Now that the dust of Airforce One and a slice of Zingerman’s pecan pie has settled, the reactions to Obama’s speech and visit are in. I really appreciate Decky’s comment, which is in the previous post too, because she was there and she’s expressing a sentiment I personally agree with whole-heartedly: while I too am a big supporter of Obama, his administration doesn’t really have an education policy, and it certainly doesn’t have a policy for higher education. So go read that if you haven’t already.
A couple articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education are useful here. First, there’s “Obama Calls for Control of College Costs and Renewed Support for Higher Education,” which more or less reports on the event. But even more important is the “Tenured Radical” blog/editorial “What a Real Education Policy Would Look Like.” Go read the whole thing, but to quote:
This [meaning the Obama's federal policies on how we ought to finance higher education] is all based on a discussion that Obama and Duncan had back in December with “a dozen college presidents, mostly from public institutions, and leaders of two nonprofit education organizations, about how to curb the rising cost of college and improve graduation rates.” The nonprofits were the Delta Project that does cost-benefit analysis and the Lumina Foundation whose focus is on access and affordability. Note the groups that were not invited to the table: the American Association of University Women, theAmerican Association of University Professors, the major educational foundations or any presidents of the major professional organizations. In other words, the Obama administration did not invite anyone to the table who actually does research on education — only nonprofits who specialize in assessing what bang corporate America is getting for the student buck.
I realize that Obama needs to appeal to the population at large here both in his policies and in his speeches, but you’d think that he’d be smart enough to explain that a higher education simply is not a product, students are not simply customers, etc.
I also thought the Michigan Daily’s Andrew Weiner had a pretty good commentary here, “When the President Came to Town.” He mostly critiques the substance of Obama’s speech, but I did want to share this quote here:
Aside from telling Denard Robinson, who was seated in the box reserved for members of Congress and other dignitaries, that he in fact could not run for president, the speech could have been delivered at any college in any state.
You mean, like, oh, I don’t know, another large Michigan university actually closer to the airport with easier parking and that has made a big deal about keeping college affordable and offering hands-on educational opportunities for Michigan students who tend to stay in Michigan to help our state? Hmm, where would that be, where or where….
Anyway, at the end of the day, I have a very hard time believing that any of the potential Republican nominees are going to have a more progressive policy toward higher education and affordability. My prediction both parties will continue to beat up on universities for raising tuition while simultaneously cutting funding to them, and I also predict that this election will be decided on different issues anyway. Oh, and I also continue to predict on a state level we will continue to get jack squat for our 0/0/0% marketing gimmick.
