EDMOND —
Several of Oklahoma’s political leaders and higher education officials have said they would like to see an increase in the number of college graduates.
Regardless of whether this is wise policy, we’re still left with the problem of affordability.
Perhaps we can learn something from Texas.
Lara Seligman reports in the National Journal (“Does Texas Have an Answer to Sky-High Tuition?”) that “Texas is experimenting with an initiative to help students and families struggling with sky-high college costs: a bachelor’s degree for $10,000, including tuition, fees and even textbooks.” We’re not talking $10,000 a year, mind you — this is $10,000 total.
“Under a plan he unveiled in 2011, Republican Gov. Rick Perry has called on institutions in his state to develop options for low-cost undergraduate degrees. The idea was greeted with skepticism at first, but, lately, it seems to be gaining traction. If it yields success, it could prompt other states to explore similar, more-innovative ways to cut the cost of education.”
So far 10 institutions in Texas have answered Gov. Perry’s call. Here’s hoping Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin will issue the same challenge.
Granted, some may be skeptical about the quality of a $10K degree. Fair enough.
That’s why Oklahoma should require institutions granting $10K degrees to administer the Collegiate Learning Assessment — a standardized test praised by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and others — during students’ freshman and senior years and publish the scores on their official transcripts.
Matter of fact, ahem, while we’re at it, Oklahoma should require the same for its degree-granting institutions right now. For as law professor (and OCPA distinguished fellow) Andrew Spiropoulos has dared to point out, “Spending and tuition have dramatically escalated while measurable student achievement has remained flat or even declined. The publication of the landmark academic study Academically Adrift empirically documenting that students only show marginal improvement in their intellectual skills after attending college has forced all of us in the business to re-examine what we do.”
Well, maybe not all of them in the business.
Some in the higher education establishment are dubious of the $10K degree, and they certainly want no part of the Collegiate Learning Assessment.
This is not surprising.
Writing recently in National Review, Jonah Goldberg reminded us of Egon Krenz, the last Communist leader of East Germany: “He was an unremarkable apparatchik who had the bad luck to be in charge when the whole totalitarian glockenspiel went kaput. A product of the institutions he served in, Krenz was incapable of understanding the unsustainability of the system that produced him. Like all such creatures, he believed that the solution to the problem was doubling down on the problem.”
Even as credible voices point to the unsustainability of the current higher education system (Sal Khan posits that in five years “the learning side will be free”), Oklahoma’s higher education establishment is calling for — you guessed it — more money. It’s as if many of them are not fully coming to terms with what Heritage Foundation fellow Lindsey Burke calls “the revolution at their doorsteps.”
There are exceptions.
Hats off to Oklahoma State University president Burns Hargis, a former banker who recognizes the potential for increased productivity in higher education. “We need to do more, better and cheaper,” he said.
A $10K bachelor’s degree is one way to do it.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is the latest governor to challenge his state colleges to develop them.
Gov. Fallin could show visionary leadership — and do a great service to Oklahoma students and their parents — by doing the same.
BRANDON DUTCHER, an Edmond resident, is vice president for policy at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a free-market think tank.
Opinion
Time for a $10,000 bachelor’s degree in Oklahoma
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Oklahomans unite in tragedy; set example for country
Whenever we witness the type of devastation wrought by this week’s killer tornado, we naturally struggle with a host of emotions. Those of us in the neighborhood battle to control our anxieties as we gather the information we can about the storm’s strength, location and direction. We experience dismay when we hear the threat above us has touched down and become a real physical menace to our friends, neighbors and loved ones. When the “all clear” sounds, we are thankful that the nightmare is over. When we realize our loved ones are all safe and sound, we rejoice.
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Spirit of Oklahoma strong in tornadoes
Because we’ve been through so much, we are a people who get perturbed when those on our nation’s coasts look down their noses at us. We are a people who get irritated when others tell us how we should live, or what we should believe. We are a people who cringe when others see our waving wheat fields as only flyover country.
