Higher Education

 Is it so hard to believe that there is a place in the world for government? Even in the most perfect of societies, small societies and large, there has been a government of some sort. Still, there are those against the basic idea.

What role government takes in the lives of people is a difficult issue to cover. Whether it is big, or small, is not really the point: that's too simple. There can be big, but good, governments (thought that might be hard to come by), and big clunky, corrupt governments. There can be small and effective governments (though that might be equally hard to come by), or small and ineffective governments. The devil is in the details. The real question is: are we being smart. If it is arranged well, great!

If it is not arranged well... then... well. We have a problem.

How does the current US government compare tho this idel? Is it even capable of making good decisions. One thing I agree with Stephan Molyneaux, if government isn't good, then it can't do right.

There are many problems with our government. As a million people will point out. One I find particularly damaging is that we have a handful of people who are not professionals in a discipline making decisions for that discipline as if they are experts. Just taking education and construction as examples:

Our government, our people, decided it was a great idea to hold teachers accountable. As such a banal statement, it is hard to argue with that. Sure. Hold teachers accountable. We don't want awful teachers continuing to be awful teachers into the future. What will that do to the thousand or two students who suffer under through class? But as soon as we start implementing this, we run into problems. Who, precisely, are we holding teachers accountable to? Government boards? The least trusted organization in our country? That sounds like a flaw; who's watching the watchmen? Who's holding government accountable? Right now, that answer is everyone. Otherwise known as no one. How do we hold teachers accountable? Well... we have a few thousand teachers, in a district. And a few thousand officials. No one knows 'em all.... We'll design a numerical metric!

It is amazing to me how much faith anyone can have in numerical metrics. I like math, but there are certain limitations to math. Perhaps simply because there are limits to the human imagination. How would anyone design a metrical system which would take into account every necessary variable? Then, who is going to have the patience to input all of that information? Who's going to have the intelligence to analyze that mound of data? Our school systems are swimming in data that no one has time to compute. Can anyone tell me the point of that?

Now, President Obama has a plan to implement a similarly failed plan on higher education. I'm just a little peon, and my hypothesis is echoed by many others more eloquent, but this seems a poor idea.

On the surface, it will prove the tea party right. At least to themselves. It will bolster the enemies of Obama and the Democrats: they are for big and intrusive government. It will lessen faith of the people in their government, and it will create more enemies. The only good thing about that I can think of is, perhaps, our government will finally go through a metamorphosis and no one will vote for a democrat or a republican in the next election.

Our higher educational system is highly flawed. It is increasingly necessary, and increasingly difficult to attend. It is hard to figure out, there are many poor colleges (and fake colleges) competing to get your money, but they are not competing to educate you. There's a problem with money for you. School today is prohibitively expensive and acts, often, as an efficient slave maker: go to school, accumulate debt, that requires you to get a job - any job - no matter how well it fits you, no matter if it is your interest or skills, no matter what it pays. Debt must be paid off. And now, we do not have freedom. Shucks. Modern slavery.

But what is the source of this problem? How can we fix it? Create a heavy and impossible to administer governmental rating system so that the colleges no have to compete in another artificial landscape? Just work to get high on the rating system, not service their students? If a college is rated highly because graduates come out and get high paying jobs, then it neglects the forward-minded people who realize the limitations of money and do not make that their goal in life. People doing real, and important, low-or-un-paid work. Any people who get jobs in poor-paying fields by choice. It will reward schools who train lawers. Financiers. Lobbyists, medical doctors, oil barons, politicians, old money students who could've gotten that job anyway, and other destructive, greedy, or problematic professions. Maybe the occasional athlete or big ticket entertainers. Not artists, scientists, teachers and veterinarians, activists, tradesmen... or farmers, the most important people in our society. Supplying the one thing we really cannot go without. Sure, we could create a loophole for them, but then that loophole can be exploited. It happens all of the time.

We have a systematic problem. Fixing symptoms isn't going to solve the problem. Putting a bandage on a hemorrhage is a waste of time. Drinking to forget your problems doesn't help. We need to actually fix the problem.

Just like the K-12 system, there is no one who could administer this system. The only people qualified should be disqualified due to bias.

We need to go the other way. In K-12 education, we can give power back to teachers and to local authorities such as principals and superintendents who have been involved in education for a long, long time. Personally understand its ins and outs, and know how to spot a good teacher and a bad teacher. In higher ed, we can do the same thing: give control back to the people who are actually doing the work: the professors. It is hard to take money out of the hands of those who write the checks, but cut administer pay.

As PHD Comics pointed out: School Presidents' salary is closely tied with the price of Higher education: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1291