College and university leaders may recognize that realistic solutions will require an end to "business as usual," and may be reluctant to explore options that will be painful and disruptive on campus. And yet, the growing numbers of young people wanting and needing higher education are (and will be) there, and it is foolish to think that denial is an effective long-run strategy. The ideas advanced later in this paper may ultimately be easier for an outsider to propose than for those enmeshed in the system.
A case can be made for increased student fees in public institutions that enroll large numbers of students from high-income families, provided the higher fees are accompanied by increased need-based aid directed to students from low-income families. This policy calls for the state to redirect some of the savings achieved from reduced institutional appropriations into student financial aid.
The patterns are consistent with short-run decision making under financial duress, not guided by an overarching policy. While "muddling through" might suffice for a few years with limited damage to student access and institutional quality, it is a recipe for disaster if continued, given the demographic tidal wave about to wash over the states. The time has clearly come for a longer view, before what remains of the promise imbedded in the master plan is lost.
Clearly, we face a budget crisis - not a transitory problem that likely economic growth or the usual policy changes can address, but a fundamental and long-term change in the options we can choose from. A small set of essentially fixed demands will soon consume virtually all of the state's unrestricted income. Only a few basic options seem to present themselves, and none appears attractive.
The most one can say about economic projections is that they are subject to considerable uncertainty, and thus the course of wisdom lies in not fixing a policy based on any single estimate of funds likely to be available in future years. The sensitivity analyses of the technical report and the research demonstrate convincingly, however, that higher education is not going to be able to meet its obligations to the next generation of students through increased state support.
Although it would be easy to criticize the actions (or lack thereof) of state and university leaders over the past ten years, there is no point in such a negative exercise. Given human fallibility, several years' experience may have been necessary before the enduring nature of the financial crisis facing higher education could truly sink in. College and university leaders reacted to the events of the last five years defensively and protectively, seeking to preserve educational quality and minimize damage to the institutions.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/good-judgement-and-shared-commitment-to-long-range-educational-objectives/
Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), offers practical and scalable solutions to that problem in a new policy paper released by The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation. In the paper, Institutional Change in Higher Education: Innovation and Collaboration, Hrabowski discusses how his institution has addressed the shortage of STEM graduates, particularly among groups that have been underrepresented in these fields, including minorities, women, and students from low-income backgrounds. UMBC has been recognized widely as a leader in higher education innovation. For three years in a row, the U.S. News and World Report America’s Best Colleges Guide has ranked the university number one among “Up-and-Coming” national universities.
Running head HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES1HIGHER EDUCATION POLIC.docxwlynn1
Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES 1
HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES 10
Higher Education Policies
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Higher Education Policies
In the United States Primarily, the responsibility of education is vested upon individual states. This, however, does not exonerate the federal government from the education sector. The national government plays a supporting role in providing finances as well as funds and assistance in a bid to provide a lifeline whenever states are overwhelmed by the burden of overseeing the education within their jurisdictions. The funds from the feral government come in handy in helping millions of Americans, some of whom financial circumstances have impeded them from seeking education and particularly higher education. It is also judicious to note that the federal government does not only offer monetary support but also other forms of support in ways that will be discussed below.
Environment necessary for the excelling of education is also a burden of the federal government. A common myth is that the environment suitable for study which entails security, classrooms, sanitation and tranquility away from noisy environs of industries and busy towns, is only a necessity of the primary and secondary levels. However, it has since been discovered that the same environment is also needed by the tertiary level. The federal governments after providing these basic needs necessary for the thriving of the education sector in states, the states are then mandated to ensure the growth of the sector (In Inoue, 2019). Deductively, the states play a major role in determining the type of educational prospects it is going to provide for its residents.
The past centuries have experienced investment in the education sector by both the federal government and the state government and notably, the investment spread over the past fifty years is immense (Heller, 2016). These investments can be attributed to the opinion bored by the relevant stakeholders of the service to the public interest that these investments will give. The opinion further digresses from the profit-making point of an investment concept to reveal that the investments will be a stepping stone for the residents whose ambitions and desires have been just aspirations. It is at this juncture that we realize that the investments are in the form of policies. A perfect exemplar of such a policy is the enactment of the Higher Education Amendment Act of 1972 (Rose, 2018). This Act achieved the feat of assuring the public that financial incapability will not be an impediment anymore to those that sought education past high school.
In respect to policies, it is important to realize that there are no two states that are alike in their conception, designing and implementation of their policies. Each state has a unique way that they go about their public policy. This is because, unlike other public policies that target infrastructures development an.
The Red Balloon Project Re-Imagining Undergraduate Educationleadchangeagent
“ The Red Balloon contest serves as a metaphor for the newly-networked world. This new way of generating, aggregating and disseminating information has profound implications for higher education. It challenges long-held practices of teaching and learning, institutional organization and structure, and the very notion of expertise. The Red Balloon contest also serves as an analogy for how a community of higher education institutions and their national association can work together to promote and support change in higher education.” http://www.aascu.org/programs/redballoon/
A College Education Has Become An Essential Part Of The American Dreamnoblex1
A college education has become an essential part of the American Dream for millions of families. Indeed, extensive polling and focus group research conducted by our coalition of higher education associations in the last year clearly demonstrates that the public overwhelmingly believes higher education is vitally important for personal success. Furthermore, they believe that all children should have the chance to attend postsecondary education and, despite the high price, that college is a "good value" for the money.
On the other hand, the public also is greatly concerned about the affordability of higher education, believes it is too expensive, and thinks that the price can be brought down without affecting academic quality. The public vastly overestimates the price of higher education at all types of colleges and dramatically underestimates the amount of financial aid that is available to help meet college bills. They don't know where student aid comes from or how to apply for it. Nor does the public understand why college prices increase. Most worrisome, perhaps, they think college leaders are indifferent to their concerns about the price of attending college. Our research also demonstrates that Americans worry about financing a college education. The lack of knowledge about paying for college is most acute among at-risk populations — first-generation college students, low-income families, and members of minority groups.
