This morning's scan of the "newspaper of record" uncovered an article noting the public's discontent with colleges because they "believe that colleges today operate like businesses".
Hey American people, didn't I date you back in the day? You complain for years about how higher education should be run more like a business and then as soon as we are forced to be more business like by your defunding of higher education you complain. What's next, dumping American higher education for that sexy exotic international new kid on the quad? (Wow, I just realized I got outsourced back in college.)
According to the NY Times article, in 2000, 31 percent of Americans believed that college was essential to success. Today that number is 55 percent. This change is indicative of a change in mindset that has made higher education a Human Right in the minds of many. The thing with the perception of something being a Human Right in American is that, like with health care, the populace does not believe that there should be more than a token cost to the individual for such rights. Of course we also don't appear to want to pay taxes to cover the costs of these things either. Since health care is largely private that industry can still control their cost to a large extent. Higher education, on the other hand, is stuck with little ability to control it's cost.
In the higher education case if the public wants us to be less business like it would mean reversing the recent public funding trajectory and going back to a more socialized model of funding. I am skeptical that this will happen. So, for us this means being pulled apart as the public demands lower tuition and fees while providing less public support. And in a short time we can look forward to complaints about the quality of the product we produce, which will not acknowledge the something-for-nothing attitude of our funding scheme.
Hang on folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
T.S. Hall
Prostate Cancer, Round 2
2 days ago
LOL! I read this the other day, it was incredibly aggravating. It is ironic that people would complain about the "business" like mentality of colleges, since there does not seem to be one! However, the complaints about the ever increasing costs of education are valid, especially in the face of the lower productivity of degrees people are getting. (Please see JD and PhD degrees)
ReplyDeleteDo any business people have tenure? Nope. How many private sector workers have pensions? The numbers decrease daily. Do businesses support their R&D with NIH/NSF? Nope. Do businesses make customers take out tax subsidized loans and grants? There might be some examples, but they usually don't.
I would like education to become a lot more "business like" actually. No more tax subsidized loans and grants. Deal with the straight marketable value of your graduates and match your costs to the benefits. Cruel? Yes. But costs would plummet and there would be a lot less JD and other degree mills.
It may be tempting for universities to increase tuition and lobby for more tax subsidies. But this has some unintended consequences. Those increased tax rates and tuition costs are passed on to the student. That graduate must now demand a higher pay check to pay for those costs. In return businesses will be more tempted to look overseas for lower tax rates and less expensive talent.
ReplyDeleteUniversities must get a hold on their costs or students will be forced to be pickier about their majors. I don't know how much college should cost, but I feel it should have found a way to keep it's increasing costs at the rate of inflation by now.