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What Policies Are Conservatives Actually For in Higher Education?
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | April 7, 2021 | Christian Barnard

Posted on 04/07/2021 6:18:57 AM PDT by karpov

It’s no secret that higher ed reformers have struggled to offer a compelling alternative to free college and loan forgiveness offered from the left. This failure is partially because conservatives and libertarians are usually on the defensive about higher ed policy.

In response to that problem, the American Enterprise Institute organized a panel discussion titled “The Next Conservative Higher Education Agenda,” to argue about higher education policies conservatives should support. Rick Hess, AEI’s director of education policy studies, opened the discussion by framing the panel as a chance to talk about what conservatives are for, not what they’re against.

The discussion ranged from hot-button topics like student loan forgiveness and free speech on campus to more technical concerns about accreditation practices and how to “unbundle” degree programs to cut costs and improve quality. Altogether, the panelists offered a reasonable and viable narrative to compete with the left.

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


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: college
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1 posted on 04/07/2021 6:18:57 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

Make the universities pay off their students’ loans from their endowments.


2 posted on 04/07/2021 6:22:34 AM PDT by MortMan (Shouldn't "palindrome" read the same forward and backward?)
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To: karpov

Get rid of federally funded loans completely. It has been an utter disaster.

It has supported the growth of bloated bureaucracies in education, which encourages political and ideological monocultures, while turning an entire generation of young into life-long debt slaves.


3 posted on 04/07/2021 6:26:01 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: karpov

How about the principle that if you don’t sacrifice and essentially personally pay for something, what you receive is actually worth little in the long term.


4 posted on 04/07/2021 6:27:09 AM PDT by allendale
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To: karpov

We need a wall of separation between education and state.


5 posted on 04/07/2021 6:28:57 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica (Public meetings are superior to newspapers)
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To: karpov

My plan is to get government out of it. Period. The internet has made public school obsolete and severely limits the usefulness of brick and mortar universities.


6 posted on 04/07/2021 6:30:14 AM PDT by cuban leaf (We killed our economy and damaged our culture. In 2021 we will pine for the salad days of 2020.)
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To: karpov

Make them dischargable by bankruptcy or forgiven.

We have a generation of people paying the equivalent of a house payment for something that qualifies them for a low paying job.

It is a fraud and scam


7 posted on 04/07/2021 6:32:57 AM PDT by redgolum (If this culture today is civilization, I will be the barbarian)
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To: karpov

There should be a class action lawsuit against universities for issuing “worthless” degrees that have no payback versus the cost.

This is what they used to go after Trump University. It applies to every college and university out there.

A massive lawsuit could eliminate the massive number of professors and degrees that are nothing more than re-education camps for communism.


8 posted on 04/07/2021 6:33:04 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (We are being played by forces most do not understand)
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To: karpov

The fate of student loans has nothing to do with higher educationl; it is simply about money and responsibility.

There are no real policy changes needed for higher education. Just teach people what they need to be productive and earn a living. Nothing else.


9 posted on 04/07/2021 6:33:13 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Politicians are only marginally good at one thing, being politicians. Otherwise they are fools.)
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To: karpov
Just say no.

I am sick and tired of some surrender monkey from our side whining about the lack of an "conservative alternative" to the Left's latest Trojan Horse policy, which only serves to further embed the Federal Government in our day to day lives.

10 posted on 04/07/2021 6:49:43 AM PDT by SecondAmendment (This just proves my latest theory ... LEFTISTS RUIN EVERYTHING !)
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To: karpov

While I appreciate that they are trying to keep it positive. You have to know what you’re against as well as what you are for. Knowing what you are against helps you define a better policy about what you are for.


11 posted on 04/07/2021 7:00:56 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: karpov

There is no justification for any Federal involvement in higher education, save for the military service academies. The student loan program should be ended. These funds feed bloated bureaucracies that are deeply infested with leftists, or at best fund glorified trade schools. If Federal agencies need to use colleges to do research, then any contracts must ensure that there are adequate safeguards to protect the free speech rights of conservatives, Christians, or any other group that is politically incorrect in the eyes of the leftist cabal.


