supply of liberal academics writing ever-so-authoritative supporting “research” papers on social topics ranging from transgenderism to global warming.

#6 Students who have had their lives stolen from them by thieving leftist institutions will have an opportunity to be freed from enslaving debt - receive the blessing of forgiveness from an operating free-market that wishes them to become productive citizens without lifetime punishment for financial mistakes of the past. Those that work hard will be able to recover and prosper - teaching them more than any degree they may have gotten from thieving universities that hard work and productivity results in a better life. This will likely cure them of any liberal notions learned by rote in their academic experiences.

#7 Liberal academic types - some of them will learn the value of hard work and becoming valuable to a potential employer - this will likely cure them over time of their liberal ideas.

#8 Deprived of legions of debt enslaved young people, and self-important academics, the leftist elite will consume itself in a beautiful pyre of self-immolation. Politics will become more civil. America will become stronger. The world will be a better place.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

And if you loan money to someone under the age of 21, they don't have to pay it back if they don't feel like it.

It is criminal how universities have harvested 18-year olds for their student loans, placing them under crippling debt at the very beginning of their lives.

18-year olds are dumb. If their teachers/perfessers tell them to take out student loans, they take them.

I love this scene from Silicon Valley (Peter Gregory's character is rumored to have been modeled after Peter Thiel).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAxzkl2cmNY

[Amendment10]

Military academies aside, the problem with schools is politically correct interference from the unconstitutionally big federal government imo.

In other words, constitutionally low-information school administrators, researchers and professors are constantly begging for strings-attached, “federal” tax dollars for their university-related projects.

But since the feds have no express constitutional authority to regulate, make policy, tax and spend in the name of INTRAstate schools, “we” need to expel the feds from INTRAstate schools.

"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States."—Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.



In other words, school administrators, researchers and professors should be working with their respective state lawmakers to fund their school-related projects.

”... the care of the property, the liberty, and the life of the citizen, under the solemn sanction of an oath imposed by your Federal Constitution, is in the States, and not in the Federal Government [emphases added].” —Rep. John Bingham, Congressional Globe, 1866. (See about middle of 3rd column.)

All that the corrupt feds do in the schools anyway is indoctrinate students to be entitlement-minded Democrats imo.

But patriots need to support Pres. Trump in working with the states to repeal the 16th and ill-conceived 17th Amendments before the states are going to find new revenues to fund school projects.

Also, different subject, patriots are encouraged to watch Dan Borgino’s excellent 37 min video (associated book). The video helps to flesh out the alleged Mueller conspiracy against Pres. Trump.

• Dan Bongino - Obama, Mueller and the Biggest Scam in American History

• Donald Trump is Finished | Super Deluxe Super Cuts

[poconopundit]

I have written previously that it is bothersome that our tech companies are always arguing for more visas to bring in foreigners with engineering degrees. Yet few ask why America is not producing enough individuals to get those degrees when there are lucrative careers available.

* * *

I think the other issue is the tech companies don’t want to pay the high wages of American STEM graduates.

[poconopundit]

PING. It’s a really fine plan! i read through it all and it seems sound.

It basically gets the government out of the student loan business without having to change the ability to get loans.

So it sounds politically doable.

Brilliant. I think you should repost your comment so a lot more people can find it.

[Scrambler Bob]

purse practitioners
= = =

I don’t think you meant that.

But, would a purse practitioner be a lawyer?

[9YearLurker]

Ha! I figure it’s against FR rules to proofread your own posts.

Sort of like it is forbidden to click through and actually read an article before commenting on it...

(And the modern doctor is a pretty good purse practitioner himself!)

[Tired of Taxes]

Thanks! Wow. I don’t remember hearing about those programs.

I was thinking of my younger sons when I asked. Those programs look interesting.

[IronJack]

I don't even disagree with students using loans to pay for these ridiculous classes. As long as, when they can't find a job doing anything but parking cars, they don't get to default on their loans and stick taxpayers with the bill.

Let the market decide. If you want to borrow money to go to a class that is a total waste of time, go ahead. But when you find out that it was a poor use of the funds, it's too late. Stupidity is no excuse.

I would recommend that the Boards of Regents for these universities forbid them from requiring such courses. Soon those classrooms will be empty and those "professors" will be fighting for the car-parking jobs. And we'll have fewer educated idiots running around college campuses.