Famed literary critic George Steiner once said that cultural knowledge allows one to “resist” and that “no one can make a zombie of you if you carry [cultural knowledge] inside … Continue reading “The High Cost of Cultural Amnesia”
For decades, the American higher education establishment was able to sell the idea that promoting college was sound policy because it seemed that nearly all graduates found good, high-paying jobs. … Continue reading “Is Underemployment of Recent College Grads a Serious Problem?”
In 2014, North Carolina State University became the new home for PowerAmerica, a $140 million dollar project aimed at promoting research in the advanced electronics industry. Just two years later, … Continue reading “NC State to Spend Millions of Tax Dollars Advancing Corporate, Government Interests”
Seemingly, nothing now stands between Hillary Clinton and the Democratic nomination, so it’s worth looking anew at her proposals regarding higher education. Back in May, Professor Gary Wolfram critiqued the … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton’s New College “Reforms””
In his State of the Union address, President Obama pitched his plan for making two years of community college as “free and universal in America as high school is today.” He thinks it would be a great thing. But at the community college where I taught English from 2007 to 2010, Georgia Perimeter College, the joke was that it was already an extension of high school.
I am strongly committed to higher education, especially in the sciences and math where we are lagging other countries. I also understand that there are students of limited means, and they need a hand up in life. But we seem to no longer draw rational lines between serious students who need assistance, and the many non-serious students who squander it.
The new federal proposal that the president is calling "America’s College Promise" is short on details but has inspired much commentary.
We’ll hear more on Tuesday in the State of the Union address and in President Obama’s next budget proposal, but he gave us enough information about the idea in a speech for us to estimate the potential program’s cost to North Carolina taxpayers.
More college does not beget more economic prosperity.