The great divergence between the value that the public places on having access to higher education and the lack of information they have about what it costs and how to afford it — what we call "the knowledge gap" — is deeply troubling. No one with a commitment to higher education can be satisfied with the news that the public is so poorly informed about issues of choice and access. It is surely a danger signal that the public believes college officials are indifferent to their fears about being able to afford a postsecondary education for their children.
THE NEED FOR A NATIONAL COALITION
What can be done? We believe that two related steps are absolutely essential. First, colleges and universities must redouble their efforts to explain college costs, the prices that students are charged, the amount and sources of financial aid that are available, and the options for financing a college education. We must reach out to a broad range of business, community, and religious organizations and solicit their support in improving public understanding.
Second, and no less important, colleges and universities must take strong steps to manage and contain costs, share innovative and successful cost management strategies, expand efforts to explain why costs increase on campuses, and talk candidly about the steps that have been taken to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/a-college-education-has-become-an-essential-part-of-the-american-dream/
Conversation About Educational Opportunity in The United Statesnoblex1
It's no secret that a debate rages across the United States about access, diversity, and affirmative action. Part of this debate involves anxiety about college costs and price. Part revolves around the nation's need to retool itself and upgrade the skills of its human resources to meet the demands of a globally competitive economy. But a major part of the debate has made university admissions policies a kind of academic, ideological, and cultural battleground in which we are asked to perform a sorting function for the larger society.
All of these are troubling and difficult issues. Before taking them up, we want to make several general observations about the nature of the access problem:
1. Access to our institutions will become one of the defining domestic policy issues in coming years. It is already on the public agenda; it will become even more urgent as we move on.
We must understand that the nature of the access discussion will change dramatically. For our institutions, the issues are profound. It is not simply a problem of fairness or even the distribution of limited resources. What is at stake is our very role as public universities: our institutions will find it harder to sustain themselves as a public enterprise, dependent on public support, if all elements of our society do not believe they benefit from them. Broadening access is the right thing to do in the name of fairness, and it is the right thing to do for the good of the United States.
2. We are among world leaders in providing postsecondary access, but we do not hold the top spot.
3. Some of our flagship institutions are trapped in a zero-sum game in which they are unable to offer admission to all qualified students. Public officials and our institutions must somehow find the will to provide all students with the educational opportunities for which they have prepared themselves.
In most states, the problem is not access to the system, it is access to the most prominent and desirable institutions. Public funds virtually everywhere support the opportunity to pursue an academic degree. Students enjoy many options. But access to a community college, a technical institute, or even to some baccalaureate institutions, does not always ensure access to all the possibilities available at a great public research university.
4. Our traditional concepts of access need to be rethought for the future.
A new form of teaching and learning enterprise is already being created, one that emphasizes distributed learning centers, the use of technology for distance learning, and new methods of assessing and demonstrating competency. If we don't define and shape these enterprises, they may well overwhelm us.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/conversation-about-educational-opportunity-in-the-united-states/
Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), offers practical and scalable solutions to that problem in a new policy paper released by The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation. In the paper, Institutional Change in Higher Education: Innovation and Collaboration, Hrabowski discusses how his institution has addressed the shortage of STEM graduates, particularly among groups that have been underrepresented in these fields, including minorities, women, and students from low-income backgrounds. UMBC has been recognized widely as a leader in higher education innovation. For three years in a row, the U.S. News and World Report America’s Best Colleges Guide has ranked the university number one among “Up-and-Coming” national universities.
Running head HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES1HIGHER EDUCATION POLIC.docxwlynn1
Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES 1
HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES 10
Higher Education Policies
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Higher Education Policies
In the United States Primarily, the responsibility of education is vested upon individual states. This, however, does not exonerate the federal government from the education sector. The national government plays a supporting role in providing finances as well as funds and assistance in a bid to provide a lifeline whenever states are overwhelmed by the burden of overseeing the education within their jurisdictions. The funds from the feral government come in handy in helping millions of Americans, some of whom financial circumstances have impeded them from seeking education and particularly higher education. It is also judicious to note that the federal government does not only offer monetary support but also other forms of support in ways that will be discussed below.
Environment necessary for the excelling of education is also a burden of the federal government. A common myth is that the environment suitable for study which entails security, classrooms, sanitation and tranquility away from noisy environs of industries and busy towns, is only a necessity of the primary and secondary levels. However, it has since been discovered that the same environment is also needed by the tertiary level. The federal governments after providing these basic needs necessary for the thriving of the education sector in states, the states are then mandated to ensure the growth of the sector (In Inoue, 2019). Deductively, the states play a major role in determining the type of educational prospects it is going to provide for its residents.
The past centuries have experienced investment in the education sector by both the federal government and the state government and notably, the investment spread over the past fifty years is immense (Heller, 2016). These investments can be attributed to the opinion bored by the relevant stakeholders of the service to the public interest that these investments will give. The opinion further digresses from the profit-making point of an investment concept to reveal that the investments will be a stepping stone for the residents whose ambitions and desires have been just aspirations. It is at this juncture that we realize that the investments are in the form of policies. A perfect exemplar of such a policy is the enactment of the Higher Education Amendment Act of 1972 (Rose, 2018). This Act achieved the feat of assuring the public that financial incapability will not be an impediment anymore to those that sought education past high school.
In respect to policies, it is important to realize that there are no two states that are alike in their conception, designing and implementation of their policies. Each state has a unique way that they go about their public policy. This is because, unlike other public policies that target infrastructures development an.