We know that we are not perfect, but we are good, we are compassionate and we are giving. It is this spirit which led the teachers at Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary this week to use their bodies to shield students from tornado debris. It was this spirit that enabled law enforcement officers to stand in the way of the oncoming tornado to divert traffic from the storm’s path. It was this spirit that compelled Oklahomans around the globe to rush to the aid of their friends and neighbors. -
Let kids start school on a normal schedule
Q: Our son’s fifth birthday is in August. He did just fine, socially and academically, in preschool, but the counselor at the school he’s slated to attend has recommended that we hold him back a year because of his late birthday. She says that kids with late birthdays, especially boys, do better if they’re given an extra year of maturation before starting school. What do you think?
A: The practice of postponing Kindergarten for so-called “late birthday” children — generally defined as children having birthdays after May — got its start about 20 years ago and has generated the usual unintended consequences. Prime among those is the fact that by delaying the start of school for children having birthdays after May, schools only create a new crop of children with late birthdays — those occurring after January.
It’s true that during early elementary school, boys are less mature in several respects than girls. In general, their attention spans tend to be shorter. Therefore, they’re more impulsive and more easily distracted. It’s also true, however, that some children, boys as well as girls, experience developmental “spurts” during Kindergarten. The slightly immature, impulsive 5-year-old may be at the norm one year later. -
No one realizes how tough Okies really are — until this happens
Like many of you, I’m ending this tragic week emotionally drained. I was either glued to the weather report throughout the first part of the week or — when Su-the-dog and I weren’t settled down inside the storm shelter waiting for the all-clear to sound — I hovered with her about the shelter door leading down to it. Now as the week ends, I just might have changed my mind about a couple of things.
Many of us have been on our knees throughout this week praying that God will strengthen and comfort the state’s numerous tornado victims and their loved ones. Some have already contributed to organizations such as the Red Cross or the Salvation Army to aid this week’s victims of various tornadoes, and those who are able have either donated blood or else they will when the Bloodmobile makes its rounds. -
Seeing yourself as the world sees you
Ever try seeing yourself as others see you, or your piece of the world as others see your piece of the world?
You know, if you could get others to see you, or if you could get other parts of the world to see your part of it?
Narcissism and inferiority, both, can trap us in front of a mirror, admiring or lamenting, pleased or not pleased by the vision we presumably offer others.
Yet, what’s happened over the last three days, since yet another deadly tornado rolled through Moore, offers an entirely different perspective.
Through strength or weakness, we may take an interest in how we project. But when the “Today Show” is broadcast from the rubble and the network evening news has placed its anchor amidst the carnage; and when the news channels descend upon the destruction and every newspaper in the country is playing your and your neighbors’ plight bigger than its own hometown news, it turns surreal. -
ROCK DOC: Japanese find a new source of natural gas
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Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
The film “Breaker Morant” was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay in 1980. It told the story of Harry “Breaker” Morant, an Australian who served in the British Army and was court-martialed for alleged war crimes during the Boer War in Southern Africa in the early years of the last century.
That conflict pitted the British Army against the descendants of the Dutch settlers who had migrated to what is now South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. The majority of them were farmers and in their language of Afrikaans were known as “Boers.” -
Don’t leave Oklahoma!
May is graduation season. As I have done every year as lieutenant governor, I have given multiple commencement speeches. Advice flows freely during this time and it usually runs the gamut. What to do, what not to do, how to do ‘x’, be sure not to do ‘y.’ Too often commencement speakers speak in big generalities. So general, the message is frequently lost or forgotten.
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Last-minute funding proposals not in state’s best interest
All indications point to this being the last week of this year’s legislative session. The Legislature will go home a week early. This is good news for Oklahomans as not only will there be cost savings but all Oklahomans should breathe a sigh of relief when the Legislature stops making new laws a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, the Legislature will take a number of important votes during the last week. Some will be forced due to attempts to introduce and pass far-reaching, new policies that should have been introduced much earlier in the year. -
BY THE NUMBERS: Oklahoma still needs to invest in its economy
After six months of stagnation, the Oklahoma economy finally appears to be expanding again albeit still weakly. Unfortunately, our leaders aren’t making the investments we need to give our economic prospects a boost.
Last week the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported that in April state General Revenue fund collections were 5.2 percent above the estimate and 14.7 percent higher than last year’s collections. Under normal circumstances, such a report would indicate that the Oklahoma economy was very strong. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and April isn’t a normal month. - More Opinion Headlines
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Oklahomans unite in tragedy; set example for country
