By Professor Doom
One of the best
kept secrets of “higher ed” is how much of it is repetition of high school, or
lower. It’s particularly bad at what are called (or used to be called)
community colleges, institutions taxpayers were suckered into paying for in
exchange for their kids being “taught” the same subjects taxpayers paid for
their kids to be taught in the public schools.
It’s a massive
fraud, and I’ve shown in this blog that most schools have around 90% of
their coursework at the high school level or lower, often much
lower. It’s well known these courses are frauds, just as it’s well
known that over 90% of
the students in such courses get nothing out of them but debt and wasted
years of their lives.
For the most part,
the states don’t really care about the huge fraud they’re inflicting upon their
citizens (it’s not like their citizens can do anything about it), but Florida
decided to address the fraud of remediation in a simple way: get rid of
remediation. This is basically bringing the idea of
social promotion to college—just passing students through the system whether
they’re learning anything or not.
The effect of
social promotion at the college level has, of course, been a
disaster, but that doesn’t mean Florida will do what every educator
told them to do in the first place: bring back entrance exams, so that only
students on campus are those that want something more than the checks.
They always
rationalize keeping kids on campus with same crappy line: “potential loss of
millions of state dollars.” No, it’s not. See, if the kids aren’t being trapped
in remedial programs, the schools don’t need those millions of dollars. It’s no
loss at all. Moreover, it’s a bonus, since instead of the kids wasting their lives
not-learning the same crap they didn’t learn in high school, they’re out
building lives, working at jobs…generating tax revenue, and making a happier
and more productive citizenry. That would be good, right?
But all the
leaders of higher ed can see is all that tax money not going into their own
pockets…they’ve long forgotten the whole reason we use tax dollars for
education is because education is a public good. Public good is irrelevant to
them, all they want is MOAR.
And so, yeah,
when presented with the knowledge that our kids aren’t being hurt by a
predatory education system, their problem is the “loss of millions of state
dollars.” It’s pathetic.
The way how these
colleges are trying to capture the loot “lost” from no longer hurting kids in
remedial programs is by expanding their bachelor’s programs.
I’m not a jerk,
I don’t want to stand in the way of people getting degrees if that’s what they
want, but these degrees are, well, questionable. The students can’t read,
write, or do ‘rithmetic at the high school level, but nevertheless have college
degrees.
I point at that
not only their degrees of little value, such a proliferation of degrees debases
the value of people with actual college-level skills. That these people are
being hurt is of no consequence to our leaders either.
To governor of
Florida won’t be helping much:
Governor Rick Scott vetoed a higher education bill that would have capped bachelor’s degree enrollments at the
colleges,…
Since these
“community colleges” now have 4 year degrees in abundance, they starting to call
themselves universities; the bill would have forced them to advertise again
that they serve the community, but Governor Scott vetoed that as well. It’s not
that big a deal, a fraud by any other name is just as foul, after all.
Admin wasn’t
pleased at not getting what they want, of course:
“We’ll continue to do the best we can with what
we have,” said Jesse Coraggio, vice president of institutional effectiveness
and academic services at St. Petersburg College.
--do note that Jesse’s title, vice president of
institutional effectiveness and academic services, is well past twice the
length of his name. If they really wanted to improve efficiency, they could
close out positions with titles twice as long as the holder’s name…they’ve got
fewer students, right? So…why not fewer vice presidents as well? That’s just
crazy talk, I know.
Please understand the big shell game being
played here. The students that actually could use the help in remediation will
no longer get it. Meanwhile, the scammers (30% or more of the community college
student base, more like 90% when you consider how many kids get hurt in this
system) will just fill out the extra forms to get the loan money for the
bachelor’s program. And admin is sad that the governor was trying to cut into
that:
“We’re experiencing declining enrollment, but one
area that continues to grow for us is bachelor's degree programs,” Coraggio
said.
Ok, you’ve just admitted you have fewer
students. Instead of whining about losing the tax dollars, why not boast of how
you’re finally cutting back on administration? Why is cutting down
administrators is never, never, on the table? Instead, the colleges find more
money to hire more lobbyists to get more tax dollars.
A new report by Florida
State University’s Center for Postsecondary Success found a decline in the
percentage of administrators who think the law that lifted the mandate on
remediation is working. The researchers found that the proportion of
administrators who agree or strongly agree that the policy has been effective
has decreased from 74 percent in 2015 to 39 percent in 2017.
--Not all useless fiefdoms on campus are about
diversity, there are also Centers for Postsecondary Success to load down with
admin as well. This Center has 16
staff making far more than any academic will ever
make. In addition, they have an advisory board with
7 more admin. They are partnered with several
other expensive fiefdoms. Seriously, if our universities weren’t so
dedicated to providing administrative jobs, they could be useful education
centers. Just an idea…
Admin know the new system isn’t working
out well for them, even if it’s helping kids from hurting themselves. So, of
course they don’t approve. Hey, why were administration surveyed at all?
Shouldn’t educators’ opinions on education be relevant? It would in a
legitimate system, but we’re talking about higher ed here, so, no.
““Florida has done a lot of work trying to rapidly
reform developmental education,…”
I should mention that the word “remedial”
became a bit of a slur, and so admin, in their wisdom, eliminated remedial
programs. These programs are now called “developmental.” But now
“developmental” is being steadily removed from college (because it was the same
fraud, by a different name).
What will they call them now? The gentle
reader can make a guess from the following:
“Bottom line is revenue saved through declines in
remedial enrollment should not be considered a savings, but rather reallocated
to support students in college-level gateway courses,” Jenkins said.
--Jenkins’s title is senior research associate at
Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College.
Isn’t it delightful that our tax dollars
pay for senior research associates at the Community College Research Center at
Columbia University’s Teachers College to “research” changing the word
“remedial” to the word “developmental” to, now, the phrase “college level
gateway” courses? It’s a safe bet another dozen administrators or more are in
that fiefdom, too.
Like I said, it’s just a shell game. It’s
a shame no educators were allowed to talk about what should really be done
here.
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