Posted on 06/01/2007 5:20:43 AM PDT by Disturbin
Governor Deval Patrick plans to unveil a proposal today to make Massachusetts' community colleges, among the priciest in the nation, free to all high school graduates in the state by the year 2015, according to documents obtained by the Globe.
The proposal is the centerpiece of Patrick's vision for a "cradle to career" education system that would dramatically expand the concept of public education in Massachusetts.
The plan, which he will outline during commencement at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, would also provide preschool for all children, extend the school day and year, and guarantee two years of community college paid for by the state.
But Patrick's ambitious plan includes neither price tags nor funding proposals as the state struggles financially. Instead, it calls for a commission that would be charged with transforming the plan into reality.
"We must create an integrated, comprehensive educational system that nurtures and develops students through each critical phase of development," says an outline of the plan obtained by the Globe. "In today's economy, a high school diploma is not enough."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Deval is the gift that keeps on giving. But this doesn't go far enough. The kids need, at the very least, free housing and a spending allowance during their two-year community college stint. What's next? Guaranteed admission at an Ivy League school?
Why not? No doubt the illegals in Worcester are already going there for free.
And the Ma$$holes infecting NH are bringing this kind of nanny-state crap with them.
Time to cover up the “Live Free or Die” on my license plate, I guess.
So Patrick plans on making them ‘free’ - does that mean he’s buying or are the teachers working for nothing? Nothing the government does is free.
California community colleges (once called "junior colleges") have long been free or almost free (it was a $5 per semester fee plus your books in the 1960s) and were a godsend to generations of kids trying to get ahead.
The junior colleges provided outstanding remedial classes for those who weren't prepared before, and, in many of them, courses taught to University of California standards which were guaranteed to transfer to UC. (That was a big deal, students transferring from the California state college system to the University of California system would often find most of their credits would not transfer because UC faculty did not think the courses were remotely equivalent to the same named courses at UC -- they were right: I did research on a UC Academic Senate committee comparing reading lists and requirements for history courses and found the state college system courses typically required less than half the reading, less than 1/3 the writing, and often had multiple choice instead of essay exams)
I think providing good community colleges to give especially the poor a chance to prove themselves in a junior college is a very sound investment of public funds, if the taxpayers agree. In California, there was overwhelming support for the 'free JC' system.
Mr. Patrick thinks that if you throw enough dough at something, it’ll get fixed.
Blacks and Hispanics have exceedingly high rates of births out of wedlock; both groups have a high intolerance for education; and, consequently, both groups have very low rates of high school graduation.
Free community colleges will not repair that.
A higher rate of in wedlock births will more than likely fix a large part of the problem.
Nothing is a better predictor of social pathologies than the out of wedlock birth rate.
How does one accomplish that? By taking responsibility for one’s actions.
Bill Cosby is hated for promoting this kind of thinking.
His suggestions:
1) Finish high school;
2) Get a job, and keep it;
3) Don’t get pregnant out of wedlock, or don’t get some one pregnant out of wedlock.
Not an easy road for a lot for these kids. But the difficult thing to do is oftentimes the right thing to do.
Raising taxes is easy, and incorrect toward repairing this difficulty.
My word, I’m fairly chatty today!
What happened to the 2 billion surplus Gov Romney left behind? (Or however much Romney said the surplus was). Maybe it was like Dukakis’s Massachusetts Miracle?
As for what’s next, housing seems likely. Maybe free food and beer?
Tax hikes are good for you! /sarc
Whew, it’s a different Patrick, not my role model for driving - Danica Patrick! ;-)
Which means a diploma from Massachusetts' community colleges (among the priciest in the nation) will be worth as much as a high school diploma -- zip.
2 billion is a LOT of Coupe Devals. There has to be another reason.
That's the problem. When Romney left, he said there was a surplus of 2 Bill. Then, without missing a beat, Patrick shows up for his first week in the corner office and announces that Romney was lying, and of course there is a deficit rather than a surplus. This was right around the time that the Turnpike Authority was debating whether or not to drop the tolls, and all of a sudden we convenienly had a budget deficit. Deval is realizing he doesn't have enough money to pay for all of his rubbish ideas. Remember "free state-wide WiFi access?"
The problem is -- the taxpayers won't agree, but will they be given the chance? MA is already claiming that for every dollar invested into public higher ed yields eight dollars return, but it will cost a lot more (than is already taken from taxpayers) to cover all these new "students." I don't argue that community colleges might be necessary for some, but don't stick me with the bill. I've been out of college for almost ten years, and I'm still paying over $300 a month in loans.
Not only that ... nothing the government does is done well, except for the military and a few other exceptions.
Well, I don't know what the voters of MA think, but I'd be all for putting the idea on a referendum to find out.
In California, there has always been strong public support for heavy state subsidy for higher education - even the University of California didn't start charging tuition until the 1980s (though there were a few fees that might amount to $1,000-1,500 per year). On the other hand, if MA voters don't want to pay for free junior colleges, that's their right.
Your reference to your own loans is simply special pleading - you apparently did not take advantage of the opportunity for reduced price public education.
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