Unnecessary College Wars

I have said it before, and I will continue to say it: “not all for-profit higher educational institutions are evil”. Many people (myself included), have benefitted greatly from them, and they have given access to many people who normally could not finish their degrees or pursue the degree they wanted. Yes, there are bad players in the game, and yes there have been mistakes made, but how much more productive could the whole industry be if everyone truly worked together?

Here is an article today:  “Proxy War on For-Profits”

“A proxy war over the regulation of for-profit colleges is being waged in the editorial pages of The New York Times.”

“In the last week the newspaper has published four opinion pieces that touch on federal oversight of the industry -- two in favor of tightening the screws and two (by the same columnist) defending for-profits for their role in educating underserved students.”

“The flurry of punditry comes just before the U.S. Department of Education is expected to release its final draft "gainful employment" rules for vocational programs at for-profits and community colleges. It also relates to broader debates over how to treat the for-profit sector in President Obama's proposed college rating system and in the eventual Congressional reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.”

“As a result, both critics and supporters of the industry appear to have pled their case to the gatekeepers of what is arguably America's most prominent forum for debate.”

Read the whole thing here: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/04/gainful-employment-debate-aired-out-new-york-times

How does stuff like this benefit the most important stakeholders in this whole debate, the students? Politicians, mudslinging, and political rhetoric are not going to help students graduate on time, and get the jobs they want. I know folks think that they are “protecting the students”, but look at it from the point of view of a student: they just want to learn and learn well.

The higher education industry needs to start behaving itself, especially in public. We can be very rude to each other.

All sectors of higher education should put their efforts into working together rather than against each other. Imagine, what could happen if we turned those educated brains towards solving real problems?

Imagine the possibilities!

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam