Ohio Embraces Student Success

Ohio colleges and universities should prepare students for their roles as good citizens, promote diverse academic thought on campus, and give graduates the basic skills they need to succeed at a price they can afford.

Regrettably, many of the state’s schools have failed to meet these rudimentary goals.

Despite paying lip service to the seemingly relevant notions of “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion,” university campuses breed contempt for dissenting views that stray from liberal orthodoxies, with 80 percent of college students recently saying that they self-censor their views for fear of retaliation. This is the case despite universities investing huge resources on diversity staff and programming. For example, the flagship Ohio State University spent $20.38 million on a DEI staff that swelled to nearly 200 positions in 2023 alone. Such bloat epitomizes the rise in non-instructional spending that, according to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, has outpaced classroom spending three-to-one for years.

Fortunately, Ohio’s General Assembly has recognized the dire need for reform and has taken promising steps to address some glaring concerns. Legislators have acknowledged, for example, the state’s commitment to integrating civic instruction into higher education and have therefore established civic centers such as the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at Ohio State to help bridge the gap between academia and public life. Such centers will better prepare students to be active, well-informed citizens who focus on our commonalities rather than our differences.

More recently, State Senator Jerry Cirino introduced Ohio Senate Bill 1, the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, to recommit public universities to the First Amendment, to ensure that campuses expose students to diverse intellectual perspectives, to teach critical—not ideological—thinking, and to eliminate counter-productive DEI offices.

Oregon has taken an entirely different approach by eliminating educational standards for its high schools. Students are no longer required to demonstrate skills in reading, writing, and math. Until 2026, an Oregon high school diploma no longer guarantees academic achievement, but only participation in a system with undefined parameters. The legislators, school districts, and the governor supporting Senate Bill 744 saw that this “will benefit Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color”

. The state adopted the position held by many 19th century abolitionists. When I read Fredrick Douglass’ autobiographies, one passage always stays with me. After speaking to an abolitionist audience, Douglass considered the evening a great success, because he concluded his talk believing these people were convinced, he was equally human with them.

He mentioned this as a significant event, because many supporters of black freedom questioned whether these people were fully human. If educators would treat minorities as individuals, programs would allow opportunities for achievement commensurate with those they see for white students.

I remember Dr. Martin Luther King saying, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…..little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

To me these men’s understanding of brotherhood and individual value proves more meaningful than popular perceptions of racial or ethnic inferiority.

I was aghast during Covid when my kids were lounging on the couch, or worse, in their beds attending ‘classes’. My son was a senior in High School and was struggling.

As he entered his Freshman year of college in the fall of 2020, he continued to struggle, but eventually found his groove and will be graduating tomorrow with his degree in Finance.

While his success is a source of pride, I will never forget with these politicians and USELESS teacher’s union and their ranks did to our children!

Shameful!

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