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Facts are
Stubborn Things
By Kate Burch
In view of President Obama’s call to make community college
tuition-free, requiring more billions of taxpayer dollars, it is time
to consider the recent track record of community colleges.
Obama’s stated rationale is that a two-year degree facilitates
acquisition of a four-year degree, which he touts as the gateway to
higher social and economic status.
Information from the Clayton Christensen Institute, however, is that
only one in five community college graduates goes on to earn a
bachelor’s degree, and that only 21% of attendees earn a two-year
degree within three years. Since most of the community college
students in the bottom half of the income distribution already get free
tuition, and community college is still reasonably affordable for
middle-class families, one questions the necessity for another
entitlement in this case.
A related, important issue is whether a community college degree
reliably ensures preparation for a good job. We are familiar with
recent reports about the dismal employment prospects of college
graduates. It is also true that, because of employer
dissatisfaction with the quality of degree-holders, they are demanding
more and higher educational credentials. The practice of “dumbing
down” curricula to boost graduation numbers is bearing bitter fruit in
the failure of a degree to signal competence.
One useful approach is to focus more on skills-focused training and
credentialing programs that prepare students to perform needed jobs and
certify that they indeed have that preparation. These modern-day
trade schools, in the case of “coding boot camps,” at least, boast job
attainment rates much higher than those of colleges—up to 99%,
according to the Clayton Christensen Institute.
Obama proposed free community college tuition close to the date for his
State of the Union address. Since it is clear that his proposal
will benefit no one but middle-class students and the schools, dare I
suggest that he aims simply to burnish his appeal to the uninformed
just in time for showtime?
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