Obama: Community colleges are 'unsung heroes of American education'
"they're one of the keys to the future of our economy," Obama said
And he's right.
ONE of the keys. Especially if they get back to their primary mission of workforce-education (instead of trying to become little Harvard's). Yes, credit should be transferable to a 4-year college... but... this is not the primary idea behind Community College's. Let's train the bright intelligent people who are under-employed, and give them real skills, for real jobs.
For-profit college's vs. Community Colleges (the fight goes on)
For-profit college report takes aim at community colleges
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-10-05-IHE-for-profits-criticize-community-colleges05_ST_N.htm
A good article.... I've certainly seen some of this, and, I've seen some failings in the for-profit college's. Now.... lets address the problems.....
NV education budgets cut
Yes...
We are 50th in the nation when it comes to education. Our "per-student" costs are not at the bottom, just the "outcomes". Would throwing more money at it help? CA tried (and of course we must do it like CA right?).
A recent study:
http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/1911-calif-school-spending-soared-on-administrators ... notes that per-student spending increased 25% in a (roughly) 10 year period. And where did that money go? "
Classroom expenditures as a share of total school spending fell to 57.8% from 59%. Less than half of school spending were for teacher salaries and benefits.
That means the billions of dollars in extra funding helped hire tens of thousands of new administrators to push papers, not grade them."
Do we have that same problem in NV? You bet we do!
It's time for a radical new direction in NV education.
On-line and charter schools are a good start, but we need to do more.
I heard the other day that by the third grade it can be reasonably predicted which students will "drop out" (currently around 50%). Obviously something has to be done. Not all kids are cut-out (or able) to go to College and, numerous studies show that not all kids will benefit financially from college. But they do need the skills necessary to get and hold a job.
Trade & Vocational training should be an option. There are high-school (and college) kids who cannot read a tape measure. This is disgraceful! It is said we don't need to train for new manufacturing jobs, because we don't
make anything in this country anymore. (
Note: even if this were true... we still build things in this country, and repair things in this country). The "trades" have traditionally been high-skill, high-wage occupations, yet the academic community looks down their noses at those who work with their hands.
Again.........
Its time for a separate Technical College System in Nevada.
Run by and staffed by technical/vocational educators.
Lets make this happen. It's an election year. Turn up the heat