The Red Balloon Project Re-Imagining Undergraduate Educationleadchangeagent
“ The Red Balloon contest serves as a metaphor for the newly-networked world. This new way of generating, aggregating and disseminating information has profound implications for higher education. It challenges long-held practices of teaching and learning, institutional organization and structure, and the very notion of expertise. The Red Balloon contest also serves as an analogy for how a community of higher education institutions and their national association can work together to promote and support change in higher education.” http://www.aascu.org/programs/redballoon/
A College Education Has Become An Essential Part Of The American Dreamnoblex1
A college education has become an essential part of the American Dream for millions of families. Indeed, extensive polling and focus group research conducted by our coalition of higher education associations in the last year clearly demonstrates that the public overwhelmingly believes higher education is vitally important for personal success. Furthermore, they believe that all children should have the chance to attend postsecondary education and, despite the high price, that college is a "good value" for the money.
On the other hand, the public also is greatly concerned about the affordability of higher education, believes it is too expensive, and thinks that the price can be brought down without affecting academic quality. The public vastly overestimates the price of higher education at all types of colleges and dramatically underestimates the amount of financial aid that is available to help meet college bills. They don't know where student aid comes from or how to apply for it. Nor does the public understand why college prices increase. Most worrisome, perhaps, they think college leaders are indifferent to their concerns about the price of attending college. Our research also demonstrates that Americans worry about financing a college education. The lack of knowledge about paying for college is most acute among at-risk populations — first-generation college students, low-income families, and members of minority groups.
The great divergence between the value that the public places on having access to higher education and the lack of information they have about what it costs and how to afford it — what we call "the knowledge gap" — is deeply troubling. No one with a commitment to higher education can be satisfied with the news that the public is so poorly informed about issues of choice and access. It is surely a danger signal that the public believes college officials are indifferent to their fears about being able to afford a postsecondary education for their children.
THE NEED FOR A NATIONAL COALITION
What can be done? We believe that two related steps are absolutely essential. First, colleges and universities must redouble their efforts to explain college costs, the prices that students are charged, the amount and sources of financial aid that are available, and the options for financing a college education. We must reach out to a broad range of business, community, and religious organizations and solicit their support in improving public understanding.
Second, and no less important, colleges and universities must take strong steps to manage and contain costs, share innovative and successful cost management strategies, expand efforts to explain why costs increase on campuses, and talk candidly about the steps that have been taken to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/a-college-education-has-become-an-essential-part-of-the-american-dream/
Conversation About Educational Opportunity in The United Statesnoblex1
It's no secret that a debate rages across the United States about access, diversity, and affirmative action. Part of this debate involves anxiety about college costs and price. Part revolves around the nation's need to retool itself and upgrade the skills of its human resources to meet the demands of a globally competitive economy. But a major part of the debate has made university admissions policies a kind of academic, ideological, and cultural battleground in which we are asked to perform a sorting function for the larger society.
All of these are troubling and difficult issues. Before taking them up, we want to make several general observations about the nature of the access problem:
1. Access to our institutions will become one of the defining domestic policy issues in coming years. It is already on the public agenda; it will become even more urgent as we move on.
We must understand that the nature of the access discussion will change dramatically. For our institutions, the issues are profound. It is not simply a problem of fairness or even the distribution of limited resources. What is at stake is our very role as public universities: our institutions will find it harder to sustain themselves as a public enterprise, dependent on public support, if all elements of our society do not believe they benefit from them. Broadening access is the right thing to do in the name of fairness, and it is the right thing to do for the good of the United States.
2. We are among world leaders in providing postsecondary access, but we do not hold the top spot.
3. Some of our flagship institutions are trapped in a zero-sum game in which they are unable to offer admission to all qualified students. Public officials and our institutions must somehow find the will to provide all students with the educational opportunities for which they have prepared themselves.
In most states, the problem is not access to the system, it is access to the most prominent and desirable institutions. Public funds virtually everywhere support the opportunity to pursue an academic degree. Students enjoy many options. But access to a community college, a technical institute, or even to some baccalaureate institutions, does not always ensure access to all the possibilities available at a great public research university.
4. Our traditional concepts of access need to be rethought for the future.
A new form of teaching and learning enterprise is already being created, one that emphasizes distributed learning centers, the use of technology for distance learning, and new methods of assessing and demonstrating competency. If we don't define and shape these enterprises, they may well overwhelm us.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/conversation-about-educational-opportunity-in-the-united-states/
The Struggle Between Parental Freedom And Educational Finance Monopolynoblex1
Educational finance monopoly is the radical alternative to parental freedom in education. These are opposite educational funding methods. They have to do entirely with this question: if there are tax dollars devoted to education to achieve a public good, how are those dollars actually assigned to schools? That is the question. One answer is educational finance monopoly or EFM. EFM assigns all K-12 education-dedicated tax dollars through monopolistic bureaucratic structures at state and local levels, and only to public schools. The immediate educational effects of this are twofold: the public schools sheltered by these monopolistic financing methods are deprived of the normal human incentives to excel; and parents who want to choose independent educational alternatives are forced to pay a large and often impossible financial penalty for such a choice. The penalty: paying ever-increasing taxes for the public schools and ever-increasing tuition for any alternative selected.
The negative implications of those two effects are inescapable: the public schools, absent a comparative and competitive environment, tend to underproduce qualitatively; personnel and program proliferation characteristically occur; vested interests grow up around the monopoly financing structures to ensure they remain intact; political alliances form for this purpose; poor educational performance in the artificially-protected public schools becomes the (ironic) justification for increased funding, and citizens tire of such budgeting; and, in the meantime, most independent schools, often performing superlatively, are under constant financial pressure and in constant peril.
An obvious alternative to EFM is to place some or all education-dedicated tax dollars in parents' hands, thus creating choice without financial penalty. Forecastable positive impacts: public schools, subject to comparison and competition under this new arrangement, will be stimulated to excel and to economize; independent options will be encouraged; citizen confidence in budgetary processes will be restored; and family integrity will be strengthened because families will actively choose their child's school, public or private, and commit themselves to the chosen schools. Such bonds flow from the "natural moral contracts" forged by free associations.
It is truly true that given its automatic monopolistic characteristics and its negative impacts, there is no objective defense for EFM, just as there is no downside for parental freedom in education. But if that is true, why is there such a tortuous path to change? How do we overcome the obstacles to achieving parental freedom? How can we help people see the many steps needed in order finally to liberate America's parents? There will be beginning efforts which fall short of complete victory.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/the-struggle-between-parental-freedom-and-educational-finance-monopoly/
Educational Choice Its Appeal May be IllusoryAuthor(.docxaryan532920
Educational "Choice": Its Appeal May be Illusory
Author(s): Alexander W. Astin
Source: Sociology of Education, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Oct., 1992), pp. 255-260
Published by: American Sociological Association
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E X C H A N G E
This issue marks a newfeature-the Exchange Section-in which we
will publish brief articles on controversial matters of public policy
and social concern on an occasional basis. To inaugurate the section,
we present an exchange between Alexander W. Astin and James S.
Coleman on school choice.
Sociology of Education is known for the quality of the research it
publishes. With this section, we are creating a forum in which authors
can explicitly connect their work and ideas to public debates on
education. The pieces in this section should have a scholarly base,
but we do not want them to be laden with footnotes, references, or
data. They are meant to stimulate debate. Ideally, as in the present
case, they will be engaging and clearly written. We invite our readers
to contribute ideas for future exchanges.
JULIA WRIGLEY, Editor-in-Chief
KEVIN DOUGHERTY, Deputy Editor
Educational "Choice":
Its Appeal May Be
Illusory
ALEXANDER W. ASTIN
University of California, Los Angeles
One of the central features of Pres-
ident Bush's Project 2000 plan for
rejuvenating this country's educa-
tional system is the concept of
"choice." Originally a pet idea of
conservatives because it attempts to
apply "free market" principles to our
public schools, choice is now being
seriously considered by policymak-
ers on both sides of the political
spectrum. What is choice? Would it
really improve the schools? What are
its possible risks?
The basic idea behind choice is to
change the manner in which tax reve-
nues are used to finance primary and
secondary schools. Instead of merely
allocating funds directly to the schools
(usually on a per-student basis), a
certain portion of these funds would
go directly to the students (or par-
ents) in the form of vouchers.
Equipped with such a voucher, each
student could then shop around for
the "best" school. The school that the
student finally chose would be able
to "cash ...
1
Surname1
Taiyuan Mei
Caitlin Kirkley
English 1A
September 12, 2018
Should Everyone Go to College – Rhetorical Analysis
Education is believed to be the key to success. It is considered a smart investment associated with a number of benefits including earning more money and job satisfaction among others. Higher education is beneficial but may not be a smart investment for those attending it. Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill argue that a college degree should not be a must to everyone. The enormous variation existing in the return to education based on several factors such as the field of study and institution attended among others are some factors to consider when thinking of higher education as a must investment. Despite the positive return on education, higher education may not be a smart investment to everyone. Student should be allowed to choose wisely their postsecondary education to ensure that they fully benefit from their choice. (In thesis, clarify the strength of ethos, pathos, logos in the article.)
Target Audience(no subtitle)
Going for higher education is valuable though it may not be the best investment for all young people who intend to college. Benefits of attending college include improved overall wellbeing and reduced crime among others. As much higher education is valuable, it may not benefit all those who attend it equally. Policymakers who are the target audience should acknowledge the fact that higher education does not equally benefit all those who attend it. They should consider the rate of return as well as variations in rate of return on education before considering it the best investment. Owen and Sawhill illustrate why higher education is not necessarily a smart investment for everyone by focusing on rate of return. They illustrate how variation in the school attended, career chosen, and graduation affect the rate of return on education. The use rhetorical appeals to convince the policymakers that attending college may be a disservice to some students.
Rhetorical Appeals
Logos
The authors use logos to convince policymakers that attending college is beneficial but does not equally benefit all students. They illustrate the benefits of attending higher education by stating the gap that exists in annual earnings between college graduates and high school graduates that is quite appealing. A college graduates working full time should earn $15,000 more than a high school graduate. However, this is not the case because from previous studies, the rate of return for attending an additional year of school is approximately 10%. This means that an individual aged 23-25 years old attending college for four years should earn $12,000 more than a high school graduate on a median earning of $30,000 though it less than what is expected (p.209). Additionally, a research by Hamilton Project indicates that the gap in the earnings grows to $46,500 by age 50. This is a clear indication that investing in college is valuable.
However.
February 28, 2010 7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts .docxmydrynan
February 28, 2010
7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts
By Sanford J. Ungar
Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around liberal-arts education has been especially hard hit. Something that has long been held up as a uniquely sensible and effective approach to learning has come under the critical gaze of policy makers and the news media, not to mention budget-conscious families.
But the critique, unfortunately, seems to be fueled by reliance on common misperceptions. Here are a few of those misperceptions, from my vantage point as a liberal-arts college president, and my reactions to them:
Misperception No. 1: A liberal-arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. "Career education" is what we now must focus on. Many families are indeed struggling, in the depths of the recession, to pay for their children's college education. Yet one could argue that the traditional, well-rounded preparation that the liberal arts offer is a better investment than ever—that the future demands of citizenship will require not narrow technical or job-focused training, but rather a subtle understanding of the complex influences that shape the world we live in.
No one could be against equipping oneself for a career. But the "career education" bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs—leaving out "frills" like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.
Many states and localities have officials or task forces in charge of "work-force development," implying that business and industry will communicate their needs and educational institutions will dutifully turn out students who can head straight to the factory floor or the office cubicle to fulfill them. But history is filled with examples of failed social experiments that treated people as work units rather than individuals capable of inspiration and ingenuity. It is far wiser for students to prepare for change—and the multiple careers they are likely to have—than to search for a single job track that might one day become a dead end.
I recently heard Geoffrey Garin, president of Hart Research Associates, suggest that the responsibility of higher education today is to prepare people "for jobs that do not yet exist." It may be that studying the liberal arts is actually the best form of career education.
