Letter to Washington legislators as they campaign for new offices, Republicans and Democrats.
You and your colleagues have voted to address the issue by approving what amounts to a free lunch.
In hard times, higher ed could be a great issue .. frankly it is an issue that, if done well, should attract traditional conservatives as well as progressives since BOTH agree on the need for Americans to be able to compete for jobs.
Obviously money is a problem, but you and your colleagues have voted to address the issue by approving what amounts to a free lunch. I refer to Washington’s new public “online college,: WGU! Here is one link to the many on The-AVE about WGU.
This is not a way to save money. The excuse appears to be that WGU is a non profit but also non government funded. That would be fine IF WGU students did not need loans and scholarships and if the WGU private sector was offering an opportunity tas good or better than what our existing colleges do offer. Put another way, you and the others who voted for WGU (sorry), have endorsed an institution that claims to be helping people get jobs as teachers, nurse administrators, computer managers, or marketers … and to do thjis with NO faculty.
Sounds miraculous? Free lunch?
I suggest that downgrading what we offer the unemployed is a good campaign issue and WGU (and its ilk) make a great target in a state where our prestigious higher ed is both public and rated as being tops in the US and .. in many cases .. the world. Downgrading this in hard times is .. to be blunt … stupid of BOTH parties.
WGU offers Bachelors and Masters in four areas … K-12 teaching, computer support, nursing administration, and “business.”
Why did WGU select these areas? Ironically, even though our community colleges do not offer Bachelors or Masters, the quality of WGU’s offerings is not competitive with what we already offer at our Community Colleges .. much less our excellent State colleges. These areas were apparently chosen because WGU can create degrees without having to provide the support students need to learn computer science, high school level science, real nursing, or something more productive than an online degree in marketing. For example, as a virtual school with no faculty, WGU can not offer the instruction needed for a Navy Corpsman to upgrade his or her skill to become a registered nurse or physician’s assistant. Instead they offer online course in the “business” of administration.
Will any of these degrees lead to jobs? WGU has refused to publish their data on whether WGU grads get jobs. Worse, their offerings hardly seem like what students need in today’s competitive market. Are there needs for more nurse administrators? If there are, would you hire one form a school that can no train nurses themselves?
The “business degree” is another good example. If you want to read a good piece in faux business education degrees, take a look at this link http://handbill.us/?p=6047.
You may also want to read this link and ask whether you want WGU grads applying for jobs teaching physics in WA high schools. http://handbill.us/?p=6187
Worse, what happens when students of this “physics treacher” apply to college?
There are, finally, real alternatives. For one example, take a look at his effort from UC Berkeley. http://handbill.us/?p=7432. Why doesn’t Washington, while raising tuition to rates higher than the Ivy League, make a similar effort to develop some real resources to offer our citizens? I also believe that the work study program at Northeastern would be a great model to bring here.
If you want to skim The-Ave.US for WGU discussion and comment : http://handbill.us/?s=Western+
S.M. Schwartz