12 posted on 04/07/2021 7:10:32 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: karpov

The unwritten unspoken conspiracy of “Liberal” “good sentiments to ‘help’ students” and the education industrial complex’ near uniform political support for “Liberals” did not make education “more affordable”, it just funded huge and continuing bloat in academia and inflation of tuition costs among the highest between different sectors of the economy.

End all federal funding to college level academia. Starve it. It will shrink and reform its own cost models.


13 posted on 04/07/2021 7:29:11 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: karpov

Easy:
1) No fed money for universities or colleges. They must pay for themselves via tuition.
2) Homeschool for the vast majority of kids. What few poorer families absolutely cannot homeschool, public school for them run on very, very tight regulations as to attendance, discipline, and most of all, content.
3) No student loans. Ever.


14 posted on 04/07/2021 7:42:21 AM PDT by LS ("Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually" (Hendrix) )
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To: karpov

Is “teaching history and life skills” is valid response to the question? It would be nice if they would move beyond simple activism.


15 posted on 04/07/2021 8:25:06 AM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: Sequoyah101
There are no real policy changes needed for higher education. Just teach people what they need to be productive and earn a living. Nothing else.

That alone is a rather radical departure from what higher learning was supposed to be about.
16 posted on 04/07/2021 9:23:54 AM PDT by redgolum (If this culture today is civilization, I will be the barbarian)
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To: LS

You may not have noticed the events last year, but most people are not capable of homeschooling.

Parent and student.


17 posted on 04/07/2021 9:24:59 AM PDT by redgolum (If this culture today is civilization, I will be the barbarian)
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To: redgolum

I guess so.

Responsibility for one’s self is what is needed.

Example, glaring to me, a woman stopped in the driveway the other day for gas. It is a little over two miles to the corner gas station. Her gas gauge is broken and she does not know how far she can go on a tank of gas. The vehicle looked familiar so I said someone with a similar vehicle had stopped for gas late last year. She said that was her son, she bought the car from him. She and he expect someone to take care of them. I suggested she carry a couple of gallons of gas and make a note of how far she can get and has gone on a tank of gas.

This is common around here, people not taking care of themselves and expecting someone else to do it for them. They have been conditioned to it by the giverment.


18 posted on 04/07/2021 9:39:58 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Politicians are only marginally good at one thing, being politicians. Otherwise they are fools.)
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To: Sequoyah101

It is common throughout hummanity.

Most people do NOT want freedom, they want security.

I know many people like your example. It is always someone else’s fault when they run out of gas. My father and grandfather BEAT into me that once you get below 3/4 of a tank you fill up NOW. Why? In case you need to go further than normal.

They also preached saving, pay as you go, and never take a hand out.

Most peopled viewed them as fools. Why build your house on the hill when the government will build you a new house ever flood year? Why buy used when you can lease and avoid all the stressful maintenance issues? Why save when you can ask for a bailout?

Why live the life of an ant when you can be a carefree grasshopper?

Then, when the flood comes, or the winter storm, you can get on TV and blame everyone else for your poor decisions and beg for someone to save you.

The WHOLE STATE OF TEXAS was in this. I have family outside of Brownwood that, being of Nebraska Stock, insulated and built their houses to “northern” spec. Because their old grandfather and mine were brothers and had taught them to NEVER trust someone to do what you can do yourself. They were first mocked by their neighbors for being stupid, then attacked for “Bringing the cold down south!”

I will help those who can’t. I lost sympathy for those who won’t


19 posted on 04/07/2021 10:11:56 AM PDT by redgolum (If this culture today is civilization, I will be the barbarian)
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To: redgolum

Well said and what I say too.

Those who won’t will parse the identification of those who can’t because that is who they want to be.

They will also say you will reap what you sow and that you had better not ever need help with your attitude. If I need help there will be a whole lot less in much deeper trouble than I am.

There is not a fine line for me between those who need help and those who expect it; it is a chasm.


20 posted on 04/07/2021 11:30:02 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Politicians are only marginally good at one thing, being politicians. Otherwise they are fools.)
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