Misperception No. 2: College graduates are finding it harder to get good jobs with liberal-arts degrees. Who wants to hire somebody with an irrelevant major like philosophy or French? Yes, recent graduates have had difficulty in the job market, but the recession has not differentiated among major fields of study in its impact. A 2009 survey for the Association of American Colleges and Universities actually found that more than three-quarters of our n ...
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Funding Dries Up For Non Profit And Educational Institutions Serving Black Co...Larry Cochran, MBA
Presentation on a proposed study dealing with the funding disparities with non-profit institutions and education systems serving black communities. Presented at Argosy University 8th Annual Business Conference in Sarasota Florida.
Running head HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY1HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY.docxwlynn1
Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY 1
HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY 3
Higher Education Policy
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Higher Education Policy
Affordable higher education is a public policy that raises issues in any state with some states performing better than others. The affordable higher education policy enables families to meet education prices through lowering of tuition prices. The policy focuses on educational expenses such as tuition and educational options to ensure lower income families can afford to give their children education. The affordability policy provides for state financial aid and Pell grants which greatly reduces the price of higher education (Hillman et al., 2015). The affordability policy provides for low-priced colleges and universities which is made available to applicants who are motivated. Low priced community college is as a result of the policy.
The current status of the affordable higher education is that it is declining resulting in a public issue. Rising costs have been experienced over the past couple of years affecting people from different classes of the economy. Public colleges are increasing tuition fees in order to recapture funds resulting in higher costs of higher education. The erosion of affordability is brought about by increasing costs and leading to many students missing out. Focus on this policy is due to low income families missing out on the opportunity to get higher education. The families are faced with unplanned tuition hikes when they are considering enrolling in the institutions.
Stakeholders influencing the affordability policy include the states and federal government which provide for funding. The funding streams by the federal and state governments are almost equal in size. The federal government provides financial assistance to individual students while the state provides finances for the operations that occur in the public institutions. The research projects in the public institutions are financed by the federal governments. The public is a stakeholder also where they engage the federal government in the issues which affect them such as raised fees. The public relies on the government and regulate the policy ensuring deserving students enroll and meet the costs of education.
Reference
Hillman, N. W., Tandberg, D. A., & Sponsler, B. A. (2015). Public policy and higher education: Strategies for framing a research agenda. San Francisco, California: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, at Jossey-Bass.
CHAPTER 1
Incorporating Political Indicators
into Comparative State Study of
Higher Education Policy
Michael K. McLendon and James C. Hearn
Traditionally, the state policy literature on higher education has exhibited
a major blind spot: Research has focused nearly exclusively on policy ef-
fects, ignoring consideration of the determinants of state policy for higher
education. A substantial empirical literature exists on the effects of state
polic.
The Struggle Between Parental Freedom And Educational Finance Monopolynoblex1
Educational finance monopoly is the radical alternative to parental freedom in education. These are opposite educational funding methods. They have to do entirely with this question: if there are tax dollars devoted to education to achieve a public good, how are those dollars actually assigned to schools? That is the question. One answer is educational finance monopoly or EFM. EFM assigns all K-12 education-dedicated tax dollars through monopolistic bureaucratic structures at state and local levels, and only to public schools. The immediate educational effects of this are twofold: the public schools sheltered by these monopolistic financing methods are deprived of the normal human incentives to excel; and parents who want to choose independent educational alternatives are forced to pay a large and often impossible financial penalty for such a choice. The penalty: paying ever-increasing taxes for the public schools and ever-increasing tuition for any alternative selected.
The negative implications of those two effects are inescapable: the public schools, absent a comparative and competitive environment, tend to underproduce qualitatively; personnel and program proliferation characteristically occur; vested interests grow up around the monopoly financing structures to ensure they remain intact; political alliances form for this purpose; poor educational performance in the artificially-protected public schools becomes the (ironic) justification for increased funding, and citizens tire of such budgeting; and, in the meantime, most independent schools, often performing superlatively, are under constant financial pressure and in constant peril.
An obvious alternative to EFM is to place some or all education-dedicated tax dollars in parents' hands, thus creating choice without financial penalty. Forecastable positive impacts: public schools, subject to comparison and competition under this new arrangement, will be stimulated to excel and to economize; independent options will be encouraged; citizen confidence in budgetary processes will be restored; and family integrity will be strengthened because families will actively choose their child's school, public or private, and commit themselves to the chosen schools. Such bonds flow from the "natural moral contracts" forged by free associations.
It is truly true that given its automatic monopolistic characteristics and its negative impacts, there is no objective defense for EFM, just as there is no downside for parental freedom in education. But if that is true, why is there such a tortuous path to change? How do we overcome the obstacles to achieving parental freedom? How can we help people see the many steps needed in order finally to liberate America's parents? There will be beginning efforts which fall short of complete victory.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/the-struggle-between-parental-freedom-and-educational-finance-monopoly/
Educational Choice Its Appeal May be IllusoryAuthor(.docxaryan532920
Educational "Choice": Its Appeal May be Illusory
Author(s): Alexander W. Astin
Source: Sociology of Education, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Oct., 1992), pp. 255-260
Published by: American Sociological Association
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E X C H A N G E
This issue marks a newfeature-the Exchange Section-in which we
will publish brief articles on controversial matters of public policy
and social concern on an occasional basis. To inaugurate the section,
we present an exchange between Alexander W. Astin and James S.
Coleman on school choice.
Sociology of Education is known for the quality of the research it
publishes. With this section, we are creating a forum in which authors
can explicitly connect their work and ideas to public debates on
education. The pieces in this section should have a scholarly base,
but we do not want them to be laden with footnotes, references, or
data. They are meant to stimulate debate. Ideally, as in the present
case, they will be engaging and clearly written. We invite our readers
to contribute ideas for future exchanges.
JULIA WRIGLEY, Editor-in-Chief
KEVIN DOUGHERTY, Deputy Editor
Educational "Choice":
Its Appeal May Be
Illusory
ALEXANDER W. ASTIN
University of California, Los Angeles
One of the central features of Pres-
ident Bush's Project 2000 plan for
rejuvenating this country's educa-
tional system is the concept of
"choice." Originally a pet idea of
conservatives because it attempts to
apply "free market" principles to our
public schools, choice is now being
seriously considered by policymak-
ers on both sides of the political
spectrum. What is choice? Would it
really improve the schools? What are
its possible risks?
The basic idea behind choice is to
change the manner in which tax reve-
nues are used to finance primary and
secondary schools. Instead of merely
allocating funds directly to the schools
(usually on a per-student basis), a
certain portion of these funds would
go directly to the students (or par-
ents) in the form of vouchers.
Equipped with such a voucher, each
student could then shop around for
the "best" school. The school that the
student finally chose would be able
to "cash ...
1
Surname1
Taiyuan Mei
Caitlin Kirkley
English 1A
September 12, 2018
Should Everyone Go to College – Rhetorical Analysis
Education is believed to be the key to success. It is considered a smart investment associated with a number of benefits including earning more money and job satisfaction among others. Higher education is beneficial but may not be a smart investment for those attending it. Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill argue that a college degree should not be a must to everyone. The enormous variation existing in the return to education based on several factors such as the field of study and institution attended among others are some factors to consider when thinking of higher education as a must investment. Despite the positive return on education, higher education may not be a smart investment to everyone. Student should be allowed to choose wisely their postsecondary education to ensure that they fully benefit from their choice. (In thesis, clarify the strength of ethos, pathos, logos in the article.)
Target Audience(no subtitle)
Going for higher education is valuable though it may not be the best investment for all young people who intend to college. Benefits of attending college include improved overall wellbeing and reduced crime among others. As much higher education is valuable, it may not benefit all those who attend it equally. Policymakers who are the target audience should acknowledge the fact that higher education does not equally benefit all those who attend it. They should consider the rate of return as well as variations in rate of return on education before considering it the best investment. Owen and Sawhill illustrate why higher education is not necessarily a smart investment for everyone by focusing on rate of return. They illustrate how variation in the school attended, career chosen, and graduation affect the rate of return on education. The use rhetorical appeals to convince the policymakers that attending college may be a disservice to some students.
Rhetorical Appeals
Logos
The authors use logos to convince policymakers that attending college is beneficial but does not equally benefit all students. They illustrate the benefits of attending higher education by stating the gap that exists in annual earnings between college graduates and high school graduates that is quite appealing. A college graduates working full time should earn $15,000 more than a high school graduate. However, this is not the case because from previous studies, the rate of return for attending an additional year of school is approximately 10%. This means that an individual aged 23-25 years old attending college for four years should earn $12,000 more than a high school graduate on a median earning of $30,000 though it less than what is expected (p.209). Additionally, a research by Hamilton Project indicates that the gap in the earnings grows to $46,500 by age 50. This is a clear indication that investing in college is valuable.
However.
February 28, 2010 7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts .docxmydrynan
February 28, 2010
7 Major Misperceptions About the Liberal Arts
By Sanford J. Ungar
Hard economic times inevitably bring scrutiny of all accepted ideals and institutions, and this time around liberal-arts education has been especially hard hit. Something that has long been held up as a uniquely sensible and effective approach to learning has come under the critical gaze of policy makers and the news media, not to mention budget-conscious families.
But the critique, unfortunately, seems to be fueled by reliance on common misperceptions. Here are a few of those misperceptions, from my vantage point as a liberal-arts college president, and my reactions to them:
Misperception No. 1: A liberal-arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. "Career education" is what we now must focus on. Many families are indeed struggling, in the depths of the recession, to pay for their children's college education. Yet one could argue that the traditional, well-rounded preparation that the liberal arts offer is a better investment than ever—that the future demands of citizenship will require not narrow technical or job-focused training, but rather a subtle understanding of the complex influences that shape the world we live in.
No one could be against equipping oneself for a career. But the "career education" bandwagon seems to suggest that shortcuts are available to students that lead directly to high-paying jobs—leaving out "frills" like learning how to write and speak well, how to understand the nuances of literary texts and scientific concepts, how to collaborate with others on research.
Many states and localities have officials or task forces in charge of "work-force development," implying that business and industry will communicate their needs and educational institutions will dutifully turn out students who can head straight to the factory floor or the office cubicle to fulfill them. But history is filled with examples of failed social experiments that treated people as work units rather than individuals capable of inspiration and ingenuity. It is far wiser for students to prepare for change—and the multiple careers they are likely to have—than to search for a single job track that might one day become a dead end.
I recently heard Geoffrey Garin, president of Hart Research Associates, suggest that the responsibility of higher education today is to prepare people "for jobs that do not yet exist." It may be that studying the liberal arts is actually the best form of career education.
Misperception No. 2: College graduates are finding it harder to get good jobs with liberal-arts degrees. Who wants to hire somebody with an irrelevant major like philosophy or French? Yes, recent graduates have had difficulty in the job market, but the recession has not differentiated among major fields of study in its impact. A 2009 survey for the Association of American Colleges and Universities actually found that more than three-quarters of our n ...
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Funding Dries Up For Non Profit And Educational Institutions Serving Black Co...Larry Cochran, MBA
Presentation on a proposed study dealing with the funding disparities with non-profit institutions and education systems serving black communities. Presented at Argosy University 8th Annual Business Conference in Sarasota Florida.
Running head HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY1HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY.docxwlynn1
Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY 1
HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY 3
Higher Education Policy
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Higher Education Policy
Affordable higher education is a public policy that raises issues in any state with some states performing better than others. The affordable higher education policy enables families to meet education prices through lowering of tuition prices. The policy focuses on educational expenses such as tuition and educational options to ensure lower income families can afford to give their children education. The affordability policy provides for state financial aid and Pell grants which greatly reduces the price of higher education (Hillman et al., 2015). The affordability policy provides for low-priced colleges and universities which is made available to applicants who are motivated. Low priced community college is as a result of the policy.
The current status of the affordable higher education is that it is declining resulting in a public issue. Rising costs have been experienced over the past couple of years affecting people from different classes of the economy. Public colleges are increasing tuition fees in order to recapture funds resulting in higher costs of higher education. The erosion of affordability is brought about by increasing costs and leading to many students missing out. Focus on this policy is due to low income families missing out on the opportunity to get higher education. The families are faced with unplanned tuition hikes when they are considering enrolling in the institutions.
Stakeholders influencing the affordability policy include the states and federal government which provide for funding. The funding streams by the federal and state governments are almost equal in size. The federal government provides financial assistance to individual students while the state provides finances for the operations that occur in the public institutions. The research projects in the public institutions are financed by the federal governments. The public is a stakeholder also where they engage the federal government in the issues which affect them such as raised fees. The public relies on the government and regulate the policy ensuring deserving students enroll and meet the costs of education.
Reference
Hillman, N. W., Tandberg, D. A., & Sponsler, B. A. (2015). Public policy and higher education: Strategies for framing a research agenda. San Francisco, California: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, at Jossey-Bass.
CHAPTER 1
Incorporating Political Indicators
into Comparative State Study of
Higher Education Policy
Michael K. McLendon and James C. Hearn
Traditionally, the state policy literature on higher education has exhibited
a major blind spot: Research has focused nearly exclusively on policy ef-
fects, ignoring consideration of the determinants of state policy for higher
education. A substantial empirical literature exists on the effects of state
polic.
Executive Directors Chat Leveraging AI for Diversity, Equity, and InclusionTechSoup
Let’s explore the intersection of technology and equity in the final session of our DEI series. Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be used to support and enhance your nonprofit's DEI initiatives. Participants will gain insights into practical AI applications and get tips for leveraging technology to advance their DEI goals.
Francesca Gottschalk - How can education support child empowerment.pptxEduSkills OECD
Francesca Gottschalk from the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation presents at the Ask an Expert Webinar: How can education support child empowerment?
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
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This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
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How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Good Judgement And Shared Commitment To Long-range Educational Objectives
1. Good Judgement And Shared Commitment To
Long-range Educational Objectives
College and university leaders may recognize that realistic solutions will require
an end to "business as usual," and may be reluctant to explore options that will be
painful and disruptive on campus. And yet, the growing numbers of young people
wanting and needing higher education are (and will be) there, and it is foolish to
think that denial is an effective long-run strategy. The ideas advanced later in this
paper may ultimately be easier for an outsider to propose than for those
enmeshed in the system.
A case can be made for increased student fees in public institutions that enroll
large numbers of students from high-income families, provided the higher fees
are accompanied by increased need-based aid directed to students from low-
income families. This policy calls for the state to redirect some of the savings
achieved from reduced institutional appropriations into student financial aid.
The patterns are consistent with short-run decision making under financial
duress, not guided by an overarching policy. While "muddling through" might
2. suffice for a few years with limited damage to student access and institutional
quality, it is a recipe for disaster if continued, given the demographic tidal wave
about to wash over the states. The time has clearly come for a longer view, before
what remains of the promise imbedded in the master plan is lost.
Clearly, we face a budget crisis - not a transitory problem that likely economic
growth or the usual policy changes can address, but a fundamental and long-term
change in the options we can choose from. A small set of essentially fixed
demands will soon consume virtually all of the state's unrestricted income. Only a
few basic options seem to present themselves, and none appears attractive.
The most one can say about economic projections is that they are subject to
considerable uncertainty, and thus the course of wisdom lies in not fixing a policy
based on any single estimate of funds likely to be available in future years. The
sensitivity analyses of the technical report and the research demonstrate
convincingly, however, that higher education is not going to be able to meet its
obligations to the next generation of students through increased state support.
Although it would be easy to criticize the actions (or lack thereof) of state and
university leaders over the past ten years, there is no point in such a negative
exercise. Given human fallibility, several years' experience may have been
necessary before the enduring nature of the financial crisis facing higher
education could truly sink in. College and university leaders reacted to the events
of the last five years defensively and protectively, seeking to preserve educational
quality and minimize damage to the institutions. Had the financial crisis proved to
be short-term, similar to those experienced periodically, that would have been a
sensible response. Similarly, one can understand why political leaders, faced with
multiple problems caused by the recession - together with other physical and
social upheavals - would have failed to develop long-term educational policies
aligned to the new fiscal reality. But there can be no excuse for the continuation
of such behavior. The realities sketched in the preceding page are now obvious to
all in responsible positions. The citizens have inherited a fabulous resource in its
system of higher education, as well as a legacy of providing educational
opportunity for all who seek it. To squander those assets and that legacy through
a failure to face facts and to develop new and imaginative policies would rightly
subject political and educational leaders to contempt.
As a contribution to this essential discussion, in what follows I will sketch three
policy approaches that might be adopted, and assess the social costs and benefits,
3. and the political feasibility of each approach. For purposes of clarity, I will refer to
these options as: 1) status quo; 2) radical reform; and 3) state of emergency of
indefinite duration. I will discuss each in turn, and make it clear why I prefer the
third. Mine is only one voice in what must be a far broader conversation, but that
conversation must begin. It must be undertaken in full recognition of the crisis
confronting higher education, and lead directly to vigorous new policies and
actions at both state and institutional levels.
Political interference in colleges and universities is nothing new. But it comes and
goes, and now its intensity is increasing. Because higher education in America is
the door to everywhere, because it is what virtually everyone wants or needs, it is
no wonder that factions want to control it. They want it to be responsive to their
perceptions of what needs to be done.
Those responsible for colleges and universities have an obligation to listen
respectfully, to meet changing needs as best they can, and to decline to be
controlled.
It is unfortunate that we seem to have entered into another phase of overt
political interference with higher education, because it distracts colleges and
universities from important changes they need to make. Primarily, they need to
adjust what they do and how they relate to other social institutions, particularly
businesses. We are deciding how to prepare the women and men who will sustain
the kind of society we want to live in. Partisan political agendas, ideology, and
even the political maneuvering occasioned by expansive institutional ambitions,
divert attention form the truly important issues of the day.
What we need now are governing boards that exemplify the defining values we
are trying to protect as higher education changes to meet the needs of an
advanced technology-based economy. We want a society whose citizens are
involved, enlightened, tolerant, and willing to negotiate differences of opinion.
We want them to be productively engaged in satisfactory work. But these two
objectives now are in tension within higher education because the nature of work
is changing so dramatically.
Faculties across the nation are trying to adapt curricula to give students the high
levels of technical skill and knowledge they need to meet the expectations of
business, while at the same time trying to hold on to the defining values that
4. characterize education in a democratic society. Of course, higher education is
under stress!
Higher education is related administratively, whether public or private, through
laws and regulations governing various programs and funding mechanisms. The
private institutions must comply with various rules in order for their students to
receive tuition assistance grants. Public institutions are subject to a plethora of
laws and regulations that dictate the administrative processes they must follow,
the hoops through which they must jump in getting anything done.
On a second level, colleges and universities have an independent appeal to a
large, generally middle-class constituency of supporters: alumni, financial backers
and parents, to name only three. These supporters are part of the best networks
in any state, and they influence political action with their votes and their checks.
On the third and most important level, colleges and universities are grounded on
the bedrock of our democracy: on the Constitution and the intellectual traditions
from which it grew. They are the institutions in which ideas are placed in the
crucible and subjected to the most severe tests. Some ideas fail, others die for
lack of interest. Some change our lives.
Political interference can occur at each level of relationship between higher
education and government. It begins, of course, at the administrative level. In one
state after another, governors have seized control of the systems office to install
staff who share their political persuasion.
Systems boards probably are most vulnerable to political interference because
they have no alumni, no prominent financial backers and no football teams.
Taking them over can help to advance some agendas or to resist change. Playing
on historic American distrust of the professional and managerial classes, board
members at both the system and institutional levels may attempt to
micromanage, producing a huge amount of friction that inhibits administrators,
who actually run things, from getting their work done.
At the second level, higher education's popular support, rooted in its extensive
networks of friends and alumni, can be eroded by diversionary attacks on colleges
and universities as bloated and inefficient or as subversive of fundamental values.
These attacks are often characterized by meanness associated with resistance to
5. change, or with the certainty that some political ideology or another is absolutely
right.
But it is difficult to force a political belief system upon colleges and universities
because faculty can - and will - resist and subvert changes that are forced upon
them, especially if they perceive the changes not to be in the best interest of their
students and their own professional commitments. This insulates colleges and
universities from political pressure but makes them vulnerable to criticism:
People in other walks of life become impatient with higher education because it
appears to make needed changes so slowly.
The third level of interference is in the intellectual lives of the colleges and
universities: what is taught, by whom, and to whom. In most states, this
interference has been absent or subtle; in a few, it has been heavy-handed.
A university chancellor who later was elected governor of his state appeared
before the legislature some years ago to answer criticisms about what the faculty
were teaching. "I know that half of what they teach probably is wrong," the
chancellor said. "But I don't know which half."
Political interference in higher education is a symptom of a much larger fear that
things seem out of our control. Some people react fearfully to change and seek to
impose more rigid controls on institutions and processes. As the institutions in
which new ideas are tested and taught, colleges and universities are particularly
apt to come under attack by those who are distressed by change.
The charge that colleges and universities are subversive to established values and
the principles of democracy finds fertile ground in the anti-intellectualism that
historically has characterized Americans' ambivalent feelings about academic
institutions. It leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to control who is
allowed to teach, or to correct what is being taught.
Colleges and universities have, as I have noted, some of the best networks of
friends and supporters in any state. Discrediting the institutions and those who
work in them is one of the best ways to divert attention from inadequate financial
support. And those from without who would suppress the rich ferment of
collegiate life have allies within the academy.
6. Perceiving that resources are limited, some entrenched factions are trying to
preserve their privileges while excluding newcomers. In higher education, this
entails attacks on equal opportunity and affirmative action in some states, and
the suggestion in some others that too many people are going to college. It is a
"lifeboat mentality"; there are a limited number of places in the boat, so the rest
have to stay in the water. And in the United States today most of the "rest" are
people who are poor and not Caucasian.
Imperfect though they are, in the past 25 years colleges and universities have
become the most important providers of equal opportunity in our society. They
also are the most important sources of skilled workers and entrepreneurs, and of
new products and technologies. And if they are true to their highest calling, they
help students encounter ethical questions, whose answers will shape their lives.
As a nation, we cannot afford to be unable to afford higher education for all
citizens who can benefit from it.
The best defense of colleges and universities finally lies in the hands of the
women and men who are appointed to govern them. Their good judgement and
shared commitment to long-range educational objectives are essential.
Governing boards have different responsibilities now that the academy is closely
involved with other social institutions and the body politic, rather than distant as
it was until only a few decades ago. In addition to their fiduciary responsibilities,
board members now should help senior administrators form essential
collaborative relationships and understand the environment within which they
are working.
Board members richer in conviction than in professional experience or maturity
may threaten the freedom of inquiry that is the foundation of institutions of
higher learning by attempting to impose their personal opinions upon the
curriculum, the composition of the student body, or the services provided by the
system and the institutions.
There is no easy way to ensure that the right kinds of people are appointed to
boards. But alarm about what is happening in some states has caused the
creation of review panels that would evaluate the credentials of possible board
members and create lists of qualified candidates from which the appointing
authorities can select their nominees. This would help to guard against excessive
7. politicization and could prepare the way for a review panel at some time in the
future.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web
Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer,
Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles
and special reports.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/good-judgement-and-shared-commitment-
to-long-range-educational-objectives/