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A New-Schools Strategy to Fix Higher Education
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | December 4, 2019 | Andy Smarick

Posted on 12/04/2019 7:36:48 AM PST by karpov

It would be easy to conclude, after a quick look at some topline findings about higher education in recent years, that a set of misguided practices and policies has distorted college enrollment, completion, and costs.

For example, a well-meaning college-for-all movement directed students into four-year institutions, but many of these young people were unprepared for college-level work or didn’t really want to attend. A well-meaning effort to make college more affordable led to massive subsidies that have become over a trillion dollars in student debt.

In hindsight, we can see that this approach devalued non-college postsecondary tracks, enabled higher education institutions to increase costs, saddled students with substantial debt loads, and left tens of millions of people with “some college” but no degree—and others with a degree that didn’t match employers’ needs. Worse, because these problems are systemic in nature, their consequences may linger. The inflation of costs shows no signs of correction; bloated administrative ranks preserve aggressive, politically progressive campus policies; many debt-ridden adults possess credits untethered to future jobs; and public opinion has soured on higher education.

We could try to solve these problems in a piecemeal fashion. But is there a systemic approach that could drive down costs and make the sector more dynamic and responsive?

Yes, possibly. State policymakers should launch an energetic “new schools” strategy; that is, develop policies that enable social entrepreneurs to create a constellation of higher education institutions.

(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: college

1 posted on 12/04/2019 7:36:48 AM PST by karpov
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To: karpov
a well-meaning college-for-all movement directed students into four-year institutions, but many of these young people were unprepared for college-level work or didn’t really want to attend.

ANYBODY with two functioning brain cells knew this was a disaster. The population has a normal distribution of intelligence and ambition. About 1/3 of the population is academically capable of handling a four-year college program plus the drive and will to get a degree.

Because so many kids were pushed into college and couldn't hack it, schools began offering completely useless degrees that produced kids with a sheepskin but no marketable skills.

All of this disaster is attributable to feel-good liberals plus greedy universities sucking at the government teat and raising tuition costs WAY beyond inflation for decades. So much of this was caused by government deciding everybody should have a degree and the skids were greased with low-cost government money.

That all of this flopped big time is no surprise.

Perhaps the biggest disaster is that we've been producing useless young people with no productive skills other than agitating, protesting, race-baiting, and buying into the whole panoply of LGBTQWERTY crap intent on destroying Western Civilization. We've created a couple generations of nitwit morons bent on destroying us.

2 posted on 12/04/2019 7:47:16 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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