David Brooks, a NY Times columist, talks about Obama's higher education plan - a plan that brings attention to community colleges. While, yes, it does involve throwing money at the issue, it also discusses the nature of the community college student and the barriers involved with graduation. Compare and contrast Edison's priorites and abilities with those listed in the article.
The full article may be found here.
2 comments:
Two things:
1. If "throwing money at the problem" is wrong, then why are so many scions of the upper class attending K-12 academies where the tuition is $50K/year? Frankly, every other attempt at "improving" the most respected system of higher ed. in the world has proven purile; when will throwing money at it be given a fair chance?
2. While the influx of fed. dollars is welcome, why is so much of it going to unproven innovation? We've had five decades of innovation in higher ed., and as architect Stuart Brand wrote in How Buildings Learn, "Innovation means throwing away what works." It's time to do what the shredded wheat people have done and put the "no" in innovation and reinforce what works: a proper cadre of full-time faculty who can share academic governance and who can ensure quality and provide professional service to students.
Throwing millions of dollars annually to experimental programs has been tried. Edison has dedicated hundreds of thousands to the experimental CQI program; perhaps it yielded some benefits to administration but our educational quality has suffered as NCA encouraged implementation without first developing guidelines. When will we be permitted to go back to reliance on our strengths rather than being forced to blaze trails into uncertainty?
TR,
To say that Edison's CQI was dedicated to innovation to is to really do it injustice. Its primary design was to control everything at the college. Most senior faculty were left out of most of CQI. Is it any wonder why we refused to sit on the back of the 'BUS."
I am sure you know like no one else knows. I don't know anyone who knows more